TOO often last season Liverpool were somewhat of a soft touch. Looking back it’s hardly surprising.
For the first half of the season the club had to play a lot of young players far more often than they would have liked and there was a shortage of experience. When the going got tough, Liverpool often seemed to wilt a little mentally.
Brendan Rodgers acknowledged as much and was quoted as saying he needed to add more ‘men’ to the squad. In a recent interview he also said ‘last season we played with style but not enough steel.’
You could interpret that as Liverpool needing more experience (no doubting that they did require that) but you can just as easily make the case that the manager wanted more players who would stand up and be counted. Aside for Gerrard, Suarez, Carragher and Reina, Liverpool were a little thin on the ground when it came to leaders last term. As two of those players have now left the club it is little wonder that Rodgers has fixed his eye on players with a certain type of mentality this summer.
Kolo Toure has come on and as well as his vast knowledge of the Premier League, he adds vocal presence to a defence that often seemed mute last season. He is undoubtedly a leader of men and his transfer makes a lot of sense.
Iago Aspas has drawn many comparisons with Luis Suarez already and not just for his busy style of play. By all accounts he was a little pest in Spain. He has a little bit of swagger and a temper too. That sort of thing can occasionally be a team’s downfall (his red card for head butting an opponent last season didn’t go down well at Celta Vigo as his suspension nearly facilitated their relegation) but it again shows that, like Suarez, he is a player who won’t shy away from a tough situation. In short, he’s a narky little fighter.
Kyriakos Papadopoulos has been a target all summer long for the Reds and it only takes ten seconds of YouTube viewing to see that he is no shrinking violet either. Personally I haven’t seen enough of the player to say whether he would be a good signing or not but you can see that his character appeals to Rodgers. He seems loud, in your face and aggressive. He doesn’t seem like the kind of lad who would accept being bullied by Christian Benteke and Kenwyne Jones in the way that Martin Skrtel did last term.
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Diego Costa is the latest player heavily linked to Liverpool and he could be on Merseyside pretty soon if reports are to be believed. Anyone who knows about Costa seems to jump to his temperament when describing him rather than talking about his actual ability. That’s because he’s, how shall I phrase this, a little controversial.
You kind find footage of some very unsavoury things when you Google the Brazilian’s name and it is to be hoped that he can curb the wilder side of his character if he makes his way through the Shankly gates. Seek out opinions from people who have watched him regularly though and again it becomes clear that his mental toughness would appeal to Rodgers.
He’s a loud mouth, more than a little dirty, he works himself into the ground and he won’t back away from anyone. Go and look at his run-ins with Pepe and Ramos in the Madrid derby of last season and you will see some startling images. He has quality, naturally, but I would bet that his attitude impressed Liverpool’s scouts as much as his ability.
Described as ‘The most hated man in La Liga’ you can bet that Costa’s arrival would see Luis Suarez with a real rival for his current status as public enemy number one in this country. Some may feel that Liverpool could do without more bad publicity but there can be little doubt that Liverpool lack steel at the moment and it is encouraging that their scouting department have set about rectifying that.
And who wants a team full of angels anyway? As the saying goes: Nice guys finish last.
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Good article, spot on
No more taking the media lies and s**t
If we add those two Costa and Papa, we have a great squad with flair and steel.
As have all the great Liverpool teams
Very true. The thing with player’s who have a bit of a screw loose, is the will to win at all costs, and never give up.
player too much talk about signing,ger them in before season start.i like Ibe on the right wing he looks strong on the ball.hope to see him more on the field this season.watch out Downing
Added steel ? Where ?
If Allen plays we have a weak soft centre which teams will exploit.
Alberto too looks lightweight and toure is not as tough as Carra or skrtel.
Gerard, Lucas, costa(if we get him), Suarez, aggar, toure is tough, Enrique is strong, as is coutinho(won’t be pushed off the ball easily and will fight to win back possession like Suarez) there’s 8. Then you have skrtel, Johnson and Henderson has vastly improved in the strength in possession area. Fair enough we have light, quick and skillfull players like sterling but again, stature is not the bell all. It doesn’t cause barca or Spain trouble historically. It’s how you Sheila the ball and move it so you don’t give the chance to be tackled as the ball is moved on. Steel/Grit is all about mental toughness. Which this guy and a few other players have in abundance. Something I personally has kept teams like arsenal back in the last few years.
So what ? Not all them will play. Br is building a team of weak midgets
If Allen plays at all we are f?cked . Our whole season finished by September
“………..being bullied by christian benteke nd kenwyn jones in the way that martin skrtel did last time” skrtel isnt really that bad or poor.
Plus they are two great forwards. He had a bad run last season. Usually pretty solid or even better than…
Kenwyn Jones great ? Cop on u dope
Liverpool will be pushovers again next season. Rodgers is buying weak players .we need some tough grit in there especially in midfield
Hhmm
papa or costa, rogers shud nt build a team wit sentiment. Lfc needs left back seriously bcus if u watch enrique agaist melbourn n thai all star,he’s finish. defensiv mfielder lyk gustava who is planning 2 leave b.munich 2 complement lucas if lfc nids top 4 cus i dnt c Alen(weak) competin wit mates in other teams. Lfc attack,gkeeper, attackin mildfield is ok but defence n defensive mfield is very porous.
Jackson martinez minus diego costa plus 10 Million equal porto man.
Someone like Jackson Matinez, Christian Erickson and Papa will give Lfc exactly wht we need .
brenda had the team playin like girls in parts of last season this mist change
Ive seen all the clips of Costa, he aint as bad & nasty as some people are trying to make out. The clip with Ramos wasnt even worth mentioning, just a few girly confrontations between them. He’ll probably get silly yellow cards for petulance often in the Prem.
Hope he doesn’t dive or bites .
Liverpool need some steel to grind out wins. Costa will add at least some more punch to the team
The wrong kind of aggression in my book, think more Gerrard and the way he plays aggressively, that’s what we need more of, or a Mascharano type player (at the top of their game), Costa seems to like throwing elbows about and spitting, don’t we ever learn?.
Yeah right . Brenda and his team of 5 foot 8 hobbits aren’t gonna scare anyone. One look at Joe Allen will give all our opponents hope
Are u always dis negative?
I hope he comes in pretty soon,we need someone like him upfront.
I don’t know, what with us selling Shelvey, Carra retiring and the kind of players we have signed so far (style wise, besides Toure), we look less physical than last season, and seems to contradict what the manager is saying. If we have money to spend ( Record sponsors and More TV revenue than ever before, wage bill lowered, season ticket increases etc)) can we please actually sign one of these kind of players the article talks about, A real world class DM would be a great start.