The late sale of Javier Mascherano to Barcelona over the weekend has meant that Liverpool have had little time to bring in any new players. They acted quickly in buying Raul Meireles but they failed today in bringing another much needed player: a striker. Some may criticise Roy for loaning out Aquilani and finding a replacement before seeking a striker, I won’t slate the manager for doing such a thing. He obviously felt Aqua was not the type of player he needed, clearly with the acquisition of Joe Cole any place in the starting lineup for the Italian was unlikely as he also prefers to play in an advanced midfield position. Meireles, although not that similar in style, plays in the same central midfield postion akin to Mascherano and Alonso; he will pull the strings in midfield and for me it was an essential purchase. That leaves us with the gaping hole up front though.
Roy has said himself in recent days that he wanted a striker. He had looked at various options such as Ola Toivonen, Ricky van Wolfswinkel, Mario Gomez and Carlton Cole in recent weeks. The most likely deal that became apparent today was for Cole but a swap deal involving Ryan Babel never materialised. West Ham manager Avram Grant told Sky Sports News:
“We needed time to think about it and it didn’t happen. It was one of a few options to do something there but we couldn’t do it.”
In the end no move for a striker came to fruition and Roy Hodgson must now persist with three options: Fernando Torres, David Ngog and Ryan Babel until January. It is not an ideal scenario, especially for Fernando Torres. I am a firm believer that Torres’s injury problems over the last two years have been down to him being overplayed. When he has been tired or has had a minor injury he has volunteered to play as managers know his importance to the team. Although Ngog and Babel are decent players, I know Roy will start Fernando in matches even if he isn’t fully fit because of his abilities on a football pitch.
The acquisition of another striker would have lifted the burden, not solely because of greater options, but because the standard of player who was brought in would be trusted by Roy to start in place of Fernando if there was any injury concern. During the next few months, just like Rafa Benitez has had to in recent seasons, Roy will feel he has to play Fernando rather than risk either Ngog or Babel who have plenty of potential but have nowhere near the current experience of playing the lone striker role like the Spanish international. Even Carlton Cole, who is not close to Torres’s standard, would have been a good addition as he can hold up the ball, win headers in the air and play the lone front man, leaving Roy not having to revert to playing Torres if he is not fully fit.
The biggest test in the next few months now will be to ensure Torres stays fit and the new Sports Science team under Dr Peter Brukner will have their work cut out as Roy will endeavour to play Fernando in more matches than he would have liked. The lack of movement on the striker front on the last day of the transfer window has big repercussions for Fernando Torres as it does for the entire Liverpool team. Let’s hope the Spaniard lasts until January, when HOPEFULLY we will be under new ownership and can afford to have a regular sized squad with decent backup.
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Huntelaar – loan to Schalke
Raul – free to Schalke who Hodgson didn’t move for until it was too late.
David Trezequet – free to Hercules
Eidur Gudjohnson – loan to STOKE
Roque Sante Cruz – nearly loaned to Lazio
Don’t tell me Hodgson couldn’t have got one of these strikers if he was a better operator in the transfer market. And don’t tell me Ngog is as good as any of them.
None of these were long term solutions but would have given us better options this season. Remember when Ferguson got Henrik Larrson on loan for a few months? It doesn’t have to be long term when you’re in desperate need.
No serious manager of a major would leave himself with David Ngog as his number 2 striker. That DUMB decison got Benitez the sack and Hodgson will have to pray Torres stays fit or his dream job will turn into a nightmare for him.
i dont get the criticism here.let Roy have a season and then criticize him with true facts…now if you keep telling this and that and making him look bad is awful of you..i trust Roy and he can help a lot the team..also the squad is better than last year in my opinion.J.Cole is better than Yossi,Meireles is better than Aquilani and of course there aint another Mascherano in all europe.Poulsen is experienced and not bad.Konchesky is better than Insua and Aurelio,Brad Jones is a cheap home grown backup for Reina,Jovanovic WAYYY better than voronin,…lool i shouldnt even mention that..if Aquilani plays well,next summer we have 17million.if not we have him back and decide then.Babel is a great player and i have faith in him..in my opinion the squad is better than last year and i want roy to start playing BRITISH football and not the thing the fat f**k played the last years..in our squad,a target man might be needed but there is the january transfer market also..roy needs to learn the players and the team.if you start criticize him for no reasons,what will happen if there are reasons then?this season will be tough but i have faith it will come good..roy took fulham and made it go to the europa league final challenging for the trophy..it is too early.In Roy we trust
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Konchesky
Maxi Gerrard Meireles Cole
Babel Torres
Subs:Jones,Skrtel,Aurelio,Poulsen,Kuyt,Jovanovic,Ngog.if shawn wright phillips wants out from man city i would go after him.or arda turan.i prefer a pacey winger than a back up striker.kuyt can play the back up striker in my opinion.what we lack is pacey wingers.babel is a striker first of all.maxi and cole are very good.i expect some more of jovanovic but would like an english pacey winger..something like a lennon,walcott,ashley young,shawn wright phillips player.the last two would be in my transfer list.lets see who will be our new owner first of all and then how money he will give to Roy for transfers,..etc.
left wing/mid also much needed. if jovanovic and maxi get injured we’re SCREWED
also it’s the owners that should be criticized, not roy or rafa. we’ve been left without a 2nd striker since we sold robbie keane 18 months ago.
It is absolutely criminal that no striker has been brought into the club this window. Every single supporter knew that this was a must this transfer window. Hodgson has signed a mediocre left back at the tail end of his career, a midfielder in Poulsen who is also at the tail end of his career and looks like a less mobile Lucas. Meireles is a decent player but he’s not as good as Mascherano and no manager yet has been able to find a position to accommodate Joe Cole.
He plays two defensive midfielders at home to WBA and persevered with a 4-4-2 away to Man. City when it was clear after 10 minutes we were being over-run in midfield.
He’s hardly used Babel so he clearly has no faith in him. We’ve got one good striker and absolutely no width. He is way, way, way out of his depth.
just give him a chance,he is still trying to mix things.i liked all our transfers and in my opinion the strikers we are linked,arent that great against N’Go,you gotta admit that..i would go all the money for Luis Suarez or Giampaollo Pazzini.Gomez,Carlton Cole,..arent that great.also i dont know why some Lfc fans want that Ricky van Wolfswinkel since i doubt anyone knew him before we were linked to him.i am an admirer of Ola Toivonen and he is the only worthy striker we were linked to in my opinion.but if Roy wants a striker,i am 100% with the new ownership,by January our number 7 will be given to someone….please Luis Suarez!!
Jovanovich so far hasn’t even looked as good as Riera. I don’t understand why Riera was sold once Benitez left. But Jova has a lot of improvement going on what I have seen.
I’d prefer Babel to be given the type of run in the team Lucas got all last season. At least Babel has talent. Lucas has no talent.
so that means Ndebenkulu,you’d be happy if Roy brought Gomez and Carlton Cole,…etc..one player cannot change a whole season,..lool..Roy’s got a lot and good transfers and Aquilani’s business is good business in my opinion.there would be no team giving us 17 million now but now juve will give us that money.luis suarez is near,…!!we need a small and pacey striker more than a tall target man.suarez,pazzini,aguero would be TOP deals but cost a lot of course.bojan a cheaper option.Suarez my favorite.
It was well known we wouldnt get anyone,Hicks has kept the money again.
Our team is in dire straights to be even talking about Carlton Cole is a backward step,we should have taken Ola from PSV but WOY wont listen to King Kennys advice as he feels he has to stamp his authority,to loan out some of our top young players and have a squad that is a lot weaker and shallow than last season,well,it was what I expected from people who chose Woy over Kenny.
Torres is off in jan now no cover gonna be kicked from pillar to post and because hes unfit and will be wanting to go you lot are gonna have to accept a lower price 🙂 lets all laugh @ scousers the premiership paupers lol
whos gonna be providing the goals in the final push?better hope woy can put together a loan deal for a couple of championship or league 1 players
cos thats where you are heading fast 🙂
“toon army the real best fans in the world”
I agree that Roy is bad in the transfer market. He has 3 months to look strikers but didn’t sign one. I think that our squad is definately weaker than last season. We are lucky if we can finished 7th this year.
We definately have another 15mil to spend ona decent striker. Why not bid 13mil on Ola or 8mil on Wolf. We have time to bring them in. Instead of that, we are looking for swap deal for Cole and loan deal for Gomez in the last minutes because it is cheaper and Roy do not have guts to stand up against the bullies from the boardroom. The Boardroom of Liverpool is the joke of the year.
I am fully expected Roy to be booted out after the Liverpool takeover because he really not the man for the Liverpool’s job. And, really hopeing that Torres will not leave next season.
wtf is happening???why do we need a striker if we have decent player liker babel..just give him a chance.
all we need is a winger like Arda Turan
Roys made a huge profit on yet another transfer window for the yanks i am livid, we all know why Rafa said the job was untenable Roy should quit too he is just as bad leading us down the garden path.
Torres will leave i suggest Roy lied to him this time the yanks have had their turn.
The bidders should all drop their price now and i suggest these pricks may even keep the club.
Any new owner is up for a fortune rebuilding the side and i suggest the club will go to the highest bidder not the best owner.
@Nivster…
If you really stop and look into all the happenings then people blaming Roy is actually the only sensible thing to do. I too agree that CCole is not on my list of ‘what we need’ – but notice that it is Roy who wanted to buy him – which is an indicator to me that he is suffering some amount of duress and anxiety…for now i’ll just leave it to the stress of not having funds available from early to really buy who he wants.
Woy had 2 months to get a striker and failed to deliver. As a result, when Torres gets injured we will be screwed. Babel and Ngog have proved often enough that they aren’t good enough.
We also don’t have any wide men at the club, which is a joke.
Here’s hoping Woy gets sacked for his failures and the new manager can convince Torres to stay.
IMO time for Dirk to move up front again with Babel taking over his old space
i have to say i agree with lee. no excuses for failing to get a striker in 2 months time. every single fan knew that getting a new striker was a priority during the transfer window. roy is a joke in the transfer market. everyone knows that if/when torres gets injured, we are fucked. we can’t rely on ngog or babel up front, they just aren’t good enough. roy has really pissed me off every since he took charge of the club. i mean how does loaning out aquilani benefit us? yes we don’t have to pay his wages but can that money saved on wages be enough to get a new player? also, why the fuck are we selling all our promising youngsters? nemeth was a brightest prospect and old roy shipped him out to greece for less than a million. and dalla valle, plessis and el zhar weren’t even given a chance. i just hope that torres stays fit but if he does fucks himself up then i’d stick kuyt up front. i really can’t believe we failed to get a new striker this transfer window.
and to think of some players who we could have shipped in during the transfer window
ben arfa LOAN to newcastle
drenthe LOAN to hercules
gudjohnsen LOAN to stoke
hleb LOAN to birmingham
obinna LOAN to west ham
van der vaart 8 MIL to spurs
huntelaar 11 MIL to schalke 04
What about Kuyt and Jova? Both natural strikers being played out wide. Which means we have Torres and 4 ‘back up’ strikers. It’s how they’re used which is important. Rafa only ever went for N’gog – Roy might not.
I still think a decent couple of wingers are needed above another striker. We’re playing 2 strikers out of position currently !