When interviewed by Liverpoolfc.tv today about the the pace of Craig Bellamy and the rest of Liverpool’s summer signings, Damien Comolli had this to say:
“It is very important in everything we have tried to do this summer. In the cases of Jose Enrique, Jordan and Stewart, they are all very quick and it’s something we wanted to emphasise because we felt last season we were lacking a bit of pace.”
One of the good aspects of having a Director of Football is that they are fully focused on creating a transfer strategy. Although there is nothing wrong in a manager having a final say on transfers, like Kenny Dalglish does, it must be said that because their jobs are on the line, most managers tend to take a short term strategy in pursuing targets thinking about problems areas in the team, and looking to fill the gaps.
Although this also could be said of Liverpool, it is apparent that both Comolli and Dalglish sat down at the start of the summer, and discussed not only specific transfer targets, but also the nature of the transfer targets they were pursuing. King Kenny obviously felt, like many Reds fans, that the team was lacking in pace in nearly all areas of the pitch.
From then on, I think it can safely be assumed. that Damien Comolli went away from the meeting to draw up a shortlist of players, who were both good footballers but also had a great deal of speed and acceleration. The Frenchman then most probably returned to Dalglish to ask which players on the shortlist he would prefer to go for.
Although I assume many clubs do their transfer dealings in such a systematic way, identifying key faults in attributes and looking for remedies, you couldn’t imagine someone like Harry Redknapp doing such a thing. The old fashioned way of doing things would be for a manager to go after a player he fancies as he feels he would add something to the squad.
Almost surreal when you compare the present to the past few years.
I was pleasantly surprised when we re-signed Bellamy. I thought he would have been out of bounds due to his age (32). But if this shows a willingness to be flexible within the bigger picture then I’m all for it i.e. use him as an impact subsitute etc etc
Also I wonder if Rafa would have fitted in well with FSGs strategy? As he probably has his own way of doing things and probably would have not liked someone like comolli having control over certain areas. I cant help but think that this would have caused friction.
Thats why its best to support Dalglish 110% and be grateful that “the Liverpool way” of doing things has taken hold again.