Early noise from the Hodgson regime is already being met with some groans of fans suffering from a 2009-10 hangover. Resolute but unattractive displays by Liverpool against Arsenal and West Brom have unsurprisingly done little to alleviate the nagging doubts. The humbling scoreline at Eastlands that came in conjunction with the zenith of the Mascherano debacle made for extremely uncomfortable viewing. ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ still rings true from the Kop, of course, but rumblings of dissatisfaction are not uncommon in the public houses dotted around L4. The freshest and often the most fervently scrutinised topic is transfers.
Rafa Benitez was, in his pomp, the master tactician. You could certainly argue that he got the best out of limited resources, evident in Istanbul, and at the end of the 2008-09 season Rafa could boast of a campaign of attacking football that was simply exhilarating at times. But was his Achilles heel the transfer market? Or was the American ownership anchor what prevented us from coming up for fresh air? The Yanks can largely be blamed for the stagnation of last season but, if Benitez had spent the £2oo million-plus transfer kitty he received over his twelve transfer windows in charge more prudently, it could have been avoidable.
Rafa definitely had a knack for spotting a bargain, with the relatively cheap acquisitions of Martin Skrtel, Daniel Agger and Pepe Reina the prime examples, but he could be wayward. Stand up Craig Belllamy, Jermaine Pennant, Andrea Dossena, Fernando Morientes, etc. The most blatant example is Robbie Keane, but the circumstances around his purchase were never crystal-clear so I’ll give Rafa a break on that one.
This is not an attack on Benitez but an auspicious defence of Roy Hodgson. Similar accusations of a team bereft of flair and pace that plagued Rafa’s dying moments could be aimed at the latest squad. Instead I would argue that as an attacking force it exceeds 2008-09: a combative midfielder in Meireles, with perhaps more goals in him than Mascherano and with experienced cover in the form of Poulsen; Gerrard in the Alonso role, a position that gives him more opportunity to make those driving runs from deep areas and where his excellent range of passing is utilised at its maximum; and Joe Cole, at worst a player that produces ephemeral brilliance in the final third that Torres can work with and at his best quite unplayable.
Like many fans I was crying out for the signing of Arda Turan on Tuesday to give that extra option of pace out wide. It would have been a welcome addition of a player who seems to have the appetite and certainly has the raw ability to ply his trade here. But alas, the ownership saga prevails. Hopefully Milan Jovanovic can, in his role as a wide man, provide cover for our left-back in the same way as Dirk Kuyt does on the right. Aurelio and Konchesky are both capable of pushing forward and delivering well, and with Glen Johnson’s consistent aggressive forays down the right Nando should have plenty of opportunities. This will potentially give us a balanced attack that can play through the middle and stretch the opposition full-backs when the opposition team bus is parked on an Anfield goal line.
There is still the Reina-Carragher-Gerrard-Torres spine that Benitez built around; with limited resources Hodgson has done well to not only keep that structure but to raise it a level with some new flair in Joe Cole that the expensive Aquilani unfortunately couldn’t provide, and with some palpable freshness now that Mascherano has been cleared out to be replaced by the talented and bargain-priced Meireles. It may be a while before this new team is able to manifest the Hodgson blueprint. But if he can put together a team resembling the 2008-09 season, with some nuances and improvements, then he certainly cannot go far wrong.
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My problems persist always when drawing any comparison between individuals.
Where did that figure of £2 billion come from?
Rafa also gave us Luis Garcia, Crouch, Alonso, GJ, and prolonged the playing career of both Carra and Hyypia (like Wenger with Arsenal’s fab four).
It’s just a whole new coaching regime now at Anfield, with each gaffer giving us something different.
I will remain a diehard Benitez fan but must confess Rodge’s impressed me with his calmness, maturity, fatherly, laid-back manner. We’ve already improved in defense, MCFC notwithstanding. I also feel it’ll be harder to inflate player values past Hodgson.
I believe we’ll eventually settle down on the pitch and compete at all levels. It’s just a matter of time.
Siempre es posible! Keep believing.
benitez may have been tactically astute, and he also bought some good players, but he also bought ALOT of crap that cost us good money.
And his well documented lack of man management skills were ultimately what cost us our place in the top 4 (forcing alonso out, unsettling gerrard/torres/riera/babel etc etc).
But thats the past, roy is now the future. I would like to see these owners out as quickly as possible, so to allay any fears of torres leaving us in the future transfer windows. if we get good owners, with some good investment in january/summer then i can see torres finishing his career here.
I agree about us settling on the pitch soon tho, once cole is back after birmingham, and meireles is a regular alongside gerrard, there will be no need to play lucas anymore.
Im literally wetting myself at the style were going to be playing with meireles, cole, gerrard at our heart!
people might call me insane, but i genuinely believe we can win the league this year, and probably the europa league too. I see arsenal losing it as always, man city looked unconvinving against a strong defensive sunderland, and man u havent looked strong at all to start with. And we can only get better.
Have faith, YNWA
Its far too early to compare their relative purchases. Roy has only had 1 window to work in under the same financial constraints that Rafa had to work for the previous 3. Its four straight windows now in which zero spend or a net profit has been made.
Benitez bought Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Aurelio, Masch, Alonso, Torres, Benayoun, Garcia and Kuyt. Maxi was an astute freebie. He also bought Sissoko, Bellamy and Crouch who all contributed well and brought in profit when sold.
However there has been a vast player turnover in Rafa’s tenure. Sometimes it was so he could wheel n deal, turn a profit and then purchase the upgrade. Sissoko for Masch and Bellamy for Torres are the best examples. Othertimes Rafa got it wrong and made a loss on players who didn’t have the quality: Pennant, Josemi, Riera, Dossena and Keane. The latter seemed to be a sacrificial lamb in the battle between Rafa and Parry though. Glen is a good player but an over priced one.
Aquilani was a suicidal purchase considering his 3 season track record of injuries and inability to play the first half of the season. But when he did play he was good and showed excellent touch and a fast paced pass n move game. Sending him on loan now he’s fit also seem crazy considering we only submitted a 21 man squad.
However in comparing Rafa to Roy I’ll suggest this:
1. Gerrard’s best position is behind Torres
2. Mascherano and Aquilani are better than Poulsen and Meireles
3. Mascherano and Alonso are better than Masch & Aquilani
4. Konchesky is better than Dossena but technically less gifted than Aurelio.
5. Cole may prove better than Benayoun (Ancelloti probably thinks he won’t)
6. With our squad 4-2-3-1 is better than 4-4-1-1
7. It’ ridiculous that Roy could not purchase a new striker in the whole window (this may not be his fault)
8. Apparently Purslow had been courting Van Der Vaart for a year so him going Spurs for only 8m is a real Doh! He would be brilliant for the Reds
Its macia who scouts and does most of the spotting, then he passes a list to roy. The players we have signed, apart from konchesky, would all have been targets anyway.
Roy has a lot less say than anyone might think.
@Pete
you are insane
I have to say i prefer Benitez signings to Roys. Roys smack of mid table obscurity where by at least you had hope with Rafa’s. To be honest though its to early to say. Rumor has it the new owners have been chosen now and should be announced by the end of the month. i for one hope this is true.
a/ I take it you are on drugs if you think Aquilani is better than Meireles? Meireles looked very competant in the WC.
Silly question because it is far too early to tell. New signings need time settle in.
Given that the sale of macherano was inevitable, I think Roy’s work looks good so far. Aquilani, Riera, Insua, Plessis etc all let go. None of them will be missed, none of them ever convinced in a Liverpool shirt.
Roy’s signings have a more sensible feel to them than Rafa’s. Rafa would never have signed Konchesky for example, but an experienced solid right back is exactly what we need now.
Jovanovic is looking like another Kuyt to me, but then he was a Benitez signing.
I didn’t even bother to read the article…what kind of stupid question is that? How are we ment to know if they’re better?
Benitez’s best signings are arguably Torres, Alonso, Mascherano and Reina. They’ve all had at least 2 seasons to show their capable playing for Lverpool, Roy’s signings have barely been given 3 matches.
Oh and one other point, I did see you mention Jovanovic, he was a Benitez signing.
Rafa brought the likes of Alonso,Mascherano,Reina,Torres,Garcia,Crouch,Bellamy,Aquilani, Babel,Agger,Keane,Skrtel and Johnson to the club granted not all of them worked out but in the transfer market you have to take a chance and it doesn’t always work out , I think he get’s criticised a bit too much as player like Riera and Pennant were because he wasn’t allowed get his real targets like Silva and Milnerbecause of a lack of funds and he did bring in a lot better players than we had when he took over and hopefully Hodgson can do the same
if you want to compare, you should compare apples to apples.
“1. gerrards best position is behind torres.”
i tend to dissagree, gerrard is best when hes bursting forward from midfield to support our front men. He has a wicked shot and excellent passing. I think he is more use to us playing alongside meireles and assuming the old alonso role. Hes more than good enough for it.
“2. Mascherano and Aquilani are better than Poulsen and Meireles”
apples to apples, masch is better than poulsen i aggree, but meireles is more of a gerrard type player, an all rounder, masch was a dedicated holder. Imo poulsen was brought in as a lucas replacement (i.e backup to meireles and gerrard) lucas should now be 4th choice midfielder.
So your comparison should be, poulson is better than lucas. If you compare masch to meireles, meireles wins cuz he can do more than masch, and actually score too. Alonso great signing, only gerrard can compare so no comparison with roy there.
ill ignore 3, cuz alonso doesnt compare to aquilani really.
agree with 4.
as for 5. i think cole WILL prove better and already has shown he has the desire to be. He runs his arse off all over midfield to get the ball when he doesnt have it, and hes not even 100% fit yet. Watch this space 🙂
aggree about formation, 4-2-3-1 is the way to go, if roy plays 4-4-2 again ill shoot him.
as for 7. i think this one was roys fault. he had been linked with, remy, cole, trezuget, toivonen, wolfswinkel, and im sure others who we didnt know of or i forgot, and we still got no proper backup…
altho i think kuyt will be an ok backup and ngog is only getting better. and we still have babel and pacheco too.
as for 8. screw vdv lol, we dont need him, which is prob why we didnt sign him. you think he would dislodge cole/gerrard/meireles from the midfield? i dont.
and i agree about aquilani leaving, he should of been kept and played in europa league/cups to get his sharpness back and give him some match time for us. no reason why not since we only submitted 21 names.
Once I read the 2 billion idea I stopped reading. That would mean spending of more than 100 million a year, which he did not do!
Magnumopus, you’re absolutely right. Apologies. Dealing with a lot of zeroes here! The total spending was over £200 million.
Pete – Your insane. We have no chance of winning the league. There are at least 3 teams with a VASTLY superior squad and team who should easilly finish ahead of us. If we finish in the top 4 I think Hodgson has worked miracles. In terms of his purchases, only time will tell. There have been many a Benitez buy thats excited us all (Including Keane) only for it to not work and then everyone jumps on Rafa’s back, forgetting they were excited by the transfer in the first place.
Until we get new owners there is no chance of Liverpool competing at the top level full stop. Hopefully we can just have some enjoyable football in the meantime.
You may say so. But Rafa had funds then. does Roy? So basically, you can’t compare but to me, I think Roy has done a fantastic job. I have faith in Roy.
We just seriously need “NEW OWNERS !”. By the next transfer window, I would like to see in a new owners hands. Preferably someone who is capable of competing with Chelsea and Man United (Man City just doesn’t know how to spend wisely) fundamentally and would bring the club back to it’s normal state. All this by right should happen BEFORE THE NEXT TRANSFER WINDOW RE-OPENS.
Therefore, by the next transfer window Roy should have at least 40M to spend on bringing in :
David de Gea for 4M – Young and could be Reina’s understudy like Jones. Then, we can be rid of Itandje.
Javi Martinez for 18M – Young, could be the next Xabi Alonso and at 21 he is a heck load better than Lucas.
Patrick Helmes for 18M – El Nino and Moppel? He might just be what we have been looking for. Forget Carlton Cole, N’gog is almost as good as him. If we want a quality striker, I would say Helmes is what we’re looking for. They’d be unstoppable.
—THE END OF THE IN-COMING TRANSFERS FOR THE NEXT TRANSFER WINDOW—
And now, we can sell :
~ Charles Itandje for (0.5M)
~ Sotirios Kyrgiakos for (2M)
~ Lucas Leiva (8-10M)
—THE END OF THE TRANSFERS, FOR THE NEXT TRANSFER WINDOW—
~~~~~~~~All those transfers = A TOP-FOUR FINISH~~~~~~~~
*Season 2011-12*
To challenge for the Champions League and the Barclays Premier Leaugue, we have to sign Marcelo from Real / Royston Drenthe(Preferably Marcelo). We can get him for 10M + Emiliano Insua. He is a superb left-back, full of pace and is capable of running pass defenders. (Since Insua is on loan to Galatasaray, this transfer can only take place in a years time. that is when he’s back)By then, we can also offload Aquilani, Degen and El Zhar as they are surplus to requirements.
With Marcelo and Juan Mata dominating the left side and the English duo of Cole and Johnson on the right, Liverpool will be a very threatening side. Especially having Torres and Helmes up front. In addition, the partnership of Gerrard and Meireles(considering he performs as he did in Porto) in midfield would make Liverpool a very dangerous. With Pepe in goal, Carra and Skrtel in front of him, Liverpool might just be on their way to a twentieth Prem League victory since the year 1990.
Obviously its a NO.
Pete, I agree with most of your comments in a way at least but to say he unsettled Riera is wrong the guy punched Pacheco in traing, so deserved everythign he got. Also it is too soon to compare Hodgson and Rafa, whoever is manager I support, every manager buys good and bad, it’s a shame people remember the bad rather than the good!
rafas early big money signings were mostly good, his later big money signings were mostly crap why ?
I largely agree with you Stan. Rafa was quite consistent in buying good players. In his first summer he signed Xavi Alonso, in his second he signed Pepe Reina, in his third he signed Torres and in his fifth and final summer window he bought Glen Johnson. These have all been regular starters and good, talented servants to the club. However, with the good were the very bad. His fourth summer window in 2008 was arguably the worst, ironically before our best season; Ngog is the only player transferred in in that period that plays regularly and Keane, Riera, Dossena and Degen have been moved on or put out on loan. Aquilani never really seemed to have the faith from his manager that the price tag suggested but Rodriguez, good business on a free transfer, still has some part to play as a squad player in my opinion.
What an absolutely stupid article, for goodness sake man Roy’s only been in the job a few minutes.
To Mark & Pete
Read my post again. I didn’t once say that Aqui is better than Meireles. I said that Masch & Aqui are better than Poulsen & Meireles I was referring to them as a pair which indicates a general downgrading of quality, I then said that Masch & Alonso were even better so by indicating that the downgrading of quality is a trend in LFC’s decline, rather than merely comparing Roy & Rafa’s purchases.
Now this is just an opinion based on what Ive seen of the players before they joined LFC. I hope I’m proved wrong. I would hope that Poulsen patroling & defending CM, Meireles promting and passing, Gerrard supporting Torres and Cole in a freeish role on either flank will prove to be an irresistible creative force.
But I’m not holding my breath that they will be under Roy ‘2 banks of 4’ Hodgson
i like Roy’s trasnfers so far.Meireles at 12 million .i would have hoped that benitez had signed him from the 1st place.a better player than Aquilani,costing half the money.Konchesky and english experienced player,way better than the likes of flops insua,dossena,degen…we lfc fans have witnessed a lot flops under benitez.cole will play better than benayoun.benayoun scores more goals,but joe’s passes are awesome.he will finish the season with a lot of assists.also in my opinion you are wrong and i like more gerrard as a center midfielder.a midfield partnership of him and meireles,would remind us a gerrard-alonso partnerhip before two years.poulsen for 4-5 million is surely a steal,and experienced defensive midfielder with still a lot to play for.Roy has some thoughts about the team squad this season.Joe Cole’s main position is behind the striker.but he can gladly also play as a winger.we’ll see about that during the future.that would mean that meireles and poulsen would be the midfielders,with cole and kuyt wingers,gerrard and torres up front.also a good combination.4th place is in our reach this season.whatever some lfc fans,i think we are far better than last season.