Many believe that the signing of Paul Konchesky is a sign of how far Liverpool have fallen. The 29 year old sealed a move from Fulham on the final day of the transfer window with youngsters Lauri Dalla Valle and Alex Kacaniklic going in the other direction. Like many Reds fans, I have my misgivings about signing the player; after all you couldn’t imagine any other of the top six clubs making a bid for the player to make him their first choice left back. However I am willing to bide my time and wait and see whether Konchesky can be an astute signing. After all, it was never realistic that the Reds could buy a top class left back. The prices for players such as Fabio Coentrao, Taye Taiwo and any other you care to mention would be very high and it was unrealistic to expect the Reds to finance moves for such players with the current financial constraints.
In the end Roy Hodgson stuck with a player he knows, somebody he knows the capabilities of rather than an unknown quantity from abroad. His attributes will certainly fit in well to Liverpool’s formation and he will know how Roy’s defensive system works. He can slot in straight away without much hassle and know exactly what the boss requires of him. Hodgson’s tactical emphasis throughout his career has been on team shape, and Konchesky will know more than most about the regimented training exercises that Roy employs. Working alongside an experienced back four, Konchesky is no novice himself and should be a solid if unspectacular performer if his previous spells at Charlton, West Ham and Fulham are anything to go by. Former Reds defender Gary Gillespie believes Konchesky should perform well:
“In modern football width comes from the full-backs, so there is probably more emphasis on attacking defenders more than back in my day. He is a player who will get down the left side and attack. He is naturally left-footed and that gives us good balance down that flank. . . It’s a department we’ve been looking to strengthen for quite a while. Roy Hodgson obviously knows him very well from Fulham. That’s just a natural thing because managers look to players they know and trust.”
Konchesky has had an up and down career. After finding himself frozen out at Charlton after falling out with manager Alan Curbishley over his preferred position; Konchesky handed in a transfer request. Curbishley had given the player his debut aged 16 years and 93 days, a record for the club, but his request for a transfer made the pair fall out big time. After a brief loan spell at Tottenham, he was bought by West Ham. He had a great spell at the club helping the team to the FA Cup final and winning his second England cap in the process. The arrival of Alan Curbishley as manager at Upton Park however hastened his exit and he transferred to Fulham for £3.25m. He established himself at left back at Craven Cottage and was a stalwart at the back for Roy Hodgson as he helped Fulham to the Europa League final last season.
Without being too harsh on Konchesky though, like Poulsen, the English defender is at the time of his career where he hasn’t got many years left at the top. Hodgson is most likely looking for a short term fix and bringing somebody in he can trust at this time is essential. We have been looking for a left back for the entire summer, and it has become apparent that there wasn’t going to be a great deal of money to spend without the sale of a star player. To this end, in my mind, Konchesky was a logical choice by Hodgson; whether it will be the right one we will have to wait and see.
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I agree. Hodgson’s dealings have mostly been targeted at patching up the side in the short term. He’s planning with the expectation that the club will be sold in the coming month or two, and by January he’ll at least have a decent budget to play with. Realistically, Liverpool can compete for honours next season. Till then, the job is to keep the club from falling too far, and for that you need experienced players who can slot right in and shore up the squad immediately.
My guess is all Roy wants this season is:
1) New owners
2) A top four finish
3) A decent Europa Cup run
In that order.
If LFC achieve that, it would be an acceptable season. The real challenge will have to be next year, when we have new owners and not a day sooner. Unfortunately.
He is pretty decent but nothing spectacular, for reasons stated in this post he isn’t a bad signing. I think the most disappointing element of the deal is the fact that we have all but got rid on insua aswell and trading Dalla Valle as part of the deal for Konchesky. We are destroying our future, it only takes a few careless decisions to wipe out years of work.
cant underestimate how poor insua was last season and what a huge effect he had on our defence with poor positioning, lack of space and lack of ability in 1 on 1 situations.
in a world where left back is the weakest position in world football, to get a left back from one of the best defences in the league im more than happy.
This says it all for LFC. Yet another “jobs for the boys” from Hodegson. Hodgson applies yet another “nice little earner” for his boys from Fulham. All he has done is ensure that those who were his buddies at FFC get some of the gravy.He ,like G and H, will be laughing all the way to the bank!
The final nail in the coffin is coming and LFC will fade into the background like many before them.
It will be interesting to see come January when Torres and Gerard leave what they eventually have to say on all this…..
Chunky you can hope whatever you want.Gerrard and Torres are staying at Liverpool so keep your mouth shut.whatever team you support,you envy liverpool’s records.buchtmann was also a great talent to liverpool,sold to fulham and now he belongs to koln!!lool..liverpool board know more things than we do.from what i’ve seen we have pacheco and ngog for the future.whatever liverpool fans may think,ngog for his age is awesome,so does pacheco.Roy stable the ship and we’ll be flying for that 4th spot..YNWA
I agree he’s more than likely a “safe” and short term option, and hope that once a new buyer steps in we move for someone of a much higher quality in January.
As pointed out, he’s familiar with Hodgeson’s style of play and will hopefully just slot straight in at the back, allowing Agger to move back into his best position alongside Carra and, eventually, Skrtel.
Poulsen, on the other hand, seems to be a waste of money. He may have been half decent a few years back, but he’s too old and lacks that creative edge we’ve missed since Alonso left. Hopfully Meireles can fill that void.
Only time will tell.
I think the reason for signing Konchesky was revealed in the squad list issued yesterday; he is the eighth ‘home grown’ player in a squad that includes the mandatory minimum of eight ‘home grown’ players.
He might not be the very best in his position, but he might be the best available, and as a capable English left-back, he ticks two important boxes.
James.
You’ll Never Walk Alone.
where did we get Finnan from? And riise was due to join Fulham until we nicked him first. Five the guy a chance ffs.
When you say “many believe that the signing of Paul Konchesky is a sign of how far Liverpool have fallen” I take it that this means you have been listening to that prick Tony Cascarino?
Great players has achieved great thinghs for the hammers and fulham! He will be a massive improvement on Insua
his all round games excellent great move by Roy. Not convinced about Dalla Valle going though
Konchesky is a left back. that’s better than what we had which was… no left back. stop complaining or stop supporting. your choice YNWA
A true Reds fan will voice his opinions no matter what but will always give each player a chance, as long as he commits to the club and show it on the field. Let’s hope for the best under the cicumstances which i’m sure you all know it’s probably the worst financial situation ever.
It’s a decent signing as he is a solid defender and an upgrade over Agger, Aurelio, Dossena or Insua at left back. Giving him 4 year contract is a bit puzzling, but whatever. With Johnson down the right and the lack of pace through the middle we needed somebody solid defensively much more than another marauding fullback and Konchesky should give us that.
The problem lies further up the field in front of him…
Konchesky might be a decent short-term option but it may prove costly as we had to give up Dalla Valle to get him. The boy was one of the brightest prospects we’ve had in recent years. In a few years, when Barcelona buys him for £20m we’ll be kicking ourselves. Another player who should have been given a chance was Nemeth whose agent said that letting him go was a purely financial decision. So we’re selling the future of the club to paper over the cracks. Asset stripping anyone?
Au contrair in relation to his ability, I don’t see a huge amount of difference between him and Wayne Bridge and Bridge has played for both Chelsea and Man City. We struggled at left back last year with Aurelio out injured, Dossena who was just complete dross and Insua who was learning his trade and has absolutely no pace. Konchesky is experienced, he is a good full back, he is English and aggressive and he knows that he has come in to play. I felt that teams had really picked up on Insua’s weakness in the air and on the ground last season. He got beaten so many times by pacey wingers knocking it past him and running and then got caught at the back post with players looking to win the ball in the air above him. Konchesky has far more positional awareness about him and knows how to defend. I see him complimenting Agger and Carra very well. For all intents and purposes, are there actually that many good/world class left backs available at the moment anyway who are not at top top clubs? I would say that the only one who was is Kolarov and City snapped him up sharpish.
Well the fact remains Konchesky can defend and that is the important part also he has experience so if the side can manage a decent amount of clean sheets it will go a long way.
I am a great believer in giving a player a go and this side should improve as the season goes on.
I am still disappointed in the window though and even if the new owners want to spend, it is slim pickings in January so we need this bunch to do the job.
Listen, the lad is ok, not a world beater, but won’t let us down and the bottom line is, forgetting the money situation at the club, we need English lads in the side, not just from a morale point of view, but the new european ruling on the number of home grown players. We need a few more as well to be comfortable without having to scrape the barrel every year to make the quota – a decent signing in my book.
“after all you couldn’t imagine any other of the top six clubs making a bid for the player to make him their first choice left back” – how many of the top 6 teams need a first choice left back?
I think Paul Konchesky is a good signing and probably the most solid left back we have had since John Arne Riise it is unfair for people to be criticising the man before he has even played a game for the club.
I would love to see Gareth Bale long term if we can get the money.