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Clear out: Who is classified as ‘dead-wood’?

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Liverpool FC Downing SpearingWITH a season over and a new one in the offing there is always the summer transfer window to contend with, which many have now taken to referring to as ‘silly season’ thanks to the ridiculous about of rumours surrounding huge clubs, such as our own.

But with the transfer rumours comes actual transfers, and with those transfers there must be some cash freed up for both fees and wages and that is where the term ‘dead-wood’ comes in.

Over the past few years there have been far too many terrible players ‘gracing’ the famous (and only) Red shirt and sadly, we still have a few too many poor players still at the club.

For Liverpool to move forward and to improve, we need to improve the squad but that doesn’t only mean bringing in higher quality players, it also means moving on those that are not up to scratch.

The first and, for me, most obvious of these is Jay Spearing. At just 6 months short of 25 it frankly amazes me that a player of Spearing’s limited quality is still contracted to this club. In my opinion, he is a prime example of the fallacy that ‘local = good’.

Having seen a lot of Spearing for the reserves, I was aware that his ability was very limited but being captain and being a ‘local’ (if you can count Wallasey as such) lad meant he was granted a stay of execution that others might not have been.

I feel quite strongly about this one simply because I feel that at Bolton, in the Championship, Spearing has found his ‘level’ but for too long, his place at the club has limited the development of others and I can see him being silently moved out in the summer.

The second player on my list, that we should still get some relatively decent money for, is Stewart Downing. He had a decent – and easily his best – season in a Red shirt last year but he wasn’t in the least bit impressive enough. And with some of the names being linked with the club, he will simply become surplus to requirements.

Downing isn’t necessarily a bad player but he always isn’t a special one and special players are precisely what is needed to move the club back in the right direction. Had he been younger he may perhaps have been given more time but at near enough 29, he will be very lucky to be kept about.
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Another piece of so-called ‘dead-wood’ is Danny Wilson and it pains me to name him such. The lad has potential but at 21 he has been loaned out 3 times since his arrival from Rangers and if it was ever going to happen at Liverpool it would’ve done by now.

He isn’t a particularly bad player but three managers now have chosen to loan the defender out and that can never be a good sign. Particularly when there are young defenders of a similar age, such as Steven Caulker, around the Premier League.

I’m sure that Wilson will go on to have a good career at Hearts, after having moved on in a free transfer over the Bank Holiday weekend, but the money we should save in his reported £20,000 a week wage will far out-weigh the amount we’d miss him at the club, which is not at all.

Finally, and this one saddens me, is Andy Carroll. I’ve perhaps not rated him as highly as others but a decent half-season in the Premier League with Newcastle and a well-taken goal against Sweden doesn’t make a player worth kicking up a fuss about.

As with Spearing, Carroll’s nationality has given him more support than his performances and ability perhaps deserve but he is a better player that he has been treated by Rodgers.

I always thought that a manager would give a player a chance when joining a new club but Brendan Rodgers had already decided that Carroll was not a part of his long-term plans. Which is fine. He clearly has a ‘vision’ and whether I agree with it or not is irrelevant. If the striker isn’t a part of it then we need to back the manager and get as much as we can for him.

The money we should get would allow us to move for much more vital targets and Carroll will no-doubt prove to be a financial key to any major moves we make in the summer.

There are of course other players that could potentially move in the summer but our first-team is relatively strong and another pre-season should only strengthen that.

The £20-£30 million we should receive for these four players would allow us to bring in some genuine quality in the summer and provided that money is directed toward the right targets we should move into next season a great deal more confidently.

However, only time will tell.
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I'm a 32 year old Liverpool fan, living in the heart of the City Centre. I've supported the club since the day I was born and have been writing articles for L4L for over 3 years, writing close over 350 articles in that time. My favorite player of the past generation is Sami Hyypia.

I am the current editor for L4L, with my day job being in R&D for the NHS.

45 comments

  • Marco says:

    Deadwood

    Allen
    Borini
    Assaidi
    Downing
    Yesil
    Pacheco

    • Liverpool4life565 says:

      Allen and borini are not dead wood, and won’t be sold. Also yesil was brought for the future.

      • Jon says:

        I agree, Allen was playing as cover for lucas in the first half of the season and we will see a better player next season.Borini has great movement and will score many goals if he stays injury free. He also needs to play through the center and not on the left wing. Assiadi…… What has happened there? I think theres more to it than we know about as he has just disapeared lately.

      • Freddie says:

        Allen n Borini might not be sold , but they mist certainly ARE deadwood

        Yesil is 18. The future is now

    • mahomed says:

      Frm here in south africa anyone cn see spearing needs to be speared out. Assaidi out, brad jones out and ofcourse pachecho. Downing can be useful on the bench. Yesil must stay coz he is for the future. At 1million pounds or less his price tag will b worth 10times come 2015. Caroll is definietly not a techmically gifted player and he is just the old fashioned english striker with absolutely no movement skills. This is an expert opinion

    • mrlynd says:

      Marco, add Shelvey and Henderson to the list. Henderson is a lucky dude but clearly stiff legged and not talented all.

  • stevieG says:

    Joe Allen is one of the worst players ever to play for Liverpool. I know he won’t be sold because he is the managers pet – but he is deadwood

    Also deadwood = downing Coates borini and Jones

  • bhupendra says:

    Please get rid of these players : Henderson , Allen , Enrique , Borini , Spearing

    All of which are total rubbish

    • stevie says:

      Henderson is not rubbish. He has had a pretty good season and is improving all the time. He will become a very good player. Have some patience and watch him develop in to a very good player.

    • shibashis says:

      I am not sure why everyone is so willing to jump on Borini’s back. He barely had a go with us throughout the season, being injured for the most part of it. Now you want fit players, yes for sure. But could it not be that the lad just had a case of rotten luck? He showed positive desire when he came back at the fag end of the season, he was full of running and for me at least even showed potential that can be persisted with for another season. There was passion and a real desire to prove himself to the Anfield faithful. That is the kind of players I would want at the club. You will ask how is he different than Spearing? Spearing is also full of running and desire, true, but Borini is a far far better quality player than Spearing (no disrespect meant to Spearing though). I strongly feel that we should stick with him for at least one more season.

      The same however, I can not say about Allen, if he is moved on for better prospects in the same position, I will not be complaining.

      • Brigadier says:

        Borini will always be remembered for his gutless FA cup display

      • Freddie says:

        Borini 20 appearances 2 goals 0 assists. Hit the post once and did feck all the rest of the time

        If Borini was a QPR player , he would have been dropped , but not at Liverpool cos he is Brendas pet

      • Freddie says:

        Borini is shocking . Doesnt deserve more chances

  • Fritz Kropfreiter says:

    Henderson and Enrique? What have you been smoking my friend? You’re obviously reading too many comments from the * who love jumping onto bandwagons.

  • scouse ed says:

    Allen and Borini are useless but won’t be sold . Downing is average at best , and Shelvey is not Liverpool class .

  • Sid says:

    RODGERS PASCOE AND MARSH
    Get rid of them and we will do ok

  • Me says:

    I would sell Spearing, Carroll, and Shelvey straight out. Spearo breaks my heart but not good enough, Carroll has better career ahead of him if he moves, Shelvs never struck me as really that good (we have coutinho, suso, and texiera in AM). Downing out if we can get a better left footed-right sided winger since BR plays inverted (sterling, ibe, even assaidi are right footed-left sided). Same for Coates if we can get Papadopulous (don’t want to have too many CBs to stunt Wisdom and L. Jones growth). Loan Suso, Coates if he doesn’t move, and Ibe. In, Toure (confirmed today), I. Aspas (good option off bench for any top 3), backup left back (Dinge?). If possible, DM too (Wanayama!!), but not vital with Toure, and Erikson (too good to pass up!!) or Honda. I know it seems a dream, but its possible. I just don’t want to load up with “too much” potential and not have room for it (I mean, who would start… Erikson, Honda, Coutinho, Hendo, Shelvey, Suarez, Allen, Suso… I know they all can play different positions but still)

  • Stanley says:

    U guys dnt get it @ all…… Deadwoods
    – downing, carol, wisdom, jones, spearing, pacheco, assaidi…..
    Anybody calin Borini, allen, hendason, enrique.. D@ persom didnt watch dis season… I cnt evn call Carol a deadwood jst d@ BR dnt like his play style

    • Me says:

      agree…except allen, but he has time…and wisdom (hes beast)… and assiadi to an extent (he wasn’t really given a chance, but he isn’t that young either)

      • mrlynd says:

        Everyone was given a chance to shine, this is no boozers league, where one needs time to shake out the alcohol to play good. Phillipe Coutinho seized that moment and shone. I say step up or be gone. As much I as hated to see Man U achieve all that success, Grandpa Fergie did not tolerate mediocre players. Check it out, he took Ashley Young and was not concerned with Downing.

        • David Tobin says:

          Totally agree. This nonsense idea thst a player needs a season or so to settle in is stupid

          We don’t have time to wait for a player to get up to speed. Allen and Borini have had over 60 games between them. They are rubbish !!!

          Suarez coutinho Torres etc didn’t need excuses , they just performed from day 1

  • Jack says:

    Deadwood . plenty to choose…in order
    1 Allen
    2 Borini
    3 Downing
    4 Assaidi
    5 Coates ( maybe loan only)
    6 Shelvey
    7 Jones

    He is not deadwood but I would sell Johnson to raise cash , as we are ok with right backs

    Also not good enough – yesil pacheco ngoo sama and flanagan

    • shibashis says:

      Yesil not good enough? How many games did the kid get? How many minutes did he get for us to come up with the verdict that he is ‘not good enough’ ????

      • Jack says:

        Have you actually watched any reserve games ? The guy looks really really poor. I think he scored just 1 all season. Morgan and Ngoo are way better

  • Ibrahim says:

    Assaidi
    Coates (needs to go on loan the very least)
    Downing (has played well, if we can get better we should let him go)
    Shelvey (needs a loan perhaps Crystal Palace can give regular PL experience)
    Coady (we loan him out to first team football and see if he swims)
    Flannagan (we loan him out to first team football and see if he swims)
    Carroll
    Pacheco
    Spearing

  • smudge says:

    Allen
    Allen
    Allen
    Allen
    Allen
    …and Borini

  • marshal says:

    big arguement is how could people say yesil be said to be deadwood,a player who has better records on his youth records.allen wasnt worth 15m .coates check how he played when we played against man city,played well but was nt given game time.i wnt to see yesil ,ibe,adorjan hvng game time playing carling cup and f.a cup.we need wanyama and lucas as defensive midfielder.hope suarez stays

  • Tommy says:

    Every summer we say “let’s get rid of the deadwood”

    But every summer we just buy more deadwood !!!

    Last summer was the worst of all with , allen borini assaidi and yesil

    It’s got to stop . The only solution is to stop buying rubbish

  • Andrew says:

    Allen. Downing. Shelvey. Assaidi. Borini and Rodgers himself

    Coates and Skrtel are good and should stay

  • sam charles says:

    Deadwood – lets get real.

    Liverpool have one last major cull to do and we can see it, smell it and its loud and clear!!!.

    SELL –

    Carroll – just not the right fit and we need the cash, his wages are far to high and he is not mobile enough to fit 2- 3 ways of playing, sell and we would be lucky to get 13 mill.

    Spearing – nothing but like the guy but that doesn’t get you top 4 or tittles, he is a good young pro with a solid game at best, his level is bottom team in Prem or top team in championship. sell for as much as 3.5 mill.

    Assiadi – get rid, to brittle and is a nothing type of player that should be in Wigans team not a Liverpool squad trying for top 4!!! this guy could go back to Holland and we could at best recoup what we paid, sell for the 2.7 mill

    Coates – just has not got the games and you have ask why he has not done more during the weeks to force himself in the team, he is young but that does not mean we give him years to wait and wait, Kelly when fit is better, Wisdom is coming on, his wages are not small for a player that is more then 4th choice so would sell, we could with luck get back around 6 mill max back to help the budget for summer.

    Shelvey – Allen, Henderson should not be sold, both young are are getting better and will be better players then John Jo, i have had enough with the hype with this young kid, kid he is not anymore, when is he going to step up, lazy at Fulham when needed to impress?
    Is he really needed when we will have Gerrard, Allen, Lucus, Henderson and maybe buying another creative player to help Gerrard out in there? not at all, save his wages and use his fee to help the summer budget, sell for anything up to 5.5 mill at best.

    Wilson – great news that his contract his run out, this guy is total garbage, and yes i have watched him since he played at rangers in that crap league, bad buy and we are glad that he has gone, no backbone, jumped out of tackles and crap, good riddance.

    Flanagan – not needed, Johnson, Kelly, Wisdom, and others that are coming up like young Ryan are better and his wages and his space in the squad should be free, allow more space for a better player or use. he is OK but not getting any better, sell him and we would not get more then 1. mill

    Ngoo – if we are selling Carroll who is better then Ngoo at the current time and is that type of player then what is the point in having another like Carroll is this mould and type of player at the club? granted Ngoo will and could be better then Carroll in time but not now and so having Ngoo around when we could use the space and free up some other wages seems clear, sell for around 2 mill.

    LOAN

    Robinson – great young player in the making but his attitude has been called into question and has done well at wolves but we need better at senior spot at left back to put more pressure on Enrique, we must buy another left sided wing back. loan him out for another hear use his wages put in to the deal to get Aly Cissohko to the club or Lucus Digne.

    Suso – needs games on a week in, week week out basis, great young player but needs to toughen up and add bulk and raw power and strength to his all round game, id like him to get a year at Swansea (under laudrup) or another good football playing team that gives him games week in week out.

  • josh Mullen says:

    Number 1 deadwood – Joe Allen. Totally fkin useless and lightweight

  • Freddie says:

    Downing Allen Borini Assadi

  • Denis D says:

    The dead wood average hard working players we have at club who need to be shown the door this summer are;

    1: GK: B Jones 2:RB: J Flanagan 3:CB: Coates

    4: CB: Wilson 5:DM: Spearing 6: RW / RWF: Assaidi

    7: FD: Pacheco 8:FD: Borini

    Those 8 players are simply not good enough be play for the club, the offer rarely any competition to the other players in the squad and they would not be lost if the club shipped them on. We would not notice as they are in sufficient

  • sam charles says:

    Suarez looks like he is off.
    Reina too.

    so i would want at least 50 mill for suarez
    so i would want at least 10 mill for reina

    skrtel looks like he is of 12 mill
    carroll off – around 12 mill

    add that lot up – £84 mill.

    thats without selling the crap like – spearing, coates, assaidi, flanagan, ngoo, –
    add that lot to the above then even without fsg and john w henry spending anything then we could have around 99 mill to spend –

    add that the then 25 mill that is reported to be fsg and john h henrys budget for new players then liverpool could be spending around 124 mill

  • man says:

    clear out :

    skertel ( 12M) – Replace with Traore ( Free ) – Save 12M
    downing (10M) – Replace with Navas ( 15 ) – < 5M
    spearing ( 3M) – Replace with Diame ( 7M ) – > 70M Rebuild >> 55M – Save 15M

    so.. LFC will get new face, new era

    • man says:

      ………………………………. reina …………………………………
      ……………………………….agger………………………………….
      Johnson…………………….diame…………………………enrique
      ………………………………..gerrard………………………………
      ……Navas………………….ericksen……………………..cautinho
      ………………….sturridge………………aspas……………………

    • man says:

      out in stay Promo

      Skertel 12M traore free Coates coady
      Downing 10M Navas 15M Assaidi Ibe
      Spearing 3 M Diame 7M shelvey
      Caroll 15M Remy 9M Sterling
      Suarez 40M suso
      Reina 10M ?? 7M wisdom
      Allen 6M Ericcsen 20M robinson
      Wilson 3M Flanagan

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