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Rodgers Signings

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The worst start in 64 years does that to a forum. So much kneejerk you had to press F5 to see the layout on SCM.
 
I think the main, and justifiable criticism is not properly planning for the inevitability of Studge getting injured. We needed to replace Suarez with top quality up front, and if BR had doubts about Balotelli, then he shouldn't have signed him. Lambert was always going to be a squad filler. I know BR tried to sign Sanchez, but after he chose Arsenal we really needed to pick up somebody of proven quality. The fact that we probably could have had Bony for 10m less than City are about to pay and that we mysteriously passed on Remy are black marks on BR (or the FSG committee).
 
I think the main, and justifiable criticism is not properly planning for the inevitability of Studge getting injured. We needed to replace Suarez with top quality up front, and if BR had doubts about Balotelli, then he shouldn't have signed him. Lambert was always going to be a squad filler. I know BR tried to sign Sanchez, but after he chose Arsenal we really needed to pick up somebody of proven quality. The fact that we probably could have had Bony for 10m less than City are about to pay and that we mysteriously passed on Remy are black marks on BR (or the FSG committee).


That was rather shite. We should have signed Bony. WTF were they thinking with Balo (?) - we will never know.
 
I think the main, and justifiable criticism is not properly planning for the inevitability of Studge getting injured. We needed to replace Suarez with top quality up front, and if BR had doubts about Balotelli, then he shouldn't have signed him. Lambert was always going to be a squad filler. I know BR tried to sign Sanchez, but after he chose Arsenal we really needed to pick up somebody of proven quality. The fact that we probably could have had Bony for 10m less than City are about to pay and that we mysteriously passed on Remy are black marks on BR (or the FSG committee).

That bit is crucial though. In the case of most transfers, including those which the club ultimately turned down, we don't know where the balance of power, hence also of blame, lies between the manager and the committee. I'm convinced, though, that the exception to this is Balotelli and that Rodgers didn't want him - you simply do not announce publicly and categorically on 4th August that such-and-such a player "will not play for Liverpool Football Club" and then choose to sign him on the 25th.
 
I also think Lovren could well turn out okay, if he is given time.

It's strange that for a manager who doesn't seem to have any understanding of defensive play at all, and is generally attack-minded, his record with buying strikers is actually pretty dire.
 
Lovren and Moreno have all the natural talent to flourish. What isn't clear is whether we have a manager who has the defensive nous to get the best out of them, both individually and part of a system.

Can, Markovic, Moreno are all exciting players signed in the right age bracket for a club of our stature and could go to look like bargains in 3-4 years time. Never had any problem with them and they have deserved more patience than they have received by a few on here.

Lovren has been disappointing and I would have expected better. By no means a write off as there's clearly a good CB there, but he's going to have to improve to play a part in our future.

Ballotelli...well, it's looking like a disaster. We haven't played to his strengths since he arrived, which is mindless, and leads me to suspect Judge Jules is right, Rodgers had little to do with this transfer. You can argue the pragmatic point that Rodgers should making the best of what he's got, but you also have to criticise the board for forcing a player on him that's so unsuited to his way of playing football. Rodgers has been desiging this squad to suit his way of playing since he arrived. Should he really have to amend or change that because a player has been pushed upon him? Especially given the late arrival of Ballotelli,

You can argue either way and make a good point, but it's a very valid question right now.
 
That bit is crucial though. In the case of most transfers, including those which the club ultimately turned down, we don't know where the balance of power, hence also of blame, lies between the manager and the committee. I'm convinced, though, that the exception to this is Balotelli and that Rodgers didn't want him - you simply do not announce publicly and categorically on 4th August that such-and-such a player "will not play for Liverpool Football Club" and then choose to sign him on the 25th.


I'm sure you're right about Balotelli, but I'm also convinced that Rodgers was entirely responsible for Lovren and Lallana. The others you could make more of a case for being joint decisions, to one degree or another.

Personally I think BR is pretty dreadful at signing players, and I'm grateful for any break on his power over transfers.
 
I don't think they ever looked that bad.

Balotelli has been a complete cluster fuck primarily because Rodgers clearly isn't interested in the guy... I'd love to know how we ended up with him.

Lovren I can't feel positive about. I really really hope he turns it around and becomes a huge success but there is just an air of failure hanging over this one for me and at 20M it really smarts.
 
On the subject of Markovic - he's got a lot of potential and it's been really encouraging to see the upturn in his performances of late but does anyone actually think he was worth 20M?

I understand from all the chat in the summer that he looked very good at Benfica but on the evidence of his Liverpool career thus far he looks very much a work in progress with a long way to go. Every time I watch him play I think of him as a youth player just getting to grips with things, which if you take away the transfer fee is exactly what he is, but it's hard to do that.

Meanwhile Greizmann has got 10 goals for A.Madrid at roughly the same price...

Disclaimer: I'm not saying Markovic is shit, he might end up twice as good as the likes of Greizmann in a few years time, who knows, but just wondering what people think about the price vs what we got.
 
Tomkins seems to think we got Markovic for about half the going rate going from that article of his.
 
On the subject of Markovic - he's got a lot of potential and it's been really encouraging to see the upturn in his performances of late but does anyone actually think he was worth 20M?

I understand from all the chat in the summer that he looked very good at Benfica but on the evidence of his Liverpool career thus far he looks very much a work in progress with a long way to go. Every time I watch him play I think of him as a youth player just getting to grips with things, which if you take away the transfer fee is exactly what he is, but it's hard to do that.

Meanwhile Greizmann has got 10 goals for A.Madrid at roughly the same price...

Disclaimer: I'm not saying Markovic is shit, he might end up twice as good as the likes of Greizmann in a few years time, who knows, but just wondering what people think about the price vs what we got.

Yeh, we're clearly pay for potential here, also I kind of get used to there being a £5million Liverpool tax whenever we buy someone promising.
 
We had the Suarez tax this year. "You've been given £70m ergo it's gonna cost you more".
 
The going rate for an up and coming (unproven) english player from seems to be between £12-20 million like walcott, chambers hendo etc so we probably paid top end.

Assuming the club think he could be worth twice that in a few years
 
Re Markovic, don't forget he'd already had one successful move to a stepping stone club in Benfica. They'd absorbed some of the risk of signing someone of raw potential and were bound to demand a profit on him showing he was capable of adapting and thriving at a decent European level.

So it's not really the same as Walcott moving from the Championship to Arsenal at 16.
 
Markovic, Lallana and Lovren basically spunked the Suarez money.

That suggests you see those transfers uniformly as a waste of money. If so, I wouldn't agree. We were never going to be able to find a direct replacement for Suarez' incredible talent, Lallana's done well (fitness issues excepted), Markovic is beginning to do so and both will improve further. The jury's still out on Lovren admittedly, but even if he doesn't ultimately work out (and like others here I haven't given up on him) there are more successes than failures in that list IMHO.
 
That suggests you see those transfers uniformly as a waste of money. If so, I wouldn't agree. We were never going to be able to find a direct replacement for Suarez' incredible talent, Lallana's done well (fitness issues excepted), Markovic is beginning to do so and both will improve further. The jury's still out on Lovren admittedly, but even if he doesn't ultimately work out (and like others here I haven't given up on him) there are more successes than failures in that list IMHO.


I didn't say that. And I didn't mean that. Just an observation. I like Lallana too, but we overpaid. I like Markovic, kind of: but we overpaid. Lovren, God knows how he'll turn out, but I'll tell you this: we overpaid.
 
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