eds » Tue Jan 13, 2015 12:57 am wrote:To be fair everyone at the club (owners, Ayre and Rodgers) are partly responsible for the mess we are in.
The owner's obsession in getting young and/or cheap "moneyball" players dictated down to the recruiting team is the main reason why we have bought in so many duds in the time they have been here. This is the main reason they brought Rodgers in, because they knew they didn't have the financial clout to rebuild this club like Abramovich did at Chelsea over a decade ago and the Sheikhs did at City about 6-7 years ago. Instead they have opted for a different model, invest in talented young players and build for the future, ala Arsenal's model in the last decade (which BTW has won them f**k all in that time). Any experienced manager across Europe would balk at having a limited budget full of restrictions or pressures on age. This model is destined to fail.
Our spaghetti noodle friend Mags, although having a higher sense of delusion among the faithful has highlighted the same thing I have been saying for the last few months. We have a bunch of very talented players in our ranks; Sterling, Coutinho, Markovic, Can, Origi, Sturridge, Ilori, Moreno, etc. They are all under 25 and barring that they stay fit (we are all looking at you Sturridge) we have a side capable of competing in the not too distant future. To add to that you have a second tier of players that are OK but aren't as promising as the first tier (due to a number of things) including Lovren, Lallana, Skrtel, Henderson, Sakho and Balotelli. Beyond that you really have players that are average at best, or too young or just need to be sold or released as soon as possible. What we now need to do is strengthen our spine. This is where all our problems begin and end.
In order to compete over the next season, we need to rebuild this spine from the ground up. In world football this is probably the most expensive exercise any club can be involved with, when it comes to player transfers. Unfortunately it something that I doubt our yank owners, acknowledge, understand or appreciate when it comes to running a football club. For them it's something to balk at, if Rodgers was to ask them for an additional 60-80m for three players over 25yo.
First we need to bring in a strong commanding goal-keeper that will marshal the troops at the back. Mignolet and Jones should be no where near our starting XI and we inevitably will need to spend b/w 10-15m to acquire a quality replacement. With the current set-up, manager and inept spud in Ayre this becomes a harder task than usual to execute. Why? Because goal-keepers mostly hit their peak well into their late 20s / early 30s and rarely ever move when they are at elite clubs in Europe. You then are then left with second tier keepers that can fill that hole but are a risk on whether they will ever improve. If you look at the keepers we have been linked with Neto, Romero, Ochoa etc, this highlights exactly what I am talking about. You would already put them into that 2nd tier category I highlighted with our existing squad.
Secondly we need a replacement for Gerrard, a box-to-box dynamo that can play game in game out and give 120% just like we saw Gerrard do throughout most of his career. Out of the 3 key positions we need, I have no confidence in this one being replaced properly under FSG, as they will dictate that this player be young first, over anything else. This is probably why we are hearing rumours of players like Barkley and Pjanic being linked with us. They vary dramatically in prices but they all fit the under the 25yo criteria, with the potential of "becoming" world class. This is exactly the risk we don't need to take. If we are going to be spending so much money on just one these players (if we do), why can't we just bring in an experienced world class player that will hit the ground running, solidify our spine and take us to the next level next season. Isn't this a key ingredient in our younger promising players being able to develop even quicker with an established world class talent in the team?
This brings us to the last position needed, a quality striker that will help Sturridge and Origi bang them in, as of next season. Once again if we are looking at spending the amounts quoted on Berahino, Benteke or that French kid Lacazette let's forget about their age for once and bring in a quality marksman like Higuain or Cavani for a little bit more and actually spend some decent money on their salaries. Quality costs money and its something that is fundamentally broken at our club at the moment. Neither the owners want to spend more money in order to obtain these players, or Rodgers isn't appealing enough to these players or Ayre and his minions aren't competent enough to bring them in. There are a number of issues hampering our progress.
And the last question I pose, is what happens if any of our players kick on and do become world class? Like we saw Suarez become. Do we then sell them to the biggest clubs in Europe to make us a massive profit, while we miss out on their abilities in their peak years? I have no confidence that we can stem this tide as we set a precedent in recent history with the departures of Alonso, Mascherano, Torres and Suarez. We have to stop thinking about profits over titles.
That is why despite all the positives we have in our squad there is a big black gaping hole that needs to be addressed, and with everything that has gone down in our club over the last few years I still remain on the outer on whether this can be addressed properly so we can once again challenge for titles over the next few seasons.
Even milner and the only reason we are even sniffing around him is because he is on a bosman. All cheap options to fill a squad when at this point we should be putting the finishing touches to it.
by 