Forget Team GB – ‘Team BR’ Is About To Emerge!

LIKE everybody else I have been following the transfer window saga with mingled hope and apprehension. It’s clear that LFC’s new manager has his own ideas on tactics and strategy, as he has every right and duty to. It’s his job first to choose the shape and style of his team, and then to work out which of his players will fit in to it and which won’t; then, of course, he must replace the latter.

Like all old Reds, I was sad to see the departure of Dirk and Maxi, and I can only assume (equally sadly) that Bellamy will be on his way back to the valleys in the not-too-distant future. Brendan is clearly building for the medium-to-long term, and if he goes for a steady policy of buying in early to the careers of young players with potential, this will clearly fit in with the FSG philosophy. A marriage made in heaven, if it all works out.

It’s interesting that the boss’s first purchase should have been Fabio Borini. I’ve not seen him play, but the word sounds good. First, a player with a record of playing down left, right or centre as the situation dictates. A player, in other words, not unlike Luis Suarez; provided they don’t cancel each other out, as can happen, that might be another marriage made in heaven.

There aren’t many Italians playing in the Premiership. Italians tend to stay in Italy and this would suggest they prefer to play with their compatriots in their national style – which, as we saw in the Euros last month, is not a bad style to play in. We don’t know yet whether Brendan Rodgers thinks he can make anything of Alberto Aquilani; but, if he does, Liverpool will be the only Premiership club with two Italians in the first team. If such an axis is viable, LFC may be able to filter in a few more Azzurri, and no-one can say that would be a bad thing. But we’ll have to wait and see.

Which brings us on to the next issue. The signing of Borini – let’s hope he lives up to his name – which puts the whole thorny Carroll question into sharper focus. It’s being said on all sides that the big man won’t fit into the whole pace-and-versatility tiki-taka concept. But hang on a minute, and look back to last season; even then we had the makings of a really good passing game in the opponents’ half. What we had difficulty doing was whacking the leather into the reticule – and tiki-taka can’t do that very often. Perhaps we should hang on to the ponytail after all. At least until we can see how Brendan’s Italian job turns out.
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But how’s it all going to fit together? We can assume that Brendan will build on the back four which established itself during last season; our attacking full-backs Enrique and Johnson would seem to be exactly what he wants, and the Agger-Skrtel combination, with Coates being eased gently into the first team, gives the combination between solidity and creativity at the heart of the defence.

It’s the midfield that poses the problem, as it has done ever since the Houllier days (remember when every Liverpool midfielder used to receive passes with his back to goal?). How to develop an attack creatively while retaining possession? This is where the not-quite-or-not-yet brigade, the Henderson’s and Spearing’s and Downing’s, will have to up their game. Anyone who can’t keep the ball, however artistic he might be when he’s got it, isn’t going to get in a Brendan Rodgers first team.

What we need is a new Kenny Dalglish; not as manager but as unbeatable ball-holder. You didn’t take the ball off King Kenny, and there’s a vacancy at Anfield for a new one. So, not setting my expectations too high then! But that could be the final piece in the Rodgers jigsaw.

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