There are so many lose ends to tie up at Anfield that it’s hard to know where to begin but lets start with the defeat to Manchester City.
Losing away to City in the second game of the season is neither the end of the world nor the end of our hopes of finishing in the top four and I don’t believe the 3-0 score line was particularly justified. I did however make some worrying observations on the night. Firstly the omission of Javier Mascherano. Some reports suggest that he made himself ‘unavailable’ for selection. Roy Hodgson’s reasoning was that he was ‘not in the right frame of mind’ and so was omitted from the squad. My instincts tell me it was probably a little of both. Hodgson told BBC Sport:
“His head is being turned by Barcelona, who are making overtures to him. But until an offer matches our valuation he will stay with us. The player still remains unhappy. He is not interested in the justice of the fee, he just wants to move. It makes it uncomfortable for us. It’s something to be resolved but certainly Javier was not in the right frame of mind so it was better to play with Lucas and Steven Gerrard, who certainly were committed to the cause.”
Barcelona have reportedly offered just £12m for Mascherano which is frankly an insult. (There are not many better holding midfielders in world football, if any). What is more of an insult is the attitude of the player himself. Mascherano has always been a great holding midfielder, even in his River Plate days but it was Liverpool who rescued him from the West Ham reserves and gave him the first team football he craved. It was also Liverpool who moulded him into a player that is now captain of his country. If a player wants to leave a club then fine, it is part and parcel of football but there are right and wrong ways to go about it. Unfortunately for a player that was so adored by the Liverpool fans Mascherano has gone the wrong way about it.
My second and third observations came during the game. Over the weekend Chinese businessman Kenny Huang ruled himself out of the running to buy the club. In a statement Huang said:
“We thank the many Liverpool fans who expressed support for our efforts and wish the club great success in the years to come. I am now considering my future options and will be making no further comment at this time.”
I was disappointed to read this information over the weekend as I thought the intentions and ambitions of Huang and his backers seemed to match those of the club. Since this statement was released I have heard rumours that many of the Liverpool Board feel that the statement issued by Huang was just a ploy to speed up the sales process. During the Manchester City game I noticed a young Asian woman sitting in the Directors box with Kenny Dalglish and members of the Liverpool Board. I didn’t recognise the woman and it got me wondering. Is this woman in any way connected to Huang and his bid to buy Liverpool or is it just simple coincidence? I suppose only time will tell.
My third observation was the game itself. Everyone in football is very well aware of the hundreds of millions City have spent on their playing squad. They basically have two top class first elevens that they can rotate every week. Given time to gel it is obvious to see them being a real force, not only in the Premier League but also in Europe. The major concern I took from the game was not the result itself it was the lack of control and ideas shown by the Liverpool team. Many pundits and fans have the view that the Liverpool squad doesn’t need an overhaul and there is a certain amount of strength in depth within the squad. This may have been the case two years ago when we came close to winning the title but since then the playing environment has changed. Teams have heavily invested in players and the standard of squads has greatly improved.
Liverpool do not possess a single player in their squad who can play wide and beat a man. Neither do they possess a decent left back or an adequate striker to partner Fernando Torres. Players like Kuyt, Lucas and Ngog work hard but would you call them top class? No.
Money is tight at the moment but when new investment is injected into the club the playing squad could need more of an overhaul than many people think.
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Why did roy play 4 4 2, when we have no out and out wingers or out and out width at the club?
DISGUSTED, DISAPPOINTED, GUTTED, SHELL SHOCKED of yesterday nights abizmal performance.
And how comes he keeps playing Agger as a left back if we Re signed Aurelio who is a left back?
…
Hodgson, Please Please get rid of LUCAS for £5-£7M, PLESSIS £1-£2M, EL ZHAR £1M, KUYT for £15M, Ngog for £4-6M.
And Disloyal, ungrateful, pathetic, Selfish Mascherano for no less than £30M.
Replace Mascherano with two class, Quality holding midfielders who are available, who can do more than just tackle and get stuck : Lassana Diarra of Real Madrid £8M and Matthieu Flamini Of A.C Milan £6-£8M.
And bring in Taiwo of Marseille £4-£7M LB
Bring S Defour Of S Liege For £6-£9M CM
Bring in A Turan Of Galatassary for £10M RW
Bring in D Capel of Seville for £8-£12M LW
Bring in G Agbonglahor Of Aston Villa for £10-£16M
As today’s showing, showed we have to bring in some more signings as apart from Joe cole, we have brought no one else in of Gerrard or Torres’s Calibre/Class.
The team lacks pace, width, speed, creativity and we need to rebuild again as soon as possible.
D
And LUCAS is simply not good enough to play for Liverpool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There’s no point arguing we need to sell certain players and spend the proceeds on others, who might be better. If we sell players, most (if not all) of the money will go on interest payments. Roy’s 442 system was not the main problem v City, just like Rafa’s zonal marking was not the main problem last year – the problem is the owners and the way they have crippled the club. We are paying £40 million a year on interest – what would we rather do with that money?