Rafa was absolutely right to select Lucas ahead of Mascherano for the Hull game. Not only does Lucas offer a (marginally) greater attacking threat than Mascherano but on current form the Brazilian absolutely deserves his place ahead of the Argentine. Notwithstanding Lucas’ improvement in form, it speaks volumes about Mascherano’s decline that I can make that statement. The truth is Mascherano has done nothing this season to warrant inclusion in the first XI. He was useless in the two games we lost and has been largely anonymous in the other games. Even in the Leeds game against players from the third tier of English football, he failed to shine.
This is the captain of Argentina, for goodness sake, yet he could not stamp his authority on a cup tie versus a League One team. Of course, his status as Argentina’s captain probably reflects the madness of Diego Maradona more than Mascherano’s game. For me, a team’s captain should be its best or most influential player. At Anfield, Mascherano is neither and if he truly is the Argentinean national team’s best and or most influential player perhaps that explains why they are struggling so much to qualify for the World Cup.
Not that I give a damn about Argentina’s national team. Of far more concern to me is how international involvement impacts the form, fitness and availability of one of Liverpool’s players. Just over a year ago, Mascherano returned from the Olympics pledging to repay the support of his employers who generously allowed him time off from his day job to piss about playing in youth team games. With the notable exception of some of the higher profile games against the likes of Man Ure, Real Madrid and Chelsea, he failed to make good on that promise. Had the Argentine managed just a single goal in one of last season's drawn home games to add to his one solitary strike for the club, it might have been the difference between a 19th title and being robbed by the cheating Mancs.
So far, Mascherano’s Liverpool career appears to mirroring that of Xabi Alonso: outstanding in the first season culminating in a Champions League Final appearance; excellent in the second season; below par in the third season and hugely disappointing in the fourth.
He needs to break that trend and quickly because we simply cannot carry a player, let alone a player so lacking in stature he offers no help when it comes to defending those dreaded set-pieces. The fact is, however, we shouldn’t have to carry him. This is a player who, when on top of his game, oozes quality.
At his best, Mascherano is an unstoppable force, a harrier, a destroyer of opponents’ attacks, a ball of energy in perpetual motion and key to the team maintaining a high tempo. He is also capable of playing with great discipline as perfectly demonstrated when taking Kaka out of the game in Athens.
Mascherano is a big game player and we have a couple of big games coming up. I have no doubt that Rafa will restore him to central midfield alongside Lucas for the games in Tuscanny and at Stamford Bridge with Gerrard reviving his partnership with the in-form Torres. I know Mascher will be chomping at the bit after his recent exclusion and I just hope he can channel his aggression and energy in the right way and help us emulate last season’s results at the home of the plastic flag brigade.
Monday, 28 September 2009
Title bid on?
In my heart I desperately want Liverpool to win the League this season but in my head I conceded the title immediately after the transfer window closed.
After ending last season with the feeling that the end to the long wait was right around the corner, my preseason optimism was punctured first by our transfer activity which did nothing to address the existing shortfalls in last season’s squad. The defeat at Tottenham, though expected, was a further knock but the home defeat to Aston Villa turned a puncture into a gaping hole. It wasn’t just that we lost two of our first three League games and did so to teams we should not expect to lose to but it was the nature of the defeats that led to serious re-examination of our title credentials. Our woeful defending of set-pieces in those games which was in further evidence in subsequent games against Bolton, Debrecen and West Ham was one major concern. The lack of creativity and overall weakness of the midfield post-Alonso was another. The lack of strength in depth with bloody Voronin and the hapless Ryan Babel rolling off the bench was a third. Finally the lack of form and obvious frustration shown by Torres and Gerrard suggested Anfield was not a happy camp. The sum total of all these elements did not add up to a title-winning formula. Meanwhile, Chelsea and Man Ure were being handed points just for turning up.
Suddenly, we find ourselves very much in the mix and there are plenty of reasons to argue we could still at least emulate last season by competing for the title. Suddenly we find ourselves just three points behind the Scum and Chelsea; Torres is back to his best, and we’re the top scorers in the League. Those doubts about our credentials remain but thankfully the other challengers have revealed flaws of their own. While we shouldn’t be losing to Aston Villa, neither should Man Ure be losing to Burnley or Chelsea be losing to Wigan. As bad as our defence was at Bolton and West Ham, how bad was Man Ure’s defending at home to City or Chelsea’s at Wigan?
Suddenly next weekend’s match at Stamford Bridge has grown in significance. If we go down 3-0 having lost the midfield battle and conceded through weak defending of set-pieces plus the usual Frank Lampard penalty, it will confirm that we are competing for third place at best. However, if we come through the 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge unscathed emerging with a point or even three, we will undoubtedly find ourselves in the title race.
My head still says we can’t win the title this season but if we can get a good result against Chelsea, my heart will be making my head eat humble pie – and it will rarely taste sweeter.
After ending last season with the feeling that the end to the long wait was right around the corner, my preseason optimism was punctured first by our transfer activity which did nothing to address the existing shortfalls in last season’s squad. The defeat at Tottenham, though expected, was a further knock but the home defeat to Aston Villa turned a puncture into a gaping hole. It wasn’t just that we lost two of our first three League games and did so to teams we should not expect to lose to but it was the nature of the defeats that led to serious re-examination of our title credentials. Our woeful defending of set-pieces in those games which was in further evidence in subsequent games against Bolton, Debrecen and West Ham was one major concern. The lack of creativity and overall weakness of the midfield post-Alonso was another. The lack of strength in depth with bloody Voronin and the hapless Ryan Babel rolling off the bench was a third. Finally the lack of form and obvious frustration shown by Torres and Gerrard suggested Anfield was not a happy camp. The sum total of all these elements did not add up to a title-winning formula. Meanwhile, Chelsea and Man Ure were being handed points just for turning up.
Suddenly, we find ourselves very much in the mix and there are plenty of reasons to argue we could still at least emulate last season by competing for the title. Suddenly we find ourselves just three points behind the Scum and Chelsea; Torres is back to his best, and we’re the top scorers in the League. Those doubts about our credentials remain but thankfully the other challengers have revealed flaws of their own. While we shouldn’t be losing to Aston Villa, neither should Man Ure be losing to Burnley or Chelsea be losing to Wigan. As bad as our defence was at Bolton and West Ham, how bad was Man Ure’s defending at home to City or Chelsea’s at Wigan?
Suddenly next weekend’s match at Stamford Bridge has grown in significance. If we go down 3-0 having lost the midfield battle and conceded through weak defending of set-pieces plus the usual Frank Lampard penalty, it will confirm that we are competing for third place at best. However, if we come through the 90 minutes at Stamford Bridge unscathed emerging with a point or even three, we will undoubtedly find ourselves in the title race.
My head still says we can’t win the title this season but if we can get a good result against Chelsea, my heart will be making my head eat humble pie – and it will rarely taste sweeter.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Carling Cup? Not for me.
Leeds versus Liverpool. Not so long ago, this fixture was viewed as a potential Premiership title decider. Now the two teams can only meet in Cup competitions as Leeds remain a frightening reminder of the consequences of boardroom mismanagement – a scenario we now live in fear of following the worst decision in the history of our own football club which resulted in our precious club becoming the property of two cowboys from the US of A.
All the Leeds fans I’ve spoken to fear they’re going to be battered. I’m not so optimistic. The fact is, they won’t face Liverpool so much as a Liverpool XI. It is, after all, the Carling Cup and no team that considers itself a ‘big club’ wants to be seen taking this competition seriously.
The Kop magazine – which incidentally has really deteriorated in quality in recent months - ran an article this month under the headline “COMING OUT OF A SILVER SHADOW” in which it suggested Rafa should take the Carling Cup more seriously in order to avoid a fourth consecutive trophyless season. Personally, I disagree. If Liverpool were to finish in the top two and at least make the semi-finals of the Champions League, I would view the season as more successful than if we were to finish 3rd or lower, fail to progress beyond the Champions League quarter-finals but win the Carling Cup.
Back when we won the Carling Cup under Houllier for the first time, it was considered the least prestigious of the domestic competitions but it still had some prestige. Only the likes of Man Ure and Arsenal were then treating it as a competition in which to field reserves and youth players and, in fairness, their reserves and youth players were usually pretty decent. These days, most Premiership teams field weakened teams. How could we consider it an achievement to win a competition that the likes of Bolton, Blackburn and even Reading don’t take seriously?
Every year there is talk of the FA Cup not having the same prestige as it used to but aside from Portsmouth in a freak year, no other team outside of the current big four has won the competition since Everton in 1995. By contrast, in the same period the League Cup has been won by the likes of Aston Villa, Leicester, Tottenham, Blackburn and Middlesbrough while runners-up in the Final have included Bolton, Wigan and lower league teams such as Birmingham and Tranmere. This is a small cup for small teams. When the bigger teams get to the Final, as has happened more frequently in recent years, it is because their second XIs are simply stronger than the teams from the lower divisions and the weakened XIs many of the Premiership teams field.
If our weakened team is good enough to get us to the semis then by all means we should go for the win but at this stage there is simply no point.
Why risk Gerrard or Torres against cloggers from League One? Much better to field the kids and fringe players and risk elimination.
The Kop asks the question: “What is more important to get from the Carling Cup this season – experience for [the] young players or the trophy itself?” I would answer “Neither are that important.” Will a good performance at Elland Road secure Jay Spearing a first team place? No. If a defence comprised of Degen, Kyrgiakos, Agger and Dossena can defend corners better than those in the current first team, will they keep their places for the home game against Hull? No. If Voronin scores a hat-trick will that mean he is a good player? Will it shite.
Winning the League Cup is only marginally better than winning nothing and if that is the only trophy we pick up this season, we will have had another disappointing year.
Rather than focus on the end of season objectives, I’d just like to see some of the fringe players who are a bit closer to the first team put in a performance that puts them in contention for more first team action. If the likes of Agger, Aurelio and Babel feature, they can do that. Similarly, David Ngog has an excellent opportunity to prove to Rafa why he should be coming off the bench before a certain Ukranian. I’m also sure Degen will prove why he should never be used in the first team and then get injured.
Over to you, reserves.
All the Leeds fans I’ve spoken to fear they’re going to be battered. I’m not so optimistic. The fact is, they won’t face Liverpool so much as a Liverpool XI. It is, after all, the Carling Cup and no team that considers itself a ‘big club’ wants to be seen taking this competition seriously.
The Kop magazine – which incidentally has really deteriorated in quality in recent months - ran an article this month under the headline “COMING OUT OF A SILVER SHADOW” in which it suggested Rafa should take the Carling Cup more seriously in order to avoid a fourth consecutive trophyless season. Personally, I disagree. If Liverpool were to finish in the top two and at least make the semi-finals of the Champions League, I would view the season as more successful than if we were to finish 3rd or lower, fail to progress beyond the Champions League quarter-finals but win the Carling Cup.
Back when we won the Carling Cup under Houllier for the first time, it was considered the least prestigious of the domestic competitions but it still had some prestige. Only the likes of Man Ure and Arsenal were then treating it as a competition in which to field reserves and youth players and, in fairness, their reserves and youth players were usually pretty decent. These days, most Premiership teams field weakened teams. How could we consider it an achievement to win a competition that the likes of Bolton, Blackburn and even Reading don’t take seriously?
Every year there is talk of the FA Cup not having the same prestige as it used to but aside from Portsmouth in a freak year, no other team outside of the current big four has won the competition since Everton in 1995. By contrast, in the same period the League Cup has been won by the likes of Aston Villa, Leicester, Tottenham, Blackburn and Middlesbrough while runners-up in the Final have included Bolton, Wigan and lower league teams such as Birmingham and Tranmere. This is a small cup for small teams. When the bigger teams get to the Final, as has happened more frequently in recent years, it is because their second XIs are simply stronger than the teams from the lower divisions and the weakened XIs many of the Premiership teams field.
If our weakened team is good enough to get us to the semis then by all means we should go for the win but at this stage there is simply no point.
Why risk Gerrard or Torres against cloggers from League One? Much better to field the kids and fringe players and risk elimination.
The Kop asks the question: “What is more important to get from the Carling Cup this season – experience for [the] young players or the trophy itself?” I would answer “Neither are that important.” Will a good performance at Elland Road secure Jay Spearing a first team place? No. If a defence comprised of Degen, Kyrgiakos, Agger and Dossena can defend corners better than those in the current first team, will they keep their places for the home game against Hull? No. If Voronin scores a hat-trick will that mean he is a good player? Will it shite.
Winning the League Cup is only marginally better than winning nothing and if that is the only trophy we pick up this season, we will have had another disappointing year.
Rather than focus on the end of season objectives, I’d just like to see some of the fringe players who are a bit closer to the first team put in a performance that puts them in contention for more first team action. If the likes of Agger, Aurelio and Babel feature, they can do that. Similarly, David Ngog has an excellent opportunity to prove to Rafa why he should be coming off the bench before a certain Ukranian. I’m also sure Degen will prove why he should never be used in the first team and then get injured.
Over to you, reserves.
Sunday, 20 September 2009
Referees deciding title race again
I said before the start of the season that "ultimately the title winner will be the team that gets the small details in their favour. The winner will be the team who suffers the least injuries to key players and is able to field its best XI on the most occasions; whose players get away with it when they should be sent off and avoid being on the receiving end of harsh red cards; who get penalties awarded when they deserve them and when they don't; who plays teams when they are vulnerable rather than bang in form and fully fit; who gets that jammy deflection on the late winning goal, and who gets the rub of the green and the bounce of the ball on enough occasions over the campaign."
We certainly haven’t had the rub of the green from referees with opponents being allowed to assault Torres game after game and penalty decisions going against us at Tottenham and yesterday at West Ham.
Meanwhile, down the M6, Man City went into the Manchester derby (why it’s called that when only one team is based in Manchester, I don’t know!) with their most in-form player, Adebayor suspended. They battled and recovered from some bad defending to score an equaliser in stoppage time and then the referee, Martin Atkinson, simply refused to stop the game until Man Ure had scored a winner. This sort of thing has been going on for years and it’s just fucking ridiculous. A match lasts for 90 minutes. The fourth official raises a board stating the number of minutes to be added on. Today that board indicated 4 minutes should be added on. For Atkinson to completely disregard that board and allow an indefinite period of added time to enable the Scum to collect 3 points is a travesty but it happens so often we’re not even surprised anymore.
Today Man Ure picked up 2 points they shouldn’t have. Add that to the 3 points they should have had against Arsenal and they already have stolen 5 points through unfair means. How can any team expect to beat them when they are gifted points in this way? The answer is that another team needs to be gifted points in the same way. While that clearly won’t be us, fortunately, Chelsea have been enjoying some lucky breaks of their own. They were hugely fortunate to take 3 points of Hull and today were grateful to Howard Webb for generously refusing to give Tottenham a clear-cut penalty against them at 1-0. It's not a fair competition but as long as those bastard Mancs don't win it, I don't care who else does.
It’s a sad state of affairs that this is the only way to win the title.
We certainly haven’t had the rub of the green from referees with opponents being allowed to assault Torres game after game and penalty decisions going against us at Tottenham and yesterday at West Ham.
Meanwhile, down the M6, Man City went into the Manchester derby (why it’s called that when only one team is based in Manchester, I don’t know!) with their most in-form player, Adebayor suspended. They battled and recovered from some bad defending to score an equaliser in stoppage time and then the referee, Martin Atkinson, simply refused to stop the game until Man Ure had scored a winner. This sort of thing has been going on for years and it’s just fucking ridiculous. A match lasts for 90 minutes. The fourth official raises a board stating the number of minutes to be added on. Today that board indicated 4 minutes should be added on. For Atkinson to completely disregard that board and allow an indefinite period of added time to enable the Scum to collect 3 points is a travesty but it happens so often we’re not even surprised anymore.
Today Man Ure picked up 2 points they shouldn’t have. Add that to the 3 points they should have had against Arsenal and they already have stolen 5 points through unfair means. How can any team expect to beat them when they are gifted points in this way? The answer is that another team needs to be gifted points in the same way. While that clearly won’t be us, fortunately, Chelsea have been enjoying some lucky breaks of their own. They were hugely fortunate to take 3 points of Hull and today were grateful to Howard Webb for generously refusing to give Tottenham a clear-cut penalty against them at 1-0. It's not a fair competition but as long as those bastard Mancs don't win it, I don't care who else does.
It’s a sad state of affairs that this is the only way to win the title.
West Ham 2 Liverpool 3
Great result for Liverpool at West Ham but the performance did little to allay concerns about this team’s flaws.
Starting with the positives, Torres’ opening goal was a throw-back to his debut season and it was great to see him scoring that type of goal again. It was also pleasing to see the bench looking a lot stronger with the return of players such as Aurelio after injury. The biggest positive (aside from the fact we won) was the performance of Ryan Babel.
After being deservedly booed onto the pitch against Debrecen, he looked like a man with a point to prove and, for once, showed some determination to prove that point. For the first time in recent memory, the whining Dutchman actually put in a shift, working hard on and off the ball. He also showed ability on the ball beating opponents with skill and pace and superbly setting up the winning goal for Torres. This was the Ryan Babel we saw in glimpses in his debut season and this was the Ryan Babel we want to see every game. If he wants more minutes on the pitch, he has to start producing performances of that standard consistently. It’s up to Babel.
On the negative side, I just wish Rafa would take Gerrard to one side and tell him he is not a dead-ball specialist. There is one word for Gerrard’s free-kicks and corners against West Ham... ‘crap’. He’s been whipping in corners for 10 years now so there’s no excuse for under and over hitting crosses as regularly as he does. It’s time he handed the responsibility to someone who can provide better delivery on a more consistent basis and get himself into the middle where he is one of the team’s more dangerous players. In a team generally lacking in height, Gerrard is one of the taller players and is extremely effective in the air. He is also the one player Liverpool supporters would want the ball to drop to on the edge of the area. Stevie scored the winner at Bolton and all but scored Liverpool’s second at Upton Park by being in the middle. Rafa needs to tell him to bloody stay there and leave the corner-kicks to Aurelio or Benayoun.
And since I’m discussing set-pieces, we conceded yet another soft goal from a corner yesterday. I’m so sick of hearing about bloody zonal marking but until we stop conceding stupid goals from set-pieces, the debate isn’t going away. Not that there is much of a debate on the subject as every pundit, commentator, "expert" and fan seems to agree that zonal marking is a less effective method of defending set-pieces than man-marking. That is the view of football "experts" such as Matt Holland and Andy Townsend. Yesterday, it was Kevin Keegan sticking the knife in and if anyone knows about bad defending, he does.
My view on the matter is that man-marking probably is a better method because that’s what the likes of Man Ure and Chelsea use and they are very effective at defending set-pieces - although it should also be noted that they have better defenders and taller midfielders. Zonal can be effective as we have seen in spells over the last 5 years under Benitez but a massive flaw with it is it only takes one player to make a mistake and an opponent can be presented with a free header. The other big flaw is that if the opposition shifts the ball first, as Debrecen did repeatedly last Wednesday, it is very hard to switch from defending zones to marking opponents. Chaos ensues and the defence is vulnerable. This tactic has been used repeatedly against us by Man Ure and Chelsea in recent years and has cost us goals in big games.
The problem is, Rafa believes in zonal marking and is not going to change his mind. He would respond to criticism of the tactic by pointing out that for every goal conceded when defending in this way, a player has made a mistake. He is right but the questions are (i) are players more likely to make a mistake defending in this way, and (ii) does this method of defending mean mistakes are more likely to result in a goal? The evidence of the last 5 years has led me to conclude the answer to both is ‘yes’.
While it’s pointless hoping he abandons the tactic, I really hope his analyses of recent goals conceded lead him to at least vary it. We could, for example, stick men on the posts and still defend zonally. So often you see players from other teams making goal-line clearances after taking up positions on the post. Had we had someone there against West Ham, Carlton Cole’s equaliser would not have gone in and neither would Kevin Davies' opener for Bolton against us. We’ve got several short-arses in the team who simply aren’t capable of defending their zones against taller, stronger players (see Insua for Bolton’s first against us). Get the taller players marking the central zones and stick the likes of Insua and Mascherano on the posts. That way, if the ball breaks, we have players in the middle instead leaving opponents unmarked in front of goal.
With or without men on the posts, we can defend zonally much more effectively than we have so far this season but if we go into the Chelsea game defending like we have of late, we will be massacred.
Starting with the positives, Torres’ opening goal was a throw-back to his debut season and it was great to see him scoring that type of goal again. It was also pleasing to see the bench looking a lot stronger with the return of players such as Aurelio after injury. The biggest positive (aside from the fact we won) was the performance of Ryan Babel.
After being deservedly booed onto the pitch against Debrecen, he looked like a man with a point to prove and, for once, showed some determination to prove that point. For the first time in recent memory, the whining Dutchman actually put in a shift, working hard on and off the ball. He also showed ability on the ball beating opponents with skill and pace and superbly setting up the winning goal for Torres. This was the Ryan Babel we saw in glimpses in his debut season and this was the Ryan Babel we want to see every game. If he wants more minutes on the pitch, he has to start producing performances of that standard consistently. It’s up to Babel.
On the negative side, I just wish Rafa would take Gerrard to one side and tell him he is not a dead-ball specialist. There is one word for Gerrard’s free-kicks and corners against West Ham... ‘crap’. He’s been whipping in corners for 10 years now so there’s no excuse for under and over hitting crosses as regularly as he does. It’s time he handed the responsibility to someone who can provide better delivery on a more consistent basis and get himself into the middle where he is one of the team’s more dangerous players. In a team generally lacking in height, Gerrard is one of the taller players and is extremely effective in the air. He is also the one player Liverpool supporters would want the ball to drop to on the edge of the area. Stevie scored the winner at Bolton and all but scored Liverpool’s second at Upton Park by being in the middle. Rafa needs to tell him to bloody stay there and leave the corner-kicks to Aurelio or Benayoun.
And since I’m discussing set-pieces, we conceded yet another soft goal from a corner yesterday. I’m so sick of hearing about bloody zonal marking but until we stop conceding stupid goals from set-pieces, the debate isn’t going away. Not that there is much of a debate on the subject as every pundit, commentator, "expert" and fan seems to agree that zonal marking is a less effective method of defending set-pieces than man-marking. That is the view of football "experts" such as Matt Holland and Andy Townsend. Yesterday, it was Kevin Keegan sticking the knife in and if anyone knows about bad defending, he does.
My view on the matter is that man-marking probably is a better method because that’s what the likes of Man Ure and Chelsea use and they are very effective at defending set-pieces - although it should also be noted that they have better defenders and taller midfielders. Zonal can be effective as we have seen in spells over the last 5 years under Benitez but a massive flaw with it is it only takes one player to make a mistake and an opponent can be presented with a free header. The other big flaw is that if the opposition shifts the ball first, as Debrecen did repeatedly last Wednesday, it is very hard to switch from defending zones to marking opponents. Chaos ensues and the defence is vulnerable. This tactic has been used repeatedly against us by Man Ure and Chelsea in recent years and has cost us goals in big games.
The problem is, Rafa believes in zonal marking and is not going to change his mind. He would respond to criticism of the tactic by pointing out that for every goal conceded when defending in this way, a player has made a mistake. He is right but the questions are (i) are players more likely to make a mistake defending in this way, and (ii) does this method of defending mean mistakes are more likely to result in a goal? The evidence of the last 5 years has led me to conclude the answer to both is ‘yes’.
While it’s pointless hoping he abandons the tactic, I really hope his analyses of recent goals conceded lead him to at least vary it. We could, for example, stick men on the posts and still defend zonally. So often you see players from other teams making goal-line clearances after taking up positions on the post. Had we had someone there against West Ham, Carlton Cole’s equaliser would not have gone in and neither would Kevin Davies' opener for Bolton against us. We’ve got several short-arses in the team who simply aren’t capable of defending their zones against taller, stronger players (see Insua for Bolton’s first against us). Get the taller players marking the central zones and stick the likes of Insua and Mascherano on the posts. That way, if the ball breaks, we have players in the middle instead leaving opponents unmarked in front of goal.
With or without men on the posts, we can defend zonally much more effectively than we have so far this season but if we go into the Chelsea game defending like we have of late, we will be massacred.
Saturday, 19 September 2009
West Ham versus Liverpool: Preview
It’s funny how one result can shape your whole perception of the team’s performance. We started last season in awful form (a common phenomenon under Rafa Benitez). Having been fortunate to get out of Belgium with a 0-0 draw against Standard Liege, we were uninspired against a crap Sunderland side and then outplayed at home by a Middlesbrough team that went on to be relegated. We needed a late Dirk Kuyt goal in extra team to qualify for the Champions League proper in the return game against Liege and then put in a poor performance away at Aston Villa. Despite not managing a single decent performance, we went into the home game against Man Ure with 7 points from 3 League games and having secured Champions League qualification.
Had we failed to cancel out Carlos Tevez’s early opener, the perception would have been that we’d started the season playing badly, fluked a couple of good results, and now blown our hopes of challenging for the title having lost at home to our most hated rivals again. However, because we rallied and unexpectedly delivered a fine team performance to deservedly beat the Scum 2-1, the perception was that we’d discovered that essential title-winning ingredient of winning despite not playing well and, having given our most hated rivals a long overdue spanking, were now ready to at least challenge for the title. Of much greater significance than the three points at stake, that one match dictated whether the start to the season had been good or bad in the minds of the supporters and the players. A bad result might have irreparably damaged confidence but the great result we achieved carried us on into our first title challenge since 2001-02.
Our pending match against West Ham can be viewed in a similar context. Obviously victory at Upton Park won’t paper over the defeats to Tottenham and Villa but, depending on how it is achieved, it would allow us to believe that those defeats were simply consequences of the team being woefully underprepared for the season’s start and that the team is now ready to start delivering on a consistent basis. Lose or draw and it will confirm fears that we face an uphill battle to finish in the top four this season.
There are no easy games in football – except for Stoke, Burnley and Debrecen at home and Bolton away. Tottenham away and Aston Villa at home are fixtures that could be labelled ‘tough’ but Liverpool would still always go into both expected to win. West Ham is another such fixture and if Liverpool can’t come away with 3 points, the reality will be that we’ve won the easy games and not won the slightly tougher games so God help us when we face the really tough games like Chelsea away.
I’d like to see a commanding Liverpool performance and a 2-0 or 3-0 scoreline but even a solid 1-0 will do me. The first name on the teamsheet has to be Yossi Benayoun. The Israeli is bang in form and was our most creative player against Burnley and Debrecen. I’d fancy him to do well against his former club.
The greater conundrum concerns who will play in midfield. Mascherano’s late return from international duty forced Rafa to do what I’ve been calling for in dropping Gerrard back into central midfield. While Gerrard didn't quite shine against Burnley and Debrecen, there was undoubtedly a better balance with him and Lucas than there has been with Lucas and Mascherano with the ball being moved about quicker and into better positions. Personally, I would like to see Gerrard and Mascherano (another ex-Hammer) start but it wouldn’t surprise me if Rafa went for Lucas and Mascherano with Gerrard restored as Torres’ striking partner. If that happens, Kuyt and Benayoun must be used in the wide positions with Riera dropping out. Riera did OK against Debrecen - apart from the one-on-one he missed - but I’m still far from impressed with him and I think we get much more from Kuyt and Yossi.
Aurelio’s return as a sub against Debrecen was great news for the club. Insua has done OK in his run of games and clearly has great future potential but his lack of height and wayward distribution have given some cause for concern. He was very much at fault for Bolton's opening goal and he hasn't offered the attacking threat that he showed in games last season against Arsenal and Blackburn. As soon as Aurelio is ready, I would like to see him back in the first team – especially with the Chelsea game approaching.
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Scrutinising Rafa's Record in the Transfer Market
There are people who are knowledgeable about football and there are Evertonians. I don’t think all Bluenoses talk shite; just the ones who talk. I was in Scotland last week and found a welcome respite from watching pissed posh people Ceili dancing by discussing football with some fellow pint drinkers. Unfortunately one was a Blue and therefore incapable of applying reason to anything coming out of his mouth.
He dubiously stated as fact that had David Moyes had the same spending money as Rafa Benitez during the last five years, Everton would have won the League. I tried explaining to him that Liverpool’s net spend was nowhere near the ridiculous sums quoted in the media but he couldn’t understand that ‘net spend’ was different to the cost of refurbishing the goals. He stated, again as fact, that Rafa has wasted all the money at his disposal and seemed to think that a man who has broken Everton’s transfer record three times on Andrew Johnson, Yakubu and Marouane Fellaini respectively would have performed better if given the same resources. I also tried to explain that much of Rafa’s transfer funds have been generated by securing Champions League qualification in every one of his seasons as manager and reaching the Final twice but the argument was wasted on the muppet.
On Saturday, against my better judgement, I tuned into Gillette Soccer Saturday on SKY Sports in time to see the weekly goading of Phil Thompson by Jeff Spelling and the other Liverpool-hating ‘experts’. Tony Cottee, another Bluenose runt, quoted some wildly inaccurate figure about Rafa’s net spend as Liverpool manager (probably including the £14m spent on Djibril Cisse before Rafa’s appointment and the exaggerated transfer fees quoted in the media) and repeated the accusation that Rafa has made a series of bad signings. This was the cue for Charlie Nicholas to nonsensically claim the Americans were right not to give Rafa money to spend because he would only misuse it while Paul Merson typically spat bile in the direction of Rafa and the club.
These combined episodes have led me to question why simpletons have come to think that the man who signed Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina, Daniel Agger, Dirk Kuyt, Javier Mascherano, Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun and now Glen Johnson is useless in the transfer market unlike say, Alex Ferguson who has signed gems such as Juan Sebastian Veron, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson and Dimitar Berbatov to name but a few.
No manager gets every signing right and of course Rafa has signed a few stinkers but overall, I felt his record was good. I decided to look into the issue in more detail to find out whether my perception was generous to the Liverpool manager or fair.
A key issue in evaluating the manager’s performance in the transfer market is exactly what elements of a transfer the manager is responsible for. For example, a normal transfer would require the player to be recommended to the manager by his scouts; the manager would then presumably check out the player for himself and decide to sign him, and then the Chief Executive would negotiate the transfer with the selling club. How much of a say the manager has in the fees paid is unclear. Last summer, it seemed to be the case that Rafa submitted a shortlist of players he wanted and the Chief Exec, Rick Parry, decided the order in which they would be pursued and the proportion of the transfer budget that would be spent on each.
It was clear that Robbie Keane was on Rafa’s wanted list in the summer of 2008 but we know Rafa’s priority was to sign Gareth Barry. Instead, Parry prioritised Keane and blew virtually the whole budget on him causing an irreparable rift between him and Benitez.
The performance of Parry was equally crucial to some signings that didn’t come off. It is known Rafa wanted to sign Nemanja Vidic and Florent Malouda but missed out because of Parry’s incompetence.
The other crucial factor is how much money the manager has to spend. While Chelsea can afford to write off £30m on Andrily Shevchenko, taking a £3m loss on Robbie Keane leads to a Liverpool manager being castigated by fans and the media because whereas Chelsea can simply go out and sign someone else, Rafa needs to generate funds to further invest in the team. Similarly, it is easy to criticise a free signing like Boudewijn Zenden but if the manager has no money to spend, free players are all he can sign.
Another difficult factor to quantify is how much the urgency to fill a position forces the manager’s hand. For example, this summer Rafa’s urgent need to recruit a centre-half forced him to buy Kyrgiakos whom he would never have bought under normal circumstances. Similarly, desperation to sign a right-winger was undoubtedly a factor in signing Jermaine Pennant in the summer of ’06.
Overall, I decided in assessing Rafa's performance in the transfer market I would consider him responsible for choosing to sign the players brought in during his tenure including the work of the scouts whom he ultimately employs. However, I will not hold him responsible for the fee spent on the player as this is not strictly within his control. Where players signed under Benitez have been resold, I will credit him with any increase or decrease in value as this is generally a result of the improvement or deterioration of that player under his management. I will not use a Paul Tomkins-style co-efficient method to counter for inflation in fees as the transfer record paid by an English club has risen only from £29.1m in 2004 to £32.5m during Rafa’s tenure so the increase is negligible. As it is too soon to judge the most recent signings (Aquilani hasn’t even played yet!) I will only give consideration to the 41 players signed by Benitez who have played in the first team prior to this season. I realise Rafa has invested in young players, some of whom have moved on without making first team appearances but in these cases the fees involved are virtually impossible to ascertain and none were greater than £1m.
I will consider the merits of each signing in terms of value given and, where appropriate, resale value. For players still at the club, it is futile to draw conclusions based on what I consider to be their current value as (a) this is debatable and (b) value fluctuates according to form and age. For example, if Torres were to be sold today he might be valued at £40-£50 million but if sold in 5 years time when aged _ he might be sold for considerably less. If he allows his contract to run down (as Michael Owen did), he could go for even less or free. I will focus on each transfer window in turn and consider each signing in the perspective of that period.
Transfer Window #1: Summer 2004
Rafa’s first signings have to be assessed in the context that he was new to the club and to the English League. As such, he needed time to assess the playing staff he had inherited before he could identify the areas in most need of strengthening. He also had yet to learn just how different the English game is to La Liga meaning that players who might have been successful in Spain would not necessarily cope with the increase pace, intensity and physical nature of the Premiership. Two such players were Josemi and Nunez whom Rafa quickly concluded were ill-suited to the English game and moved on after just one season. Both could be labelled bad signings but in both cases, Rafa rectified the mistake and recouped the fees paid for both. In Nunez’s case he was thrown in as part of the deal to take Michael Shithead to Real which is a bit like receiving sports equipment vouchers for schools when buying your shopping at Tesco. Mine go straight in the bin.
Alonso remains one of Rafa’s finest signings. He was a key player in the team for the next 5 seasons before being sold for a profit margin of almost 300% or £19.5m to you and me. Luis Garcia divided fans’ opinions as he delighted and frustrated in equal measure but there can be no debate that his goals en route to Istanbul and, to a lesser extent, Cardiff the following season, were key to the club’s successes in the Champions League and FA Cup in Rafa’s first two seasons. He was sold for a loss of £2m three seasons later but that deal was a sweetener for the deal that brought Fernando Torres move in the opposite direction so I would call it £2m well spent.
Transfer Window #2: Winter 2005
Though he failed to fulfil his potential during his time on the club’s books and was sold for a fairly modest fee of £3.25m, the signing of Scott Carson has to be viewed as good business given that he cost only £1m and therefore returned a profit of £2.25m.
Fernando Morientes failed to live up to expectations having arrived with an impressive reputation. However, before labelling him a “bad signing”, it should be considered that no football fan or media pundit thought we were signing a dud when we landed him for £6.3m. He wasn’t a bad player for the club but struggled to adapt to the English game. Despite a disappointing season and a half (in which he won an FA Cup Winners medal), he was sold for £3m taking a 50% loss on a player who had by now turned 30 years old so it wasn’t a total catastrophe by any means.
Mauricio Pellegrino was signed for free and, despite doing little to impress in his 13 appearances, it should be noted that the form of Sami Hyypia significantly improved once the Argentine was signed possibly in response to competition or because the Finn needed to play fewer games in quick succession. It is said the Pellegrino had a positive impact behind the scenes at the club and this ultimately led to his return as a coach. Ultimately, we lost nothing by signing him and he was still a better option at centre-half than Igor Biscan.
Transfer Window #3: Summer 2005
By 2005-06, Rafa better understood the demands of the Premiership and signed players that he believed would cope better with the bruising long-ball styles of teams like Bolton. Crouch and Zenden both had Premiership experience while Sissoko was as combatative a midfielder as you’ll find. Crouch was signed for £7m and subsequently sold for a £4m profit after three seasons in which he was highly rated by the Anfield faithful. Sissoko, signed for £5.6m, was also sold for a profit of approximately £3m. Momo certainly improved the team and was only sold after Mascherano – a further improvement – had been signed. Zenden cost nothing and on that basis could be considered a success as he at least improved the overall strength in depth of the squad when fit.
Pepe Reina was undoubtedly Rafa’s best signing in that summer transfer window. In his first four seasons in England, no other keeper- not even Petr Cech or Edwin van der Sar - can rival him for consistently high quality as three Golden Glove awards attest.
Transfer Window #4: Winter 2006
During the January transfer window of 2006, Rafa brought in Daniel Agger who, but for injuries could have established himself as one of the finest centre-halves in Europe by now and who may still in the future.
Josemi was swapped for Jan Kromkamp who may not rank as a successful signing but was better than the player he replaced and was sold for £2m (the same fee paid for Josemi) 6 months later with an FA Cup Winner’s medal in his pocket.
To the delight and disbelief of Kopites, Rafa also brought home Robbie Fowler for a swansong. Sentimentality aside, Fowler scored the opening goals in 5 games during a run-in which saw the team go into the FA Cup Final on the back of 11 straight wins. As the fourth choice striker in the following season, Fowler chipped in with another 7 goals before being released at the season’s end. Having cost nothing, the signing of Fowler has to be viewed as good business in the circumstances.
Transfer Window #5: Summer 2006
The summer of 2006 saw more successful signings. Craig Bellamy, signed for £6m, struggled to make the step up at a top club but he helped us reach a second Champions League Final in three seasons and his goal in the Nou Camp was one of that season’s highlights. He was sold for a £1.5m profit the following summer. Dirk Kuyt, signed for £9m, was not the 20-goal-a-season striker we hoped for but has more than proven his value to the team in the three years since and remains a first XI player. Aurelio was signed for nothing and has added value to the squad enjoying his personal best season at the club last campaign. Mark Gonzalez flopped at Liverpool but was still sold for a £2m profit after one disappointing season. Jermaine Pennant is a player many cite as one of Rafa’s bad signings. In Rafa’s defence, he wanted Simao but when that transfer fell through, ended up going for a prospect rather than a proven international. Did Rafa have a say in the fee? Who knows. Pennant was signed for £6.7m which retrospectively (as it did at the time) seems excessive and given he was released for nothing after 3 seasons it looks like bad business. However, it should be pointed out that during the summer of 2007, after Pennant’s excellent post-winter form en route to the Champions League Final in which he was our best attacking player, his signing was considered good business. Sadly, Pennant couldn’t retain that form – more because of his inflated ego and lack of workrate than any lack of talent.
Transfer Window #6: Winter 2007
During the winter transfer window of 2006-07, Rafa brought in Javier Mascherano on loan and Alvaro Arbeloa. Both players played key roles in getting us to Athens and but for the hand of Filippo Inzaghi, they might have helped the club win its 6th European Cup. Both have since proven to be good signings for the club while the players have also both benefitted from joining Liverpool with Mascherano being appointed Argentina’s captain and Arbeloa becoming Spain’s first choice right-back and moving to Real Madrid for £1m more than Liverpool signed him for. Emiliano Insua was also signed and is currently the first choice left-back and showing great promise for the future. Danielle Padelli was signed on loan and quickly sent back after one disastrous appearance in the final League game at home to relegated Charlton.
Transfer Window #7: Summer 2007
In the summer of 2007, Rafa made his best purchase to date when he brought in Fernando Torres. There are not many players who could be signed for £21m and called a bargain but El Nino is one. Despite a slow start to his Liverpool career, Yossi Benayoun has proven to be an excellent signing and again, for just £5m, has been excellent value for money so far.
Less complimentary things have been said about the other signings brought in that summer. Ryan Babel arrived with the potential to be one of the top players in the world. Sadly, his bad attitude has seen his talent go to waste and he now looks poor value for the £11.5m spent on him. Without a significant change in the player’s attitude and levels of performance, it is hard to see any outcome other than the club taking a big loss on the idiot. Sebastian Leto was restricted to just 4 first team appearances after his dodgy work permit was rumbled but he never looked like a world-beater in the making and was too slow to cut it as a top winger. However, the club made a £1.2m profit on his resale this summer. Jack Hobbs was another who, given little opportunity to shine, never made the breakthrough but again was sold for a minor profit of £250K. Charles Itandje was signed for an undisclosed fee and we will be lucky to get a fee back on his eventual resale or release. However, the financial loss will be small.
That leaves two of the players most likely to feature on any disgruntled supporter’s list of bad Rafa signings: Lucas and Voronin.
I know it’s controversial but I genuinely don’t believe Lucas was a bad signing. He was the Brazilian Under-21 Captain and highly rated in his own country yet we signed him for a modest fee of £5m. He has since become a full international for Brazil so clearly he is not a bad player.
He’s played 76 games for us including some memorable victories such as the 1-0 win over Inter in the San Siro and the 4-1 over the Scum at Old Trafford. He also played a key part in earning us the 2-1 win at Goodison a couple of years ago when his goal-bound shot was handled on the line by Phil Neville earning us the winning penalty. Clearly he is a Premiership-standard player but unfortunately for him, the standards at Liverpool are a little higher than that. As most midfielders would, Lucas has paled in comparison to Mascherano and Alonso and, to be fair, I don’t think last season he was utilised in a position that played to his strengths when replacing one of those two. Top teams need world class midfield players but, unless money is no issue, also need decent midfield players as back up. Take Phil Neville for example. At Man Ure, he was never going to oust Roy Keane and Paul Scholes from the first team but he could come in and do a job. Then after leaving to join Everton, he was made captain. So too would Lucas be considered one of the better players at a lesser club like Everton who incidentally paid three times more for Marouane Fellaini than we paid for Lucas.
Don’t get me wrong, I would rather see a Liverpool XI that includes better players than Lucas in midfield but that does not mean he was a bad signing for £5m.
As for Andrily Voronin, I can’t stand seeing the player in a Liverpool shirt and actually cheered when he missed his one-on-one against Burnley on Saturday. Do I wish we had never signed him? Yes. Do I think he was a bad signing? No. Why? Well, basically because he was free. It’s not as though Rafa had £20m to spend and decided against signing David Villa because he thought Voronin was a better player. Rafa had a limited budget, knew he needed more striking options and brought in a player who had done well in the Bundesliga for nothing. Voronin had a pretty lousy season and Rafa moved him on the next summer. Had any club offered to buy him, Rafa would have sold him in a heartbeat but none did (they’d all seen him play). Instead he was loaned out in the hope he would earn himself a move the next summer. Unfortunately, events (Americans) conspired against Rafa and he was forced to bring back a player he knows is not good enough because he can’t bring in anyone better. Bad player but not bad signing. Voronin was free and worth every penny.
Transfer Window #8: Winter 2008
Skrtel was another astute signing by Rafa. For £6.5m (less than a quarter of what Man Ure paid for Rio Ferdinand), Rafa secured a tough, no-nonsense centre-half who has so far been excellent value for the club. Damien Plessis was brought in for nothing and has not featured enough for any fair judgements to be made.
Transfer Window #9: Summer 2008
This transfer window is probably the reason people accuse Rafa of making bad signings. None of the five players brought in could be labelled successes. Riera has done OK but is hardly in the ‘world class’ category. N’gog has increasingly looked like a good prospect for the future and may yet prove to be a bargain for the £1.5m we bought him for. Robbie Keane was a well-publicised disaster while Dossena was a bad buy and the less said about Degen the better.
Dealing with Keane first, I was delighted when we signed him. Like most Kopites, I thought we’d paid more than his worth but I reasoned that we were recruiting a proven Premiership goal-scorer. No one can honestly say at the time of the transfer they thought we were signing a bad player so it would be harsh to criticise Rafa’s judgement. It was Rick Parry and not Rafa who agreed the £19m transfer fee and it is well known that Rafa wanted that money spent on Gareth Barry instead so again, Rafa can’t be blamed for that. What followed was hugely disappointing for all concerned as Keane failed to deliver and became the focus of negative media attention but at least we got him out of the club quickly and decisively and the loss of just £3m represented effective damage limitation.
Dossena was and still is the Italian national team’s first choice left-back. Italy are the current World Champions. He is also a fat guy who can’t defend and has been largely crap for us. While his status in the International game remains high, there remains hope we can recoup most of the £7m we paid for him but if not, we can always take consolation from the fact his goal against the Scum last season was priceless.
Transfer Window #10: Winter 2009
None
List of Transfers
Signing ...........Apps........ Cost .........Resale Cost ......Profit/Loss
X Alonso.......... 210.......£10.5m.............£30m.............+£19.5m
L Garcia...........121..........£6m................£4m..................-£2m
A Nunez.............27.........£1.5m...............£2m...............+£0.5m
F Morientes.......61.........£6.3m..............£3m.................-£3.3m
M Pellegrino......13..........Free................Free.....................£0
S Carson............9............£1m..............£3.25m...........+£2.25m
J Reina..............207..........£6m..................n/a...............................
B Zenden...........47...........Free...............Free......................£0
P Crouch..........134..........£7m................£11m................+£4m
M Sissoko.........87.........£5.6m.............£8.3m...............+£2.7m
A Barragan.........1..........£240K.............£675K..............+£435K
J Kromkamp.......18...........£2m.................£2m.....................£0
R Fowler............39...........Free................Free.....................£0
D Agger.............79..........£5.8m................n/a...............................
C Bellamy..........43...........£6m...............£7.5m...............+£1.5m
J Pennant...........81..........£6.7m...............£0...................-£6.7m
M Gonzalez........36..........£1.5m.............£3.5m...............+£2m
F Aurelio.............87..........Free..................n/a..............................
D Kuyt..............147..........£9m...................n/a.............................
G Paletta.............8............£2m................£1.2m..............-£800K
N El Zahr........... 25.........£200K.................n/a.............................
M Roque..............1............Free.................Free.....................£0
A Arbeloa...........98.........£2.5m...............£3.5m...............+£1m
J Mascherano....90........£18.6m................n/a.............................
E Insua..............18.........£1.3m.................n/a............................
D Padelli..............1...........Free.................Free.....................£0
F Torres..............84........£21.2m................n/a............................
R Babel...............91........£11.5m................n/a...........................
A Voronin............28.........Free....................n/a...........................
Y Benayoun.........89..........£5m...................n/a...........................
Lucas L..............71..........£5m...................n/a...........................
S Leto................4.........£1.8m.................£3m...............+£1.2m
C Itandje...............7....Undisclosed.............n/a...........................
J Hobbs...............5........£150K...............£400K..............+£250K
M Skrtel..............50.........£6.5m.................n/a...........................
D Plessis..............7...........Free...................n/a............................
R Keane..............28.........£19m................£16m.................-£3m
A Dossena..........26..........£7m...................n/a............................
P Degen...............2..........Free....................n/a............................
D N'gog...............19.........£1.5m.................n/a...........................
A Riera................40..........£8m...................n/a...........................
................................................................TOTAL..... +£19.535m
Transfer fees quoted in the media vary constantly but I have taken the above fees from the excellent lfchistory website.
Conclusion:
Overall, Rafa’s portfolio has included some outstanding signings such as Torres, Alonso and Reina; some good and really good signings such as Benayoun, Kuyt and Skrtel; some decent signings such as Aurelio and Arbeloa, and some not so good signings such as Keane, Voronin and Gonzalez. Because of the differences in spending money, Rafa’s ‘mistakes’ in the transfer market have been more costly than those of Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho or Arsene Wenger (let alone the various managers of Spurs in recent years) while Rafa also gets far more stick from loathsome media cretins like Paul Merson meaning his ‘mistakes’ are blown out of proportion as was the case with Robbie Keane. Rafa certainly has had a greater proportion of successful signings than his predecessor, Houllier, and crucially, unlike Houllier, Rafa has generally made profit from the players he has moved on rather than seen their values plummet to zero. A current profit of nearly £20m on players bought and sold by the manager suggests that on the whole players' values have increased under Rafa's management although there are obviously some exceptions.
The players brought in last summer were the most disappointing crop to date which is perhaps why football fans with shorter memories than goldfish have been slating him of late but if the early form of Glen Johnson is anything to go by, it seems Rafa is back on track. Let’s hope Aquilani is another success story.
He dubiously stated as fact that had David Moyes had the same spending money as Rafa Benitez during the last five years, Everton would have won the League. I tried explaining to him that Liverpool’s net spend was nowhere near the ridiculous sums quoted in the media but he couldn’t understand that ‘net spend’ was different to the cost of refurbishing the goals. He stated, again as fact, that Rafa has wasted all the money at his disposal and seemed to think that a man who has broken Everton’s transfer record three times on Andrew Johnson, Yakubu and Marouane Fellaini respectively would have performed better if given the same resources. I also tried to explain that much of Rafa’s transfer funds have been generated by securing Champions League qualification in every one of his seasons as manager and reaching the Final twice but the argument was wasted on the muppet.
On Saturday, against my better judgement, I tuned into Gillette Soccer Saturday on SKY Sports in time to see the weekly goading of Phil Thompson by Jeff Spelling and the other Liverpool-hating ‘experts’. Tony Cottee, another Bluenose runt, quoted some wildly inaccurate figure about Rafa’s net spend as Liverpool manager (probably including the £14m spent on Djibril Cisse before Rafa’s appointment and the exaggerated transfer fees quoted in the media) and repeated the accusation that Rafa has made a series of bad signings. This was the cue for Charlie Nicholas to nonsensically claim the Americans were right not to give Rafa money to spend because he would only misuse it while Paul Merson typically spat bile in the direction of Rafa and the club.
These combined episodes have led me to question why simpletons have come to think that the man who signed Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina, Daniel Agger, Dirk Kuyt, Javier Mascherano, Fernando Torres, Yossi Benayoun and now Glen Johnson is useless in the transfer market unlike say, Alex Ferguson who has signed gems such as Juan Sebastian Veron, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson and Dimitar Berbatov to name but a few.
No manager gets every signing right and of course Rafa has signed a few stinkers but overall, I felt his record was good. I decided to look into the issue in more detail to find out whether my perception was generous to the Liverpool manager or fair.
A key issue in evaluating the manager’s performance in the transfer market is exactly what elements of a transfer the manager is responsible for. For example, a normal transfer would require the player to be recommended to the manager by his scouts; the manager would then presumably check out the player for himself and decide to sign him, and then the Chief Executive would negotiate the transfer with the selling club. How much of a say the manager has in the fees paid is unclear. Last summer, it seemed to be the case that Rafa submitted a shortlist of players he wanted and the Chief Exec, Rick Parry, decided the order in which they would be pursued and the proportion of the transfer budget that would be spent on each.
It was clear that Robbie Keane was on Rafa’s wanted list in the summer of 2008 but we know Rafa’s priority was to sign Gareth Barry. Instead, Parry prioritised Keane and blew virtually the whole budget on him causing an irreparable rift between him and Benitez.
The performance of Parry was equally crucial to some signings that didn’t come off. It is known Rafa wanted to sign Nemanja Vidic and Florent Malouda but missed out because of Parry’s incompetence.
The other crucial factor is how much money the manager has to spend. While Chelsea can afford to write off £30m on Andrily Shevchenko, taking a £3m loss on Robbie Keane leads to a Liverpool manager being castigated by fans and the media because whereas Chelsea can simply go out and sign someone else, Rafa needs to generate funds to further invest in the team. Similarly, it is easy to criticise a free signing like Boudewijn Zenden but if the manager has no money to spend, free players are all he can sign.
Another difficult factor to quantify is how much the urgency to fill a position forces the manager’s hand. For example, this summer Rafa’s urgent need to recruit a centre-half forced him to buy Kyrgiakos whom he would never have bought under normal circumstances. Similarly, desperation to sign a right-winger was undoubtedly a factor in signing Jermaine Pennant in the summer of ’06.
Overall, I decided in assessing Rafa's performance in the transfer market I would consider him responsible for choosing to sign the players brought in during his tenure including the work of the scouts whom he ultimately employs. However, I will not hold him responsible for the fee spent on the player as this is not strictly within his control. Where players signed under Benitez have been resold, I will credit him with any increase or decrease in value as this is generally a result of the improvement or deterioration of that player under his management. I will not use a Paul Tomkins-style co-efficient method to counter for inflation in fees as the transfer record paid by an English club has risen only from £29.1m in 2004 to £32.5m during Rafa’s tenure so the increase is negligible. As it is too soon to judge the most recent signings (Aquilani hasn’t even played yet!) I will only give consideration to the 41 players signed by Benitez who have played in the first team prior to this season. I realise Rafa has invested in young players, some of whom have moved on without making first team appearances but in these cases the fees involved are virtually impossible to ascertain and none were greater than £1m.
I will consider the merits of each signing in terms of value given and, where appropriate, resale value. For players still at the club, it is futile to draw conclusions based on what I consider to be their current value as (a) this is debatable and (b) value fluctuates according to form and age. For example, if Torres were to be sold today he might be valued at £40-£50 million but if sold in 5 years time when aged _ he might be sold for considerably less. If he allows his contract to run down (as Michael Owen did), he could go for even less or free. I will focus on each transfer window in turn and consider each signing in the perspective of that period.
Transfer Window #1: Summer 2004
Rafa’s first signings have to be assessed in the context that he was new to the club and to the English League. As such, he needed time to assess the playing staff he had inherited before he could identify the areas in most need of strengthening. He also had yet to learn just how different the English game is to La Liga meaning that players who might have been successful in Spain would not necessarily cope with the increase pace, intensity and physical nature of the Premiership. Two such players were Josemi and Nunez whom Rafa quickly concluded were ill-suited to the English game and moved on after just one season. Both could be labelled bad signings but in both cases, Rafa rectified the mistake and recouped the fees paid for both. In Nunez’s case he was thrown in as part of the deal to take Michael Shithead to Real which is a bit like receiving sports equipment vouchers for schools when buying your shopping at Tesco. Mine go straight in the bin.
Alonso remains one of Rafa’s finest signings. He was a key player in the team for the next 5 seasons before being sold for a profit margin of almost 300% or £19.5m to you and me. Luis Garcia divided fans’ opinions as he delighted and frustrated in equal measure but there can be no debate that his goals en route to Istanbul and, to a lesser extent, Cardiff the following season, were key to the club’s successes in the Champions League and FA Cup in Rafa’s first two seasons. He was sold for a loss of £2m three seasons later but that deal was a sweetener for the deal that brought Fernando Torres move in the opposite direction so I would call it £2m well spent.
Transfer Window #2: Winter 2005
Though he failed to fulfil his potential during his time on the club’s books and was sold for a fairly modest fee of £3.25m, the signing of Scott Carson has to be viewed as good business given that he cost only £1m and therefore returned a profit of £2.25m.
Fernando Morientes failed to live up to expectations having arrived with an impressive reputation. However, before labelling him a “bad signing”, it should be considered that no football fan or media pundit thought we were signing a dud when we landed him for £6.3m. He wasn’t a bad player for the club but struggled to adapt to the English game. Despite a disappointing season and a half (in which he won an FA Cup Winners medal), he was sold for £3m taking a 50% loss on a player who had by now turned 30 years old so it wasn’t a total catastrophe by any means.
Mauricio Pellegrino was signed for free and, despite doing little to impress in his 13 appearances, it should be noted that the form of Sami Hyypia significantly improved once the Argentine was signed possibly in response to competition or because the Finn needed to play fewer games in quick succession. It is said the Pellegrino had a positive impact behind the scenes at the club and this ultimately led to his return as a coach. Ultimately, we lost nothing by signing him and he was still a better option at centre-half than Igor Biscan.
Transfer Window #3: Summer 2005
By 2005-06, Rafa better understood the demands of the Premiership and signed players that he believed would cope better with the bruising long-ball styles of teams like Bolton. Crouch and Zenden both had Premiership experience while Sissoko was as combatative a midfielder as you’ll find. Crouch was signed for £7m and subsequently sold for a £4m profit after three seasons in which he was highly rated by the Anfield faithful. Sissoko, signed for £5.6m, was also sold for a profit of approximately £3m. Momo certainly improved the team and was only sold after Mascherano – a further improvement – had been signed. Zenden cost nothing and on that basis could be considered a success as he at least improved the overall strength in depth of the squad when fit.
Pepe Reina was undoubtedly Rafa’s best signing in that summer transfer window. In his first four seasons in England, no other keeper- not even Petr Cech or Edwin van der Sar - can rival him for consistently high quality as three Golden Glove awards attest.
Transfer Window #4: Winter 2006
During the January transfer window of 2006, Rafa brought in Daniel Agger who, but for injuries could have established himself as one of the finest centre-halves in Europe by now and who may still in the future.
Josemi was swapped for Jan Kromkamp who may not rank as a successful signing but was better than the player he replaced and was sold for £2m (the same fee paid for Josemi) 6 months later with an FA Cup Winner’s medal in his pocket.
To the delight and disbelief of Kopites, Rafa also brought home Robbie Fowler for a swansong. Sentimentality aside, Fowler scored the opening goals in 5 games during a run-in which saw the team go into the FA Cup Final on the back of 11 straight wins. As the fourth choice striker in the following season, Fowler chipped in with another 7 goals before being released at the season’s end. Having cost nothing, the signing of Fowler has to be viewed as good business in the circumstances.
Transfer Window #5: Summer 2006
The summer of 2006 saw more successful signings. Craig Bellamy, signed for £6m, struggled to make the step up at a top club but he helped us reach a second Champions League Final in three seasons and his goal in the Nou Camp was one of that season’s highlights. He was sold for a £1.5m profit the following summer. Dirk Kuyt, signed for £9m, was not the 20-goal-a-season striker we hoped for but has more than proven his value to the team in the three years since and remains a first XI player. Aurelio was signed for nothing and has added value to the squad enjoying his personal best season at the club last campaign. Mark Gonzalez flopped at Liverpool but was still sold for a £2m profit after one disappointing season. Jermaine Pennant is a player many cite as one of Rafa’s bad signings. In Rafa’s defence, he wanted Simao but when that transfer fell through, ended up going for a prospect rather than a proven international. Did Rafa have a say in the fee? Who knows. Pennant was signed for £6.7m which retrospectively (as it did at the time) seems excessive and given he was released for nothing after 3 seasons it looks like bad business. However, it should be pointed out that during the summer of 2007, after Pennant’s excellent post-winter form en route to the Champions League Final in which he was our best attacking player, his signing was considered good business. Sadly, Pennant couldn’t retain that form – more because of his inflated ego and lack of workrate than any lack of talent.
Transfer Window #6: Winter 2007
During the winter transfer window of 2006-07, Rafa brought in Javier Mascherano on loan and Alvaro Arbeloa. Both players played key roles in getting us to Athens and but for the hand of Filippo Inzaghi, they might have helped the club win its 6th European Cup. Both have since proven to be good signings for the club while the players have also both benefitted from joining Liverpool with Mascherano being appointed Argentina’s captain and Arbeloa becoming Spain’s first choice right-back and moving to Real Madrid for £1m more than Liverpool signed him for. Emiliano Insua was also signed and is currently the first choice left-back and showing great promise for the future. Danielle Padelli was signed on loan and quickly sent back after one disastrous appearance in the final League game at home to relegated Charlton.
Transfer Window #7: Summer 2007
In the summer of 2007, Rafa made his best purchase to date when he brought in Fernando Torres. There are not many players who could be signed for £21m and called a bargain but El Nino is one. Despite a slow start to his Liverpool career, Yossi Benayoun has proven to be an excellent signing and again, for just £5m, has been excellent value for money so far.
Less complimentary things have been said about the other signings brought in that summer. Ryan Babel arrived with the potential to be one of the top players in the world. Sadly, his bad attitude has seen his talent go to waste and he now looks poor value for the £11.5m spent on him. Without a significant change in the player’s attitude and levels of performance, it is hard to see any outcome other than the club taking a big loss on the idiot. Sebastian Leto was restricted to just 4 first team appearances after his dodgy work permit was rumbled but he never looked like a world-beater in the making and was too slow to cut it as a top winger. However, the club made a £1.2m profit on his resale this summer. Jack Hobbs was another who, given little opportunity to shine, never made the breakthrough but again was sold for a minor profit of £250K. Charles Itandje was signed for an undisclosed fee and we will be lucky to get a fee back on his eventual resale or release. However, the financial loss will be small.
That leaves two of the players most likely to feature on any disgruntled supporter’s list of bad Rafa signings: Lucas and Voronin.
I know it’s controversial but I genuinely don’t believe Lucas was a bad signing. He was the Brazilian Under-21 Captain and highly rated in his own country yet we signed him for a modest fee of £5m. He has since become a full international for Brazil so clearly he is not a bad player.
He’s played 76 games for us including some memorable victories such as the 1-0 win over Inter in the San Siro and the 4-1 over the Scum at Old Trafford. He also played a key part in earning us the 2-1 win at Goodison a couple of years ago when his goal-bound shot was handled on the line by Phil Neville earning us the winning penalty. Clearly he is a Premiership-standard player but unfortunately for him, the standards at Liverpool are a little higher than that. As most midfielders would, Lucas has paled in comparison to Mascherano and Alonso and, to be fair, I don’t think last season he was utilised in a position that played to his strengths when replacing one of those two. Top teams need world class midfield players but, unless money is no issue, also need decent midfield players as back up. Take Phil Neville for example. At Man Ure, he was never going to oust Roy Keane and Paul Scholes from the first team but he could come in and do a job. Then after leaving to join Everton, he was made captain. So too would Lucas be considered one of the better players at a lesser club like Everton who incidentally paid three times more for Marouane Fellaini than we paid for Lucas.
Don’t get me wrong, I would rather see a Liverpool XI that includes better players than Lucas in midfield but that does not mean he was a bad signing for £5m.
As for Andrily Voronin, I can’t stand seeing the player in a Liverpool shirt and actually cheered when he missed his one-on-one against Burnley on Saturday. Do I wish we had never signed him? Yes. Do I think he was a bad signing? No. Why? Well, basically because he was free. It’s not as though Rafa had £20m to spend and decided against signing David Villa because he thought Voronin was a better player. Rafa had a limited budget, knew he needed more striking options and brought in a player who had done well in the Bundesliga for nothing. Voronin had a pretty lousy season and Rafa moved him on the next summer. Had any club offered to buy him, Rafa would have sold him in a heartbeat but none did (they’d all seen him play). Instead he was loaned out in the hope he would earn himself a move the next summer. Unfortunately, events (Americans) conspired against Rafa and he was forced to bring back a player he knows is not good enough because he can’t bring in anyone better. Bad player but not bad signing. Voronin was free and worth every penny.
Transfer Window #8: Winter 2008
Skrtel was another astute signing by Rafa. For £6.5m (less than a quarter of what Man Ure paid for Rio Ferdinand), Rafa secured a tough, no-nonsense centre-half who has so far been excellent value for the club. Damien Plessis was brought in for nothing and has not featured enough for any fair judgements to be made.
Transfer Window #9: Summer 2008
This transfer window is probably the reason people accuse Rafa of making bad signings. None of the five players brought in could be labelled successes. Riera has done OK but is hardly in the ‘world class’ category. N’gog has increasingly looked like a good prospect for the future and may yet prove to be a bargain for the £1.5m we bought him for. Robbie Keane was a well-publicised disaster while Dossena was a bad buy and the less said about Degen the better.
Dealing with Keane first, I was delighted when we signed him. Like most Kopites, I thought we’d paid more than his worth but I reasoned that we were recruiting a proven Premiership goal-scorer. No one can honestly say at the time of the transfer they thought we were signing a bad player so it would be harsh to criticise Rafa’s judgement. It was Rick Parry and not Rafa who agreed the £19m transfer fee and it is well known that Rafa wanted that money spent on Gareth Barry instead so again, Rafa can’t be blamed for that. What followed was hugely disappointing for all concerned as Keane failed to deliver and became the focus of negative media attention but at least we got him out of the club quickly and decisively and the loss of just £3m represented effective damage limitation.
Dossena was and still is the Italian national team’s first choice left-back. Italy are the current World Champions. He is also a fat guy who can’t defend and has been largely crap for us. While his status in the International game remains high, there remains hope we can recoup most of the £7m we paid for him but if not, we can always take consolation from the fact his goal against the Scum last season was priceless.
Transfer Window #10: Winter 2009
None
List of Transfers
Signing ...........Apps........ Cost .........Resale Cost ......Profit/Loss
X Alonso.......... 210.......£10.5m.............£30m.............+£19.5m
L Garcia...........121..........£6m................£4m..................-£2m
A Nunez.............27.........£1.5m...............£2m...............+£0.5m
F Morientes.......61.........£6.3m..............£3m.................-£3.3m
M Pellegrino......13..........Free................Free.....................£0
S Carson............9............£1m..............£3.25m...........+£2.25m
J Reina..............207..........£6m..................n/a...............................
B Zenden...........47...........Free...............Free......................£0
P Crouch..........134..........£7m................£11m................+£4m
M Sissoko.........87.........£5.6m.............£8.3m...............+£2.7m
A Barragan.........1..........£240K.............£675K..............+£435K
J Kromkamp.......18...........£2m.................£2m.....................£0
R Fowler............39...........Free................Free.....................£0
D Agger.............79..........£5.8m................n/a...............................
C Bellamy..........43...........£6m...............£7.5m...............+£1.5m
J Pennant...........81..........£6.7m...............£0...................-£6.7m
M Gonzalez........36..........£1.5m.............£3.5m...............+£2m
F Aurelio.............87..........Free..................n/a..............................
D Kuyt..............147..........£9m...................n/a.............................
G Paletta.............8............£2m................£1.2m..............-£800K
N El Zahr........... 25.........£200K.................n/a.............................
M Roque..............1............Free.................Free.....................£0
A Arbeloa...........98.........£2.5m...............£3.5m...............+£1m
J Mascherano....90........£18.6m................n/a.............................
E Insua..............18.........£1.3m.................n/a............................
D Padelli..............1...........Free.................Free.....................£0
F Torres..............84........£21.2m................n/a............................
R Babel...............91........£11.5m................n/a...........................
A Voronin............28.........Free....................n/a...........................
Y Benayoun.........89..........£5m...................n/a...........................
Lucas L..............71..........£5m...................n/a...........................
S Leto................4.........£1.8m.................£3m...............+£1.2m
C Itandje...............7....Undisclosed.............n/a...........................
J Hobbs...............5........£150K...............£400K..............+£250K
M Skrtel..............50.........£6.5m.................n/a...........................
D Plessis..............7...........Free...................n/a............................
R Keane..............28.........£19m................£16m.................-£3m
A Dossena..........26..........£7m...................n/a............................
P Degen...............2..........Free....................n/a............................
D N'gog...............19.........£1.5m.................n/a...........................
A Riera................40..........£8m...................n/a...........................
................................................................TOTAL..... +£19.535m
Transfer fees quoted in the media vary constantly but I have taken the above fees from the excellent lfchistory website.
Conclusion:
Overall, Rafa’s portfolio has included some outstanding signings such as Torres, Alonso and Reina; some good and really good signings such as Benayoun, Kuyt and Skrtel; some decent signings such as Aurelio and Arbeloa, and some not so good signings such as Keane, Voronin and Gonzalez. Because of the differences in spending money, Rafa’s ‘mistakes’ in the transfer market have been more costly than those of Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho or Arsene Wenger (let alone the various managers of Spurs in recent years) while Rafa also gets far more stick from loathsome media cretins like Paul Merson meaning his ‘mistakes’ are blown out of proportion as was the case with Robbie Keane. Rafa certainly has had a greater proportion of successful signings than his predecessor, Houllier, and crucially, unlike Houllier, Rafa has generally made profit from the players he has moved on rather than seen their values plummet to zero. A current profit of nearly £20m on players bought and sold by the manager suggests that on the whole players' values have increased under Rafa's management although there are obviously some exceptions.
The players brought in last summer were the most disappointing crop to date which is perhaps why football fans with shorter memories than goldfish have been slating him of late but if the early form of Glen Johnson is anything to go by, it seems Rafa is back on track. Let’s hope Aquilani is another success story.
Saturday, 5 September 2009
Mindless Babel
I see Ryan Babel has been shouting his mouth off again. Apparently, Rafa Benitez has broken promises to this poor sensitive soul.
"There have been a lot of things promised, but they haven't been followed up," Babel complained. "I would get to play for more minutes and have more chances, but after the first defeat, I only lost my place."
How dare Rafa? How dare he select Babel in the squad for the first three games and then leave him out for the fourth after the player managed to do nothing more than concede possession and help the team to lose both the games he was involved in?
Let’s just apply a little perspective here. Babel started the season opener against Spurs and for the 67 minutes he was on the pitch he was as infuriatingly crap as he was for pretty much the whole of last season. He was replaced by Yossi Benayoun who performed extremely well and significantly improved the performance of the team. Does anyone other than Ryan Babel think Rafa was therefore wrong to select Benayoun for the next match ahead of Babel?
Does any Liverpool fan with more than half a brain feel a jot of sympathy for Ryan Babel after watching him lose possession virtually every time he received the ball last season?
Basically, in the mind of Ryan Babel, he should start irrespective of whether he adds any value to the team. It doesn’t matter whether the team wins, draws or loses or how that result impacts on the fans so long as Babel gets a game. And if Ryan Babel isn’t getting a game – sod Liverpool who invested £11.5 million in signing him and even more on his sky-high wages – he wants to go to Ajax reducing Liverpool’s squad by one without any financial compensation just so he can get a game. Given the complete disinterest and lack of effort he shows in games, one has to wonder why getting games is so important to Babel. Probably the answers are to earn performance related bonuses, to maintain a high profile (which also carries financial incentives), and to ensure he retains his place in the Dutch squad in a World Cup year.
This is not a player who will give sweat and blood for the Liverpool cause. This is not a player who cares one iota about the history, present or future of Liverpool Football Club and its fans who shell out hard-earned cash so that he can piss about embarrassing himself with his sad attempts at being a rapper instead of practising the one thing he is actually supposed to be good at. This is an ignorant, spoilt, stupid, self-centred, immature, fool who is a disgrace to our club and is no more fit to wear the shirt than Osama Bin Laden.
Like most Liverpool fans, I hoped that this would be the season Babel came good and added another name to those of Gerrard, Torres, Mascherano, Reina, Carra and now Johnson as truly world class players at the club. For that reason, I wasn’t too unhappy we kept him but now I am certain we need to offload him for as much of a fee as possible at the earliest opportunity. Loaning him out isn’t an option. Why should another club get a free player at our expense?
Rafa should tell Babel he is now fighting for his career and will have to be extremely impressive in the Carling Cup tie at Leeds if he is to get more opportunities in the shop window as right now he figures below Nabil El Zahr in the Anfield pecking order and below David Moyes in the Anfield popularity stakes.
"There have been a lot of things promised, but they haven't been followed up," Babel complained. "I would get to play for more minutes and have more chances, but after the first defeat, I only lost my place."
How dare Rafa? How dare he select Babel in the squad for the first three games and then leave him out for the fourth after the player managed to do nothing more than concede possession and help the team to lose both the games he was involved in?
Let’s just apply a little perspective here. Babel started the season opener against Spurs and for the 67 minutes he was on the pitch he was as infuriatingly crap as he was for pretty much the whole of last season. He was replaced by Yossi Benayoun who performed extremely well and significantly improved the performance of the team. Does anyone other than Ryan Babel think Rafa was therefore wrong to select Benayoun for the next match ahead of Babel?
Does any Liverpool fan with more than half a brain feel a jot of sympathy for Ryan Babel after watching him lose possession virtually every time he received the ball last season?
Basically, in the mind of Ryan Babel, he should start irrespective of whether he adds any value to the team. It doesn’t matter whether the team wins, draws or loses or how that result impacts on the fans so long as Babel gets a game. And if Ryan Babel isn’t getting a game – sod Liverpool who invested £11.5 million in signing him and even more on his sky-high wages – he wants to go to Ajax reducing Liverpool’s squad by one without any financial compensation just so he can get a game. Given the complete disinterest and lack of effort he shows in games, one has to wonder why getting games is so important to Babel. Probably the answers are to earn performance related bonuses, to maintain a high profile (which also carries financial incentives), and to ensure he retains his place in the Dutch squad in a World Cup year.
This is not a player who will give sweat and blood for the Liverpool cause. This is not a player who cares one iota about the history, present or future of Liverpool Football Club and its fans who shell out hard-earned cash so that he can piss about embarrassing himself with his sad attempts at being a rapper instead of practising the one thing he is actually supposed to be good at. This is an ignorant, spoilt, stupid, self-centred, immature, fool who is a disgrace to our club and is no more fit to wear the shirt than Osama Bin Laden.
Like most Liverpool fans, I hoped that this would be the season Babel came good and added another name to those of Gerrard, Torres, Mascherano, Reina, Carra and now Johnson as truly world class players at the club. For that reason, I wasn’t too unhappy we kept him but now I am certain we need to offload him for as much of a fee as possible at the earliest opportunity. Loaning him out isn’t an option. Why should another club get a free player at our expense?
Rafa should tell Babel he is now fighting for his career and will have to be extremely impressive in the Carling Cup tie at Leeds if he is to get more opportunities in the shop window as right now he figures below Nabil El Zahr in the Anfield pecking order and below David Moyes in the Anfield popularity stakes.
Thursday, 3 September 2009
No signings; No title
As our anthem states, I shall walk on with hope in my heart because following the closure of the transfer window, hope of a miraculous performance by a squad severely lacking strength in depth is the only alternative to the more practical acceptance that Liverpool cannot realistically win the League title this season.
We knew we weren’t going to make anymore signings before midnight on Tuesday but I still felt utterly deflated when it came to pass.
Increasingly, I believe we over-achieved last season when the squads of Chelsea and Man Ure were not only more expensively assembled but, on paper, were stronger in depth than ours and yet we finished above Chelsea and were a few dodgy refereeing decisions away from finishing above the Mancs.
However, I do believe that had we used this summer to strengthen, with Chelsea failing to strengthen their squad and Man Ure weakening theirs, we could have equalled if not exceeded last season’s performance and, in doing so, finally ended 20 years of hurt. Predictably, our worthless American owners failed to stump up the cash and, in doing so, derailed our best opportunity since 2002-03 before pre-season resumed.
Yes there has been transfer activity but the three first team players brought in (Johnson, Aquilani and Krygiakos) were signed as direct replacements for the outgoing Arbeloa, Alonso and Hyypia. Our problems last season were not with those players who have now departed but with the quality and contributions of the fringe players.
Johnson is undoubtedly an improvement on Arbeloa but we have not addressed the problem we had last season that when our first choice right-back is unavailable, we are reliant on a youth player, a useless Swiss or a player who would otherwise be utilised elsewhere in the first XI to fill in. That equates to a weakening of the first team.
We wait to discover whether Aquilani can fill the massive void created by Alonso’s departure but like last season, when our preferred play-maker is absent we are still limited to choosing between Lucas, a youth player or dropping Gerrard back from the forward role in which he excels and is our most likely source of goals.
We still have Ryan Babel and Albert Riera “competing” for the left-midfield berth with neither looking remotely convincing. We still have only Nabil El Zahr to replace Dirk Kuyt on the right unless Yossi Benayoun is used to fill in which is ineffective because for all the qualities Yossi brings to the team, width is not one.
Seeing Michael Turner move to Sunderland was extremely depressing. It isn’t the player so much as the principle. The fact is we were priced out of signing a player from Hull City that Sunderland were able to afford and, instead ended up signing a bargain basement washed up centre-half from Greece.
From top to bottom (mainly at the top) our club showed a total lack of ambition and it isn’t a recent phenomenon. In fact, since we last broke the British transfer record to sign Stan Collymore in 1995, we have been signing players who might come good rather than paying the going rate to land the best players around.
We all scoffed at Man City’s failed attempts to sign Gianluigi Buffon, Samuel Eto’o, Kaka and John Terry but with hindsight, as laudably audacious as those moves were, at least City had the mentality to go for the best. By comparison, we sold one of our best players to another club who wanted to sign the best around and spent two thirds of the fee received on a player who few people outside of Italy had ever heard of. Reputations and high fees do not guarantee players will be successful (as Veron and Shevchenko proved) but the chances are that if you can keep signing the best, the majority will come good. Maybe Ronaldo, Alonso, Kaka and Benzema won’t all prove successful signings for Real Madrid but I expect most of them will.
Why wouldn’t a player like Alonso want to join a team where players of the calibre of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wesley Sneijder are being edged out of the first team squad rather than stay somewhere where your place is only under threat from Lucas, Plessis and Spearing at a push and where Nabil El Zahr and Andrily Voronin are thrown off the bench to rescue games?
With hindsight, City’s pursuit of those players was no more ludicrous as would have been the suggestion in 2004 that Chelsea would sign Hernan Crespo, Andrily Shevchenko, Michael Ballack, Deco and Ashley Cole as well as Damien Duff, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Scott Parker, Wayne Bridge, Glen Johnson, Joe Cole, Nicolas Anelka, Arjen Robben, Didier Drogba, Petr Cech, etc. within 4 years. Before Abramovich turned up, Chelsea could only attract the bigger names in world football at the end of their careers. Had Chelsea been linked with Buffon, Eto’o and Kaka this summer, no one would have thought it laudable. That might also be the case with City in 3 or 4 years and by that time, who knows where we might be.
It might not be this season but sooner or later, it will be us or Arsenal for that fourth Champions League spot and if their signing of Arshavin is anything to go by, they think bigger than we do.
Somebody save us.
We knew we weren’t going to make anymore signings before midnight on Tuesday but I still felt utterly deflated when it came to pass.
Increasingly, I believe we over-achieved last season when the squads of Chelsea and Man Ure were not only more expensively assembled but, on paper, were stronger in depth than ours and yet we finished above Chelsea and were a few dodgy refereeing decisions away from finishing above the Mancs.
However, I do believe that had we used this summer to strengthen, with Chelsea failing to strengthen their squad and Man Ure weakening theirs, we could have equalled if not exceeded last season’s performance and, in doing so, finally ended 20 years of hurt. Predictably, our worthless American owners failed to stump up the cash and, in doing so, derailed our best opportunity since 2002-03 before pre-season resumed.
Yes there has been transfer activity but the three first team players brought in (Johnson, Aquilani and Krygiakos) were signed as direct replacements for the outgoing Arbeloa, Alonso and Hyypia. Our problems last season were not with those players who have now departed but with the quality and contributions of the fringe players.
Johnson is undoubtedly an improvement on Arbeloa but we have not addressed the problem we had last season that when our first choice right-back is unavailable, we are reliant on a youth player, a useless Swiss or a player who would otherwise be utilised elsewhere in the first XI to fill in. That equates to a weakening of the first team.
We wait to discover whether Aquilani can fill the massive void created by Alonso’s departure but like last season, when our preferred play-maker is absent we are still limited to choosing between Lucas, a youth player or dropping Gerrard back from the forward role in which he excels and is our most likely source of goals.
We still have Ryan Babel and Albert Riera “competing” for the left-midfield berth with neither looking remotely convincing. We still have only Nabil El Zahr to replace Dirk Kuyt on the right unless Yossi Benayoun is used to fill in which is ineffective because for all the qualities Yossi brings to the team, width is not one.
Seeing Michael Turner move to Sunderland was extremely depressing. It isn’t the player so much as the principle. The fact is we were priced out of signing a player from Hull City that Sunderland were able to afford and, instead ended up signing a bargain basement washed up centre-half from Greece.
From top to bottom (mainly at the top) our club showed a total lack of ambition and it isn’t a recent phenomenon. In fact, since we last broke the British transfer record to sign Stan Collymore in 1995, we have been signing players who might come good rather than paying the going rate to land the best players around.
We all scoffed at Man City’s failed attempts to sign Gianluigi Buffon, Samuel Eto’o, Kaka and John Terry but with hindsight, as laudably audacious as those moves were, at least City had the mentality to go for the best. By comparison, we sold one of our best players to another club who wanted to sign the best around and spent two thirds of the fee received on a player who few people outside of Italy had ever heard of. Reputations and high fees do not guarantee players will be successful (as Veron and Shevchenko proved) but the chances are that if you can keep signing the best, the majority will come good. Maybe Ronaldo, Alonso, Kaka and Benzema won’t all prove successful signings for Real Madrid but I expect most of them will.
Why wouldn’t a player like Alonso want to join a team where players of the calibre of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wesley Sneijder are being edged out of the first team squad rather than stay somewhere where your place is only under threat from Lucas, Plessis and Spearing at a push and where Nabil El Zahr and Andrily Voronin are thrown off the bench to rescue games?
With hindsight, City’s pursuit of those players was no more ludicrous as would have been the suggestion in 2004 that Chelsea would sign Hernan Crespo, Andrily Shevchenko, Michael Ballack, Deco and Ashley Cole as well as Damien Duff, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Scott Parker, Wayne Bridge, Glen Johnson, Joe Cole, Nicolas Anelka, Arjen Robben, Didier Drogba, Petr Cech, etc. within 4 years. Before Abramovich turned up, Chelsea could only attract the bigger names in world football at the end of their careers. Had Chelsea been linked with Buffon, Eto’o and Kaka this summer, no one would have thought it laudable. That might also be the case with City in 3 or 4 years and by that time, who knows where we might be.
It might not be this season but sooner or later, it will be us or Arsenal for that fourth Champions League spot and if their signing of Arshavin is anything to go by, they think bigger than we do.
Somebody save us.
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