BEING a Liverpool FC fan has been a frustrating time over the last 4 seasons; we have finished 6th or lower in all of the seasons since we finished runner’s-up in 2008-2009.
We have had to deal with poor managerial appointments, poor transfer dealings and a change of ownership. While all this has been going on the teams around us have gone from strength to strength.
Tottenham Hotspur have seen their young players develop into top Premier League players and in Gareth Bale’s case a world class player. Manchester City and Chelsea have gone down the sugar daddy route and have bought some of the world’s best players and made themselves into very successful teams both at home and abroad. Arsenal have always been in the top 4 regardless of who they have sold and replaced those players with, and Manchester United just keep churning out title after title. Overall it has been a trying time to be a Red.
However, there are signs of recovery and given time then I believe Brendan Rodgers will turn us back into a top 4 team and eventually a team challenging for the title. Here, however is the compromise, as fans we need to give him and FSG time.
Time nowadays is almost a dirty word in football; fans want players signed yesterday and want them in the team scoring goals for fun or making 80 yard passes every time they get the ball and if they aren’t doing that then they want them shipped out and replaced with new players.
Heaven forbid it takes a young player time to settle in, to deal with injuries or try to adjust to a different style of football and culture. As fans we want success right now and if the players and managers cannot do that, then just change them.
There is of course something fundamentally wrong with that approach: if the Tottenham Hotspur’s management and owners followed that way of thinking then Gareth Bale would be playing for Nottingham Forest right now. If Arsenal had sacked Arsene Wenger after a few years without trophies they wouldn’t have the impressive Emirates Stadium and a Champions League qualification record better than anyone else in the Premier League.
Of course there are exceptions to every rule and Chelsea have proven that by sacking manager after manager they still yet winning trophies. I for one though do not want Liverpool FC to be run like that.
If we go back to August 2010, Rafa Benitez was saying his goodbyes to the Anfield faithful and leaving behind a 7th place team in the Premier League. The great Liverpool FC teams that Rafa built, the money spent and the players bought and sold ultimately left us as the 7th best team in the league.
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We are still the 7th best team in the league.
Even though FSG bankrolled Kenny Dalglish and his transfer dealing to the tune of £100 millon, a figure that flies in the face of the criticism of FSG and their supposed lack of transfer funds. We are still recovering from that summer of spending and trying to get the wage bill down and get rid of the deadwood that has cluttered up Anfield for far too long.
As a lifelong Liverpool FC supporter I know that 7th place is not good enough. More importantly FSG and Brendan Rodgers know that it is not good enough and they are working extremely hard to make us more competitive.
FSG have a plan, the plan is to buy young, well scouted players who will fit into a style of football that the manager wants, they wanted a forward thinking manager, one who would not afraid to use the young players being brought through the club’s excellent academy. The manager who fitted that brief best was Brendan Rodgers. It could have been Frank de Boer or Andre Villas-Boas, but in the end they went for Brendan Rodgers. A brave choice but one that will reap rewards in my opinion.
With young players there is always a risk, they are inconsistent, tactically unaware on occasions and not physically developed. A problem with young players is as they have not yet got a glowing reputation then they seem to be perceived as not good enough for Liverpool FC, yet when Rodgers picked Raheem Sterling out of the U21s last season and put him in the first team it was a great decision.
All players need time when being brought to a club with as rich a history as Liverpool, the same can be said of the managers. Some players bought for a lot more than all the young players Rodgers has brought in have never lived up to their price tags nor did the ones with a lot better reputations than the new players. So transfer fees should never really be used as a indication of success. Look at Andy Carroll and Stewart Downing to name just two.
We have seen Jordan Henderson improve massively in the last 12 months under the guiding hand of Brendan Rodgers and I would expect Joe Allen and Fabio Borini to surprise you all this season and improve on their first season performances. People are quick to forget that Joe Allen was Liverpool’s best player for the first 3 months of the season. 3 months is a long time in football, it was long enough for Gareth Bale to be voted Footballer of the Year after all. We have seen Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge come in and hit the ground running so who’s to say Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto won’t do the same?
Brendan Rodgers took a club that was treading water, had no direction and was showing no signs of improvement. The second half of last season saw Liverpool FC play some of the best football we as fans have seen for a long time. I am certain we will see that improvement continue this season and that come the 1st of September we will have a team and squad capable of challenging for the top 4.
All we need is a little patience.
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Will get behind team …not Rodgers. All true fans should demand he is sacked
This is an excellent article- 100% agreement.
Stupid comments..
I fking hate BR and his toyboy JA!!!
The owners need to back their manager with some real investment this summer with £30-£50M to spend and whatever else he can bring on player sales.
And If Suarez is kept at club then i think these Seven players: Four defensive players and Three attacking should be brought this SUMMER in to club to make us top 4 challengers for sure. And the three attacking players should help take the pressure of Suarez, Sturridge and Coutinho.
And Reina is shipped out/sold to either Arsenal, Barcelona or Napoli for £10-£12M
Four Class quality Defensive players:
1: GK: A Mccarthy(23) Of Reading for £3-£7M to compete with Mignolet
2: CB: K Papadopolous(21) Of Schalke for £12-£15M to compete with Skrtel
2: LB: A Cissokho(25) Of Lyon for £3-£5M to compete with Enrique
3: DM: E Capoue(24) Of Toulouse for £7-£10M to compete with LUCAS
Three Class quality attacking players :
1: AM: I Munian(20) Of A Bilbao for £10-£14M to compete with Alberto and Coutinho
2: RW / RWF: C Tello(21) Of Barcelona in swap deal with P Reina and £2M Cash to compete with Sterling
3: LW / LWF: Bernard(20) Of Athletico Minero Or Diego Capel Of Sporting Clube De Portugal/ Lisbon for £4-£17M to compete with IBE
If Suarez is kept at club and those 7 players are brought in this summer, then we would definately be top 4 class and calibre this season and even have a go for the title. Those 7 players plus L Suarez. D Sturrige and P Coutinho would make our squad very strong and get the club back amongst the top again
Do u think we didn’t get this the first time you wrote it? You’ve gone on to post it 10 – 15 times across all forums.
All that and u can’t bring in one established world class player… Save your breath tool. Those 7 players would barely impact our existing best team.
Are you for real Ozred? do you know football? Are you even a Liverpool fan, because its waste men clowns who do not support Liverpool, who try to cuss, insult Liverpool fans by calling them tools?
The club i have supported since i was 5 yrs of age, 26 years now can no longer attract the world class players , we are not in champions league , we are not in europe and we have been a top 6-10 team for last 5 years.
So we need to bring in class hungry players with the potential to being world class who would bring more class and quality to club
The 7 players i mentioned are all class and quality and would all make the squad stronger and better than it :
If Reina is shipped out and sold like we all know he maybe as he is not going to stay and be 2nd choice and he wants to go back to Barcelona also and Rodgers did not sign Mignolet to be on Bench either, If Reina is sold for £10-£12M Or in swap deal with C Tello(21) And £2M cash.
Then A Mccarthy(23) Of Reading should be brought to club for £4-£7M , Mccarthy and Mignolet, Two young class hungry quality goalkeepers competing with one another for the next 5-10 years , is better than what we had last 3 seasons. A World class Goalkeeper who has been so inconsistant over last three years as he has had no real class competition for his place and he has been playing like his heart is no longer 100% in it.
K Papadopolous(21)Of Schalke : For £10-£15M: Is a class quality centre back who if club brought to club and over time and years he would improve his passing game and become an awesome defender for club, was Agger or Skrtel world beaters when we first signed them? NO are they now On their day fully fit and injury free Agger and Skrtel are the best Centre back pairing in league hands down, most games Johnson or Enrique are exposed, Not Agger or Skrtel. Same would be said with Papadopolous
A Cissokho(25) Of Valencia: for £4-£6M: is an experienced Class Mobile Quick Powerful Strong Left footed Left back, someone who would push Enrique and compete week in week out for his place.
E Capoue(23) Of Toulouse: For £7-£10M: Is a mobile powerful quick strong Tough tackling no nonsense Defensive midfielder in the Martinez, Mascherano and Momo Sissoko Mould that club have been lacking for many years. But Capoue also has an offensive side in his game and powers past people at will and has good long passing in his locker. Capoue would be better equipped than Lucas against these Mobile Physical Powerful Strong type midfielders: Yaya Toure, Tiote, M Sissoko, Diaby, Dembele, Mulumbu, S Nzonzi, M Essien and Obi Mikel.
Lucas has no real class or qulaity competition for his place since Alonso, Mascherano and Sissoko left club, the likes of Poulsen and Spearing would never offer Lucas any class,quality competition and whenever Lucss is injured or suspended club suffer more than anything. As there is no protection for the back four or anyone in midfield tackling or winning the ball back like Lucas does, Capoue would be awesome signing. And over season he could make LUCAS warm the bench as Capoue is a very good passer of ball and rarely gives away possession
I Munian(20) Of A Bilbao: for £10-£15M is a Class, Quality player in the mould of Iniesta. Munian is a younger, quicker version of Iniesta who fully fit and injury free could open up any team in world football, he would be good class, quality competition for Alberto and Coutinho. All have pace and speed with tricks, but none of them have lightning speed and pace needed out wide to stretch teams at will, their movement, pace, passing and moving, skill. speed, speed of thought is best suited playing through the middle as an attacking midfielder between the lines.
Munian would offer Alberto and Coutinho good class quality healthy competition for their places in starting 11 and he is currently of radar like Coutinho was. Two years ago Munian was Terrorising Raphael and United at the San Mames and Old Trafford when they knocked United out of the Europa League. He has all the potential to being world class in future. He is better than Henderson and Allen together
Tello(21) Of Barcelona : in swap deal with P Reina(30) and £2m Cash or £8-£10M Cash : He is a Young Direct quick pacey hungry winger with pace and speed to burn and goals in his locker. He is better than any winger we have at club, Assaidi, Downing, Ibe and Sterling and would offer more and score more goals than any winger we currently have in first team squad
Bernard(20) Of Athletico Minero: for £10-£16M: He is a small class quality pacey quick skillful technicallu gifted Left footed left winger who also has pace to burn and goals in his locker, Bernard is three times the player Downing is and even though he is of a smaller build he is fearless and is Direct.
OR
D Capel(25) Of Sporting Clube De Portugal/ Lisbon: for £4-£7M: is a class pacey quick left footed winger with skill, who holds width and is also better than any winger we currently have at club. Capel is twice the player as Downing, but holds width and hogs the touchline, he is more direct and faster and quicker than Downing.
Ozred, your clueless and you are clearly not A Liverpool fan, so go on your on teams forum and talk crap as all these players would definately be up grade to Squad.
They would all challenge the first 11 week in week out and 5 out of the 7 could and probably would become first team regulars over course of season:
These Five players out of the Seven mentioned:
K Papadopolous CB Capoue DM Cissokho LB Tello RWF Bernard LWF
Munian and Coutinho would be Touch and Go on who starts if they are both fully fit and injury free, Rodgers would have trouble picking one from the other.
And Mccarthy would push Mignolet week in week out to be the NO 1 at club
@Denis D . Ignore ozred , he has shown many times he is clueless about football
Trust me he is a clueless guy and i do not think he is Liverpool fan, as i have mates who support Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle and when i get in heated debates with them or any other rival teams fan, thats the phrase the use to cuss, annoy or anger Liverpool fans.
They call us Tools, what Jokers. And Ozred, i think is a clueless football fan who supports Man United but the sad clown comes on most Liverpool Forums because he is a sad individual. I only come and comment about my team, i read some other teams news here and there. But never comment as only care about Liverpool as my main club team i support, In spain i like both Barcelona and Real Madrid support neither
He commented last week on how Suarez wasn’t that good , and how Liverpool would be a better team without him …laughable !!
Everyone has their own opinion and not everyone is inclined to back Brendan but weather we want him sacked or not, he’s still in charge…I personally am a BR fan and I have my reasons why as I’m sure the people who want him sacked have theirs and I respect that but regardless of that I’m calling on the legendary Liverpool support to pull through and support the team regardless of who’s in charge. I’m one of the more younger supporters and people always ask me why I support Liverpool, I always answer that this Liverpool fc is more than just a club, we’re a family and we always stick together in during the good and the bad
One problem with that , and it one of the reasons I want BR gone is – Brendan has already alienated a huge percentage of the supporters. The atmosphere is poor last season and the great atmosphere won’t return while BR is manager
This is one case where we have not and will not stick together. Only a top managerial appointment will unite the fans
Agreed, is it really that hard for a club like Liverpool to attract a proven manager?, how long do we give Brendan, it seems a lot of fans are willing to put up with another season of transistion, its just constant, season after season, and until we get a proven manager it will stay this way, as history has shown.
To Dennis,
Thats how you No Ozred is seriously deluded. Suarez was amazing last season and he is currently the third best player in world football, just his bad character and mad moments in football stopped him winning premiership player of year and top goalscorer in league.
And since he has been away with Uruguay his constant threats of wanting to leave, claiming he has had no support and everything shows a total lack of respect to his manager, his team mates, the club and us the fans.
Suarez is a great player and he will be missed but if he wants to go , as long as the bidders meet his value price of minimum : £55M then he can be sold.
Liverpool will go on without Suarez, I just hope the owners back B Rodgers seriously with some good investment this summer of at least £30-£50M of their own money and whatever else B Rogers brings into club.
At end of day B Rodgers has done a descent job, he has had to ship out so many players since he took over year ago: Adams,Aquilani, Aurelio, Bellamy, Carroll Cole, Doni, Kuyt, Ngoo, Rodriguez, Shelvey and Wilsom.
And he still has 8 more dead wood average players in the first team Squad to clear off the clubs books:
GK: B Jones RB: Flanagan CB: Coates DM: Spearing
AM: Pacheco RW / RWF: Assaidi LW/ LWF: Downing FD: Borini
Those 8 players could bring club in £20-£27M Cash
Rodgers has shipped out 12 players and brought in 8 players; so club are still 4 players short (Alberto, Allen, Assaidi, Aspas. Coutinho, Mignolet, Sturridge and Toure) And still have 8 dead wood average hard working players in the squad to clear out.
And also P Reina and L Suarez may both be shipped out this summer, B Rodgers is doing a very good job with what he has, the owners have not backed him well enough for anyone to criticise him. When and if the owners give the manager some serious money to spend this summer: £30-£50M off their own money and whatever he can make it selling the dead wood average hard working players.
And if Reina and Suarez are sold the money he brings in for those sales, then Rodgers should be judged on the players he brings in when he has the correct finances to bring in class and quality players capable of challenging the first 11 week in week out.
Rodgers is doing a good job with what he has only been given to spend he has done very well.
Denis D . No .Rodgers has been awful. Allen Borini Assaidi and sahin were all wastes of money
10m on a second goalkeeper is madness and I fear Aspas and Alberto are not Liverpool quality
And don’t forget Rodgers has actually spent more NET than dalglish did .
Rodgers can not attract any top players and his ridiculous method of buying small weak players is never going to work
Trust me . We will NEVER get top 4 under Rodgers
Dennis, Rodgers is doing a very good job with what he had. I think Assaidi and Borini so far have been flops and wastes of money and they should be moved on this summer as they are dead wood average hard working players who offer the club rarely anything.
Allen is a good neat footballer, we all know he was not worth £15M now but he is not the finished article and , Allen’s biggest flaw is he is too safe.
He needs to gamble and take more risks offensively and start offering some creativity going forward for the club.
Allen has the potential to be a great football player and great Liverpool player, But he will need to start taking more gambles and risks offensively and shooting more.
Mignolet is a very good goalkeeper at 25 and everyone knows a goalkeeper can play up to their 40 plus if they keep themselves fit and healthy(Friedel). P Reina(30) is a world class goalkeeper but for the last three years he has been so inconsistant it hurts and there are many reasons for that: Because he has never had any real class, quality competition for his place. He wants new challenge as he wants to be back in Champions League and with last owners and current owners(Both Americans) . Both don’t have a clue about modern day football. And i honestly think P Reina (30) wants out and needs a change and was on his way out for sure until Valdez recently decided he was going to stay for the final year of his contract. But that said i still think come start of Season Reina will be at Barcelona. Rodgers needs to bring in A Mccarthy(23) Of Reading for £4-£7M and then Mccarthy(23) and Mignolet(25) should compete for the NO 1 jersey at club, two young class hungry goalkeepers competing with one another for next 6-10 years at club.
And for our club to get back against the elite again, some serious investment is needed in the playing staff as we are so far behind our Rivals in Squad class and depth at moment and all the 6 clubs with better squads are strengthening to stay ahead of competition and to keep everyone on their toes ( £130-£160M) for our club to compete with Manchester United , Manchester City and Chelsea for the league in the near future.
Its not rocket science, its facts and logic. The best and better players in football will cost high money not peanuts. you may get your odd one or two bargains here and there that could turn up to be class or great players but the top and best players come at a premium. And the best and top players everyone wants, yet we have not had champions league for five seasons, we have been a top 6-10 team in last five seasons, we are not in europe and without Champions league we do not have finances to justify paying alot of players over £100,000 a week at club.
At end of day When FSG back B Rodgers with some serious money , hopefully this summer at least £30-£50m off their capital whether he sells players or not, then whatever he can make offloading the current dead wood average hard working players still on clubs books and the players who do not want to be at club no more or need a new start then they should be sold and he should be given the money to bring in class, quality players.
We need more attacking players in the Coutinho, Gerrard and Suarez class and Quality.
Rodgers is a good manager, but he is a yes man. And FSG need to back him well instead of just giving him peanuts to work with.
Our club need to dramatically strengthen squad with more class and quality:
And you need good backing behind the manager to do that, whereas Man City and Real Madrid have spent £50-£53M on two players Fernandinho and Navas, Isco and
Asier Illarramendi. Rodgers will need to use his head and spend £50M on 4 good class quality attackers: I Munian(20) Of A Bilbao for £10-£15M Bernard(20) Of A Minero for £10-£16M Tello(21) Of Barcelona for £8-£10M OR in swap deal with P Reina(30) and £2M Cash B Arfa (25) Of Newcastle for £8-£12M
Thats whats needed at our club, good class players with potential to be world class but currently not playing in champions league and available for the right price.
Those 4 players i mentioned would offer more more depth class and quality to club, yet offer the similar amount of class and quality that Man City and Real Madrid spent on two players.