BARELY 10 minutes had passed since the introduction of Iago Aspas for the injured Philippe Coutinho than Liverpool ‘fans’ started slated the Spaniard for a perceived lack of footballing ability. ‘Is he even a footballer?’ was one comment I read after his first few touches.
By that stage of the match Liverpool were already under the cosh and, as I indicated in a previous article, were seemingly dropping deeper and deeper as the half wore on. As Shelvey nodded down for another Spaniard, Michu, to equalize for Swansea, it seemed only fair to find a suitable scapegoat for that specific predicament.
Step forward Iago Aspas.
It always seemed likely that Aspas or Alberto would fill the role that so many fans love these days, that of the hated member of your own squad; the player that gets endless stick, becomes the butt of jokes and has questions raised about his legitimacy as a footballer and, as the likes of Traore, Biscan, Kuyt and Lucas before him have been, it looks like we have our new contender for ‘flop of the season’.
A lot of it has to do with the fee, the overall prior knowledge of the player, the club they come from and – I sadly don’t doubt – whether they’ve done well for your team in Football Manager but it’s all bull, quite frankly. I mean, who knew Michu was going to be the signing of last season after 4 league matches.
The simple fact is we’re barely 5 games into the league season and the poor guy is already probably finished as a Liverpool player because we live in a time of instant gratification and football fans don’t seem to understand the concept of having to adapt to a new league.
If I’m honest, I’d never heard of him before we were linked with him in the summer and I’d much rather the money we put out to bring him here had been used to bring in a higher profile player but he’s a Red now and he deserves at least one season to get into the swing of things.
There have been players over the years that I’ve not been convinced by but I’ve always given them time, whether home grown or from abroad. I mean, I could see early on that Jay Spearing was not at the required level after 10-15 games for our reserves, never mind the first team but I gave him a chance and had to endure over 4 years of his first-team involvement before Brendan Rodgers saw sense.
Funnily enough, Aspas’s demise has come at a time when Liverpool FC’s new sweetheart, Philippe Coutinho, is relatively anonymous. His performances this season have looked somewhat tired and off the pace and he has yet to assist – or score – a single goal himself.
Yet, despite less game time this season Aspas has an assist to his name. So purely statistically this season Aspas is slightly edging it, wouldn’t you say?
Until his withdrawal against Swansea last night he may as well not have been on the pitch but nobody made a single comment about it. Yet the moment Aspas similarly makes a few misplaced passes or fails to take on several Swansea players he’s deemed to be having a ‘mare.
I noticed a lot of people jumping to Sakho’s defence early on too, after what was a pretty terrible debut for the Reds. He dived into tackles without thinking, seemed to be defending for himself and had the demeanour of a player with a lot to learn but the resounding message was that he’s new and still relatively young, hence he deserves time.
Oh, and he’s also from PSG and cost a fortune so he’s obviously going to become a great player. Funny how that works, isn’t it?
I also find it quite fitting that one of last season’s favourite scapegoats, Jonjo Shelvey, was phenomenal for Swansea on Monday night. In 90 minutes he showed everything that made him so great and frustrating to watch and it was ultimately a lack of patience to allow him to develop that led to his departure.
As this point, it should be made clear that I’m not saying that either Coutinho or Sakho are terrible players. To think that would be entirely missing the point: I think they’re both going to become incredible players for Liverpool and the early evidence from Coutinho is that he has the potential to be world class and I want him to develop here for a long time to come.
As for Sakho, he is clearly a good defender and a really good prospect. I’m excited to see him find his form and he’ll be given all the time he needs.
The same time and patience should be afforded to Iago Aspas. Remember his pre-season? He looked good. But then again, I remember a certain pony-tailed striker looking good in pre-season a few years ago too.
However, that’s the whole point: we’ll never know unless these players are all given equal billing and allowed to find their form. Too many players have been written off by our fans over the years and proven us wrong and it’s getting tiring.
We’re top of the league, yet to find our best form and once we do and have a fully-fit squad it’s likely that we’ll be a match for anybody in the league, home or away. So get behind every player in the squad, not just your favourites and the high-profile players.
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You’re absolutely right David, 5 games is not long enough to dismiss any player.
I think part of the negativity around Aspas has been that he was probably bought to strengthen the squad rather than the 1st team initially, then to see how he progressed in a new country and a tougher league and introduce him gradually.
However with our failure to get Mkhytaryan (please excuse the spelling), Costa or Willian as well as Suarez’s suspension he’s played perhaps more than Rodgers planned. Aspas obviously wants to play, but he is expected to make an immediate impact, and he’s found the physicality and pace of the Premier League difficult.
The boy is good technically and I think Rodgers should not have been playing him centrally (as he did at Celta), but wide right, where he doesn’t get so much attention and it’ll be easier for him to acclimatise. With Coutinho’s injury he’ll be needed, but I do think he shouldn’t start against Southampton and its worth trying young Alberto instead.
Ali Dia played 28 minutes for Southampton and never played again cos he was sh*t .A player shouldn’t get 30 or 40 games if he ain’t producing. It’s obvious that Aspas is not top player now.
Good article and nice measured response Gabriel.
Rogers needs time to build, so good so far. Aspas was for squad but thrown in at the deep end.
Can’t help think I’d like to see more of Sterling/Ibe. Shame about Coutinho.
I know every one is not a fan but I hope Allen comes good.
Thanks Aaron.
Spot on!
Absolutely spot on. The boo boys have found someone to replace Jordan Henderson now that Jordan is playing an important role in the side.
It’s worth remembering that we’ve won every game that Aspas has started this season and the only game he didn’t start in resulted in a draw. Nevertheless, the knee jerk reactionaries will be rubbing their hands together with glee now they’ve found someone else to vent their misguided anger at.
I like the boy! Hell, I like the boy so much, I got an Iago Aspas shirt! He WILL come good… He is a supportive player and made some damn good movements in his first 4 games!
The critics have probably never kicked a football before and obviously don’t see in this fella what he was bought for.
Amazing how the critics didnt see how anonymous Gerrard and Coutinho were? Our beloved captain almost seems invisible, haven’t seen him pass and haven’t seen him get stuck in. He is also not as vocal as he has been in past seasons. Hope he shakes off whatever he has and wakes up to rally the boys to not draw or lose another game over the next 6 fixtures.
Come on the reds!
Regardless of whether he will be perceived as a scapegoat or not, plain and simple, he was absolutely * on Monday (that is being polite). First couple of game’s I thought, “he’s another Kuyt in the making – very hard working player”. On Monday I saw nothing that could emulate the kop hero Kuyt. Let’s just hope that was a terrible one off.
I think the weight that’s put on the player for wearing #9 shirt does not help him fit into the new league. He looked good in the pre-season but you can tell once the season started the guy is feeling the pressure. I think people had bigger expectations for Aspas during the game on Monday, everyone expected Aspas to win the game for LFC.
No . We expected aspas to do exactly what he did do on Monday = nothing !
He’s just too weak and runs like a girl. If he bulks up he could be a decent player.
Yes 5 games is not enough to judge a player …but judging him on the times I saw him play before ASPAS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR LFC…not even close
Somettimes it’s obvious like with konchesky allen borini and Aspas…simply not good enough
We all want every signing to be great ….but the fact is some are poor buys
Bang on stevieG, bang on. it’s pretty clear from what I’ve seen he’s just not up for the EPL. Pretty obvious, in much the same way as it was with Borini. Not so with Allen, who at least had some nice matches for us before being utterly exposed.
Of course no list of players of those who’ve been crushingly vilified (quite rightly so in this case) would be complete without Mr. Paul Konchesky!!!
Hey stevieG, how much time did you give Konchesky & Allen before that conclusion? A whole season, right? And now, how many minutes have you watched Borini play in total? Did you know that Aspas played many more than Borini in a Liverpool shirt?
By the way, fellow Liverpool fans, grow a skin and realize we are now a mid-table club, trying to get back to where we belong. And for that, there are 2 options: spend stupid cash (like a $70m Falcao or $100m Bale) to bring in 2 players that will be unhappy all the time for lack of “champions league”, or spend wisely to bring “average” players that have a thirst and heart to fight until the end.
Yes, for 10x times their values, best players will line-up and come to Liverpool. But once there, they will forget performing and complain (and ask to join Arsenal). You could remain with Reina, who was spending his time waiting for Barcelona, or buy Mignolet who wants to prove he is one of the best. You could bring in Mikhartyan for what, $50m, who will start complaining once at Anfield, or bring in an Aspas & Alberto, who will fight to build a reputation. You can very well build a ManCity or an Anzhi Makachkala, but we all know that doesn’t bring in trophies. Tell me, with all their investments, how many BPL has ManCity lifted? FA Cups? Champions Legue? Europa League?
That is my 5 cents!
Abdorito . You talk bollccks. Borini played over 20 times last season.
YOU FKIN CLOWN !!!
City won PL AND CUP. dont come on here til.u have an idea about football
Ar5£ho!£ !!!
While I don’t agree with everything in your article I certainly agree that Iago Aspas should be afforded time to show his qualities. I also think he has been quite effective so far. He came in to replace the injured Coutinho, in an unfamiliar position for him, and he didn’t do great but he wasn’t poor really. Gerrard was much worse on Monday but I disagree with the above comment that he has been poor all season. I think he has been outstanding until Monday.
Hopefully Aspas will be given time as a forward, his natural position, and will excell. As for Sahko-I thought he was immense personally. A couple of mistakes but he showed his qualities.
didnt know kuyt suffered such criticism. jonjo a phenomenal scapegoat by who? the fans? or rodgers cos of allen(his welsh xa..)? try and get real, criticism is part of the game.
Aspas is not a scapegoat. We can see he is a trier. But he is another Borini ! . Everyone can see he is just not top class. Sterling and Moses are better players
Not forgetting Henderson.
Yet Suarez, who has brought more opprobrium down on the club than anybody else in Liverpool’s history and dragged its glorious name through the mud but then had the gall to try to squirm out of his contract, is still worshipped by some fans.
That such a cheating, violent and racist apology of a footballer is still allowed to wear the Liver bird on his chest, enter beneath the ‘This is Anfield’ sign then ply his trade on that hallowed turf, turns my stomach.
Some ‘fans’ need to look to themselves and ask, “Is this the Liverpool way?”.
No. It’s not Liverpool way . Suarez should never play for us again
You can only comment on the evidence at hand, the fans don’t worry about countinho, they’ve seen his quality, they know what he is capable of, there has been nothing of note from Aspas, he has largely been anonymous and it’s hard to be positive when nothing positive is shown.
He shouldn’t be made scapegoat, buts it can sometimes be a good thing, as with Lucas, it can make the player dig deep, but the fans patience will only take so much, from first impressions it looks like we have another Borini on our hands, lots of wonderful things said abut each, but little evidence to support it.
You had to suffer jay spearing, what a horrible way to make your point, poor you, get a life
Good article but there are still several whingers in the replies. I am far from convinced about the boy but I will certainly give him every chance.This time last year and for much of the season these so called fans were vilifying the manager.Look what he has achieved in a little more than one season and get off the back of Aspas.
You must be one of the so called fans who spent the whole season telling us how Borini and Assaidi would come good . *
You must beoneof theso called fans who spent the whole season telling us how Borini and Assaidi would come good . FoOl
Iago Aspas not good enough . Simple as
5 poor games so far , he should not get many more chances. We can’t afford any more passengers
Hmmmm.let us all jst hope dat diz guy isn’t a waste.
I hate aspas..Moses better than sterling,but sterling better than aspas..UP MY GREAT COUTINHO THE KING OF FOOTBALLER
LFC is a big club with million of supporters. We need class players. Don’t join us if you can’t perform. 5 games and not even a single goal or assists what is he doing just running around blindly on the field. Look at Moses & Courtino they came and we could straight way could see the skill in them. Fans don’t critism just for nothing. If you are professional you can gel into a new team very fast. Don’t forget he also plaid friendlies.