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The january transfer window - How did we do? what does it tell us?
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 8:19 amby Raoul
Apologies if this has been covered in some of the other threads, but I've taken a day or so off from the forum to think through my reactions to the end of the window, and I'd like to share them and get other's thoughts.
Overall, I'm disappointed. Let me explain:
How did we do?
Getting Suarez was a huge deal, with the owners apparently willing to pay 20+ as a minimum on a gap in the squad. However, after the Spainiard's betrayal and Carrol's capture (too expensive, but we had money to spend and it was nice to see us feel free to use it to get the player Dalglish presumably wanted), what have we ended up with?
A marginally improved front line for about 7 million - though both Suarez and Carroll come with previous that leaves me uneasy.
We missed out on Adam, which is disappointing, but since midfield is hardly the weakest part of our squad I can live with that.
What concerns me is no new CB, no new LB, still no wingers...
I didn't expect much out of January, but I guess I hoped for more.
I suspect that the most important transfer move made by any team was Chelsea picking up Luis, and I wished we'd done something similar.
What does it tell us?
I think this is more positive.
We did have money to spend, which is a refreshing change.
We didn't have a board vetoing ridiculous bids like ours of Carroll, which overall I'm happy with. But perhaps it may have been different if we didn't have another 50 mill to play with? We'll never know I guess.
But in the end, we have a number of areas that are crying out for improvement, and we only spent 7 mill. Not a single CB was seriously linked with us (why we didn't move for someone like Samba I don't know), and we've moved out Konchesky (yes, only for 3 mths and maybe with the right of calling him back?), leaving us with one of our two RBs and injury prone Aurelio available to play that position before we'll presumably be forced to move Agger back there, which would be a shame.
So I'm unsure how to feel. I am hopeful for the summer, but I'm just left feeling like we could have done more...
EDIT: One thing i neglected to mention - kudos to the owners and club for screwing Chelsea for 50 mill. In previous years we'd have probably taken 35 mill + Sturridge. This was great to see.
And I should mention that despite my disappointment over how little we filled the gaps, I don't feel disappointed (anymore) about the Spainiard's defection - somehow by the end of the window, I was upbeat, excited and enjoying myself - so kudos for that too!
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:32 amby aCe'
I thought we did okay bringing in 2 exciting forwards for big money.. Still not entirely convinced that it's our most problematic position though...
You look at the likes of ManUtd (conceded 22/ scored 54) , City (20/37) and Chelsea (21/46) and it's clear for all to see that the main reason why they pick up so many points is because they concede very few goals.. Most of the clubs in the league have top forwards and midfielders capable of scoring against weaker defense lines.. We've seen our side concede way too many soft goals and our backline despite the return of Agger still remians largely unconvincing.. Add to that the fact that (Lucas apart) our midfielders seem to lack the tactical intelligence to play the role without getting caught out of position (Meireles) or giving the ball away too cheaply (Gerrard) and it all adds up big problems at the back against most opposition especially away from home..
It's a problem that we seem to have overlooked this transfer window in hope of Johnson turning into a decent leftback and Kelly continuing to be solid despite his lack of experience.. I still remain largely unconvinced that either is good enough for their new role (Johnson will always offer that bit of class going forward regardless of his position but a right footed player playing leftback takes alot away from the balance of the side and the fluidity of the play)..
Regarding the players we brought in, I think Carroll is a player with a bright future if we can get him to adjust to our style of play..
2 small issues regarding that transfer though:
1) how long is he out for ? Before we were eve linked with him there were unconfirmed reports that his injury might keep him out for a couple of months according to the BBC. Newcastle however offered a statement were they said he'd only be out for 3weeks which is still cause for concern imo.. Until he returns we'll most likely setup in a 4-5-1 and if we pick up results then I dont see why we'd want to change that for now.
2) the wide players we have arent exactly suited to the kind of game Carroll seems to prefer. The likes of Kuyt, Maxi, Johnson and Kelly all prefer to play the ball on the ground with few crosse being put in from wide positions... That essentially means that Carroll will have to come deep to receive the ball at times unless we start reshuffling the positions to better suit his game..
Regarding Suarez, he's a bit of an unknown factor imo... No one seems to be sure where his position for the side will be.. He has the technical ability to play anywhere in an attacking 3 or as part of a forward partnership but much like the typical foreign player I have my doubts regarding how easy he finds life at the English league..
Has a better first touch than Torres, is an excellent finisher and connects well with players coming from deeper positions.. If we continue with the same setup we've adopted so far this season I really think given time he could prove to be a better option in that lone striker role than Torres and even Carroll. All depends on whether he can handle the physicality of the league imo..
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 9:50 amby only me
I think this Transfer window as well as those before demonstrate the weakness of out techanical/scouting staff ,for a team in the Caliber of Liverpool we should have had a list of numerous potential condidates for ALL positions that the manager should be able to pick and fight for. I have a creeping feeling that too many people in the Liverpool operations are spending time on Wnking around instead of doing their job. I have the same feeling over our medical staff but this is for another discussion.
Bottom line i felt we could and should have done much better on the transfer window. Had to sign at least one, CB/LB/CM.
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:26 amby mkingdom
I think we were one, maybe two players from this being a landmark window, and a step change to our squad. I suspect we had two or three other targets that could not be obtained.
Adam
Richards
Young
If we had taken two of those then that really would have been a statement of intent.
Still, we have lost a world class player who didn't want to play for us, and aside from a couple of games trying to get himself a move, he has been below par for long periods. We have used that money to bring in two exciting young strikers. They are a risk, one due to age and temperament, the other due to no EPL experiece (and maybe temperament), but both can take a chance and score goals.
Teams playing us will have more to worry about now, as in the past they take Torres out of the game and we look toothless. We then relied on him to do some magic to make a goal out of nothing.
With a net spend of more or less nothing, it has left our powder dry for the summer, and I would then expect us to make a significant move to improve our sqaud.
With what we have now, we can strive for top 6, and with a following wind, and other sides dropping points maybe even push for top 4, however that is unlikely.
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:42 amby worcester_red
You guys must be fecking joking, we bring in 2 top class strikers and still you whinge and whine, pathetic!
And in what way was the fact that we had only one injury prone sulking forward not a problem?
I think we did brilliant business in January and I'm now very positive about the future.
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:00 pmby only me
worcester_red wrote:You guys must be fecking joking, we bring in 2 top class strikers and still you whinge and whine, pathetic!
And in what way was the fact that we had only one injury prone sulking forward not a problem?
I think we did brilliant business in January and I'm now very positive about the future.
Then you have no understanding of Football whatsoever! Good teams rely on Good defence ,We have $hit Defence and did nothing to improve it. Second, We brought 2 good strikers but it is far from being "Brilliant" ,one was grossly overpayed and still injured and the other can't play in Europe, So Yes very good signings but not Brilliant Biz.
Torres Signing should have equaled to 3 good signings in the Summer ,instead we got 1. You do the math.
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:07 pmby Roger Red Hat
you ungrateful bunch of tw.ats
go support chelsea you plastic b@stards 
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:09 pmby LiverpoolMadman
No one expected that EL-Judas wanted to leave but I'm happy we got AC and LS .... if only we got more money we should add Samba and Ryan Shawcross ...
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:17 pmby LFC_fan
this is a classic case of never being able to satisfy everybody completely. 
no matter what transfers were done in the jan window, there will always be areas in the squad that still need fine tuning.
For me, this jan window has been the most exciting one in recent memory. Yes, Torres leaving was gut wrenching but thats hardly the fault of the manager or the new owners so imo, anybody who says "we sold torres and bought yada and yada to replace him" are abit out of line. Losing torres is a blow, but if his heart aint here, i'll rather let him go than to keep him here and watch him sulk on the pitch every week. And frankly speaking, even the most ardent Liverpool fans would nod their heads in agreement that 50mil was us "ripping chelsea off" rather than the other way round.
As for Luis and Andy, what more can we ask for... 2 huge money signings that go straight into the department that our squad needed tweaking the most. Do remember that Luis was initially brought in to partner Torres, before he handed in his transfer request. And Andy was brought in as a replacement for Torres. So its also unfair to say that the owners only gave us a nett of 7mil to spend. they already sanctioned the 22mil purchase of luis before Torres handed in his transfer request.
Its true that other areas of our squad need new additions too, (ie. an exciting new winger who can take on opponents and ping in good deliveries, and an established, young defender would be awesome too) but if u look at it from a different perspective, the most problematic area of the squad has been addressed. And adding too many new chefs at a time into a kitchen only serves to slow things down anyway.
Overall, this has been a good transfer window, not brill, but really exciting and im pretty sure everyone's wetting their lips, waiting for the day Andy and Luis start together in a match. At the same time, barring injuries, we have enough cover at the back to last us till the end of the season (Carra is back for tonight's game against Stoke). And we'll look to add a new winger and a defender come the summer.
Walk on King Kenny and Liverpool. whatever opinion the people here have on the recent transfer window, im pretty sure everybody shares something in common, and thats everybody's looking forward to what our 2 new striking acquisitions will bring to our team for the 2nd half of the season. YNWA.
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:22 pmby jacdaniel
Its a difficult market in January because nobody wants to lose their star players and therefore quote some ridiculous prices for their players.
Thats why most of the deals get done on deadline day. When the buying club gets desperate to fill a position in the squad, they tend to pay over the odds on deadline day.
Im not delighted with our dealings, but not hugely disappointed either. Things might have been better if Torres had of left a week earlier and we had of had time to use the money wisely.
Lets hope the sum of the parts of Suarez/Carroll will improve the squad overall more than Torres/Babel. Lets hope in the summer we can start filling some holes in the defence and on the wings.
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:24 pmby supersub
Some people are never satisfied , but that's only me talking. 
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:26 pmby metalhead
I'm very happy with what we got really, but greed is just part of being human
I still think we are short of a defender or two and a winger, Hopefully we will address that in the summer. All in All, Carroll and Suarez are kwality! 
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:28 pmby only me
Lee J wrote:you ungrateful bunch of tw.ats
go support chelsea you plastic b@stards
Fck off braindead Jihadist ,nobody needs your approval to post or prove their Support for Liverpool.
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:39 pmby laza
I happy enough with it, while the point is well made we are missing a defender/winger.
As Jacdaniel mentioned we are dealing in the mid season transfer period which is always going to be a difficult time to do business. The Torres wrench only exasperated that situation.
Im optimistic that our other shortcoming will be taken care on the summer with some long term quality signings
Posted:
Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:54 pmby andy_g
i don't see how we can complain too much. when torres was going we absolutely had to buy a striker, a proper number 9 style to play with suarez, as we didn't have any others. the defence is ok, we have a few of them even though we could use an upgrade. don't forget either that we actually put in a late 20 million pound bit for micah richards, so its not as if the club has its head buried in the sand on that issue.
the main issue is that we spunked a ridiculous amount of money on an essentially unproven striker. but we had the money and we needed one, i'm sure it wasn't just a name that kenny pulled out of the hat either. time will tell whether he was the right one to get or not.