As another league season seems set to peter out into a disappointing finale, the sheer amount of money spent at Liverpool over the last twelve months or so is set to be super scrutinised in the coming months as we may need to accept the fact that we are going to finish lower than we did last season.
After coming so close to European football with a late surge in the latter stage of last season, the totally undeserved but ultimately self inflicted defeat to Arsenal on Saturday has left us facing a mountainous task to chase down a top 4 place. We do have the game in hand and Arsenal have all the mental toughness of Marco Boogers, but we now are in all probability dining from the secondary table of continental competitions next year. Our Europa passage is already secured following our Carling Cup final victory.
But after the amount of money we spent during the summer in 2011, should we be asking questions about our league form? I think there’s an important need to strike a balance. We should be higher than where we are, that’s a certainty, but we lack a ruthlessly efficient goalscorer. Our rivals for that position have those in abundance, although Adebayor isn’t Spurs’ player. But with over £100m spent in two transfer windows, it’s not an unfair argument to say that we should have addressed this issue already.
It was also pretty obvious we needed to deal with this issue in January – yet we failed to do so. We can all point fingers at different parties on that aspect, but our next striker is a massive move and the club cannot afford an expensive mistake.
There’s an argument that we could be the best positioned for a tilt at 4th place next year as we need the least work. We need a few tweaks here and there whereas many of our rivals need wholesale changes. I agree with this – but I thought we were best positioned for a tilt this season as well.
Kenny’s signings have largely been questioned, but one man who seems to escape a lot of flack is our Director of Football, Damien Comolli. Initially appointed as Director of Football Strategy, the Frenchman was appointed by FSG with presumably one brief – find us the stars of the present and the future. Having had senior roles at Arsenal, Spurs and St Etienne, the success of Comolli’s signings is equal to popular thought on his appointment – split down the middle.
This is a man who has unearthed several footballing gems but it is important to realise that a lot of his successes at Spurs came at a time when he was virtually in full control of transfer strategy. This is reportedly one of the reasons that Juande Ramos’ wheels fell off during his stint at White Hart Lane. Yet Comolli has overseen some of Spurs’ current top players. Luka Modric was a signing of his, plucked from the relative obscurity of the Croatian league. The outlay for the Croat wasn’t cheap but Spurs could have doubled their money at the very least when Chelsea came knocking during summer 2011.
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Another big signing Comolli oversaw was Dimitar Berbatov. The talented Bulgarian signed from Bayer Leverkusen in May 2006 (there was reported interest from LFC the January previous) for £10.9m and would go on to be sold for a £20m profit two years later when he headed to Castle Greyskull on a lucrative contract.
When at Arsenal, Comolli was directly responsible for Arsenal’s purchases of Kolo Toure, Gael Clichy and (don’t laugh) Emmanuel Eboue. All players have since been sold on for a profit. None of them may necessarily be world beaters (Toure probably was before his knee injury) but are all good, solid Premier League footballers. Eboue has since been moved on to Galatasaray.
Comolli’s eye for snapping up youth doesn’t end there. This is the man who also signed Gareth Bale. The Welshman initially had a bad time of it when he first signed from Southampton for £10m and famously didn’t win a Premier League game in which he played in 24 attempts. He is now currently one of the most talked about players on Earth. He might well have been on his way on loan to Forest before Redknapp put him on the left, but the lad had the talent all along. Comolli doesn’t deal in tactics, he signs players. That was his job at Spurs.
Of course, there are also a concerning number of failures. I won’t sift through why they are failures as it will be pretty well documented, but Comolli has overseen the signings of Darren Bent (who scores goals at lower placed teams but was a poor signing for Spurs), Heurelho Gomes, Benoit Assou-Ekotto (others might place him on the success list, I think he’s utter rubbish), David Bentley, Ricardo Rocha, Gilberto and Francis Jeffers.
It’s easy to stick the boot in but that’s not what I’m trying to do. What I want to consider is this – does Comolli have a grip of his task, or is he largely sitting in the wings and doing very little whilst playing Football Manager?
I think it’s actually too early to pass judgement on him yet. Whilst Comolli will have his continental contacts, if you look at our signings, almost all of them have been first team players. He might well have advised Kenny on Suarez and will presumably have done a lot of scouting before negotiating that deal, which is also his job.
One signing that could have his fingerprints over it actually is that of Jordan Henderson. Whilst he’s not exactly been plucked from a lower division like Bale, Hendo is clearly a signing with one eye on the future. I’m 100% Kenny liked him as well which is why we agreed to pay big money (but not as big as the SKY SPORTS TRANSFER SPENDING CALULATOR made out) but he is a player brought in with a view of 2-3 years in mind and not immediately. Hendo splits opinions but there are flashes of a very, very talented player in there at times and if utilised correctly at centre midfield I think we have signed a pretty good footballer. But he’s nowhere near the finished article.
I’m not saying he’s just Comolli’s signing. Far from it. But I reckon he’s someone Comolli identified as a target to improve us in the future as well as the present. Only time is going to tell if he’s right or not. The only other signing that has Comolli’s DNA written all over it is that Texeira lad from Sporting, who was our only bit of January business. He played well against us in that Next-Gen competition but his signing was still out of the blue.
This is a hark back to the Benitez days when young players were regularly bought for decent fees on big wages for their age. This scattergun approach, “helped” along with Eduardo Macia saw the likes of Vitor Flora (I have never seen such a poor footballer), Nicola Saric and Ronaldo Huth arrive, be poor, and be released. The talent was in the academy all along without bringing it in, as proven with Spearing and Kelly now being first team squad members on a regular basis. If one player is brought in every now and again, they must be exceptional talents to make the grade.
Comolli’s brief was a simple one, if incredibly tough – find the talent of the future now. But with the Hicks and Gillett regime poisoning the squad, along with poor Benitez judgement and the sheer existence of Roy Hodgson, it’s fair to say that our first team was in need of some serious, immediate investment. To give the owners their due they have backed Dalglish with the players he wanted the summer previous. How much Comolli had to do with those deals is something I’m not qualified to answer. But I think that his true input will begin to be clear when the first team squad is sorted. I’m not saying he is going to grab world class players from obscurity as that simply does not happen. He might find the talent but the club must nurture the talent into what we want and need. Kolo Toure will have hardly been world class when he first signed for Arsenal, for example.
But the pressure is on. He has said in the space of three days that big players are interested in Liverpool but to not expect massive amounts of spending. Double bluff? Contradictions? Phone call from the owners causing embarrassing climbdown? I don’t know, but if this time next year we are looking at getting a low league finish again, the finger of blame will slowly point to the Frenchman. I think the coming summer is key to his survival and to even justify his role.
But can we have the next Gareth Bale, Luka Modric and Dimitar Berbatov please, whilst avoiding the next Gomes like the plague!
In the unlikely event you want to hear more from Dan, you can follow him on twitter (@TLW1Dan) and you can also catch him as a regular writer in The Liverpool Way fanzine and on TLW forums. Please be aware that any content from Dan may contain sarcasm.
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If Dalglish has the final say on the acquisition of players, then Comolli is responsible for Liverpool’s present position. As for whether he is doing his job, the real question is what is his job description?
For me, Comolli has a lot to answer for. Andy Carroll has been a big mistake with his fingerprints all over it! Anybody can sign players for huge fees, we all do it playing Champ Manager! Just what is he doing?
Sure answer is NO! we have terrible squad, no real poacher!! no playmaker! we should have recalled aqua man in january!! Im so effing frustrated with all this!! i cant remember last time we played those magic nights in CL! miss that so much!
just to be clear. comolli did not say there will be limited spending. he said there will be little movement.
big difference.
And as you say he is looking for players for the future and getting them now – why then does everyone get on a 22yo andy carroll and a 20yo jordan hendersons back?
too many people expected immediate results without actually looking at what the club was doing with those two.
Comolli cannot be blamed for everything Kenny has a say in transfers, seems to me some fans look to blame everyone but Kenny.
I totally beleive in the work both are doing give it time, this is a rebuilding process, we can’t attract the big named players over night, we are on the right track winning one cup with another to play for.
Agree with most of the posts.
Questioned his role and relevance at our club on another blog a few weeks ago.
If you look at the track record then you’ll see that apart from the players listed above then there’s a trend of him wasting a lot of money on players that don’t work out. I’d say he has about a 25% success rate – the other 75 is a waste. We as LFC have had it tough and don’t need to see any more wastage like this so I’d go as far as saying I don’t trust this guy at our club. He doesn’t seem clue’d up regardless of what his background is.
look at the signing since The new owners took over, all but Suarez and Enrique are crap in my eyes ans not of a standard to fit LFC. With all due respect to their previous clubs, they where good players in mediocre teams but mediocre players in what is supposed to be a good team.
The guys we brought in over the seasons previously are much better than the newbies.
A rethink of strategy is required instead of purchasing youngsters why not purchase proven overseas talent instead of the extortionate money we have wasted on ‘that’ crap.
Rant over !
YNWA
If hendo is for d future why can’t we loan him out.Compare Aquilani(loan),Max(bench),Shelvey(loan) and Henderson,rank them accordingly and see who come last,yet only Henderson plays regularly,why?We only bought head in carrol.When will he be good enough to worth a resale price of £35m? The rest of the world are laughing at our “british players” policy.Our current best players were signed by Banitez and they aren’t “britìsh” except Johnson.Kenny fans said we could only him blame at end of the seanson,now the seanson is fading away,and we aren’t sure of meeting our target.Winning the carling cup will do us alot of good though,we didn’t spend that milions to win the carling cup.
Flak as in ‘flak jacket’ as opposed to flack as in ‘Roberta Flack’ you muppet!
I am sorry to say but most professionals in the game talk a big game but are nothing more than money greedy pigs. Como has no skills, his track record at spurs was rubbish and LFC are a very wasteful club. It is the sole reason LFC never go forward because they blow alot of money and below average players. KK thinks he knows but he dont, the future is quite bleak if you ask me, has been for a while
All U guys blaming Comolli are blind.Let me ask U guys who really,really,really wanted to sign Adam,Downing,Caroll?KENNY!!!Yes Comolli was involved but Kenny wanted british crap.Example:Comolli spotted Mata&Perotti instead Kenny wanted Downing.We should admit it,Kenny wasted the money more than Comolli.Some fans think the man is untouchable cos his “king kenny”.When Rafa was in charge we all pointed fingers at him but no kenny is untouchable.Some fans are just too blind cos luv LFC not Kenny.Lets face fact,if not4Comolli I’m 150% sure Suarez would never be an LFC player today cos Kenny would waste it on british crap.
Absolutely ridiculous. Rafa took some blame for signings yes, but even he had a very public falling out with Rick Parry, the man who failed to make the signings Rafa really wanted. Lots of fans know Parry was poor at his job and blame him at that time.
Many LFC fans including myself have only two word to describe both DC and KD, UTTER RUBBISH. If we scatter our net wide enough, we would surely find one or two gems. This is what DC is doing and what any bloke could do. To spend more than 100 mill and find ourselves in this league position? That cup we won, well we nearly didn’t, nearly lost to a 2nd Div side. We knew the quality of Suarez, Enrique and Bellamy (from his previous spell with us, so was it a surprise they dis well?
Spending 35 mill and 20 mill a piece on Carroll, Hendo and Downing, that is downright reckless. Downing especially, when did he ever suggest in his entire career he is worth 20 mill? No wonder Villa is happy to do buisness. Look at Mata, how much did he cost?
As for KD, poor tactical knowledge, poor man management skills, presevering with rubbish players, where do i start with him.
The best piece of business next for LFc is not about players, it would be signing 2 professionals to replace these 2 clowns.
‘KD has poor man managmement skills’?!!?
I think you may have won the most ridiculous statement of this thread my friend…unbelievable, some of our so called ‘fans’
That is probably his best quality!!
He alinated Kuyt, Maxi, sold Meireles and Aqua all easily our best performing players while at the same time unable to inspire rubbish that he himself bought such as Carroll, Henderson, Downing.
When games are ongoing can’t inspire our players to even score penalties.
Great man management skills?
Red nose can inspire his manure team to win 3-2 when 0-2 down with M.C and draw 3-3 with CFC when 3-0 down. Compare KD with and you would see what i mean.
KD barely inspire his players to beat a 2nd div team at a cup final. Need we say more.
The earlier these writers tell us about NET SPENDING and make it clear that we have not actually spent 100Million in two years ,the better it will be for people to understand that LFC have carried out a shrewd piece of work in the transfer window and I know that with a little time ,we will be back where we belong ….. we have bagged one trophy already but like the human eye ,fans are insatiable! LFC YNWA!
You talked a whole lot of sense. If we r buying players for the future, they should b in d team B, or better still, loaned out. We should b getting world class(5star) players like Eden Hazard, Martinez, Shaquiri, Tevez or Torres, Allen and Sinclaire of swansea. Reina is not even good for us.
King kenny was suppose 2 b temporal manager and not permanent one. Itz high time for him to go! Go with his scraps… Carroll, Downing, Carragher.
Ahhh, perspective, what a rare commodity sometimes. By my calculations we got around 70 million for Torres, Babel and Merelies. So the net spend would really be somewhere between 30-40 million maybe. Anyone who says we spent $100 million on players is the type of person who will complain of being overcharged at the supermarket because they forgot their change .
So whilst we lost those three, we got Carrol, Suarez, Enrique, Bellamy, Henderson, Adam, Coates. At this stage, I find that acceptable. Down the track, it might be more or less acceptable.
As for the team performances, I watch our team play with hope and expectation where as prior to Christmas of 2010, it was frustration and despair. Can anyone honestly say with the organised defence and chances we are creating that Kenny and Comoli are failures? At worst, the jury is out.
From memory, it took Rudolph a number of years to stamp his mark at United. For God’s sake given the style of football, can’t we give Kenny and Comili a few years as well? Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was any football club.