Is Damian right this time

[rurikbird]

Former Liverpool FC director of football Damien Comolli believes the Reds have made mistakes in the transfer market yet again this summer, questioning the number of new arrivals Brendan Rodgers has brought to the club.

Christian Benteke became the seventh new signing of pre-season after completing a £32.5m deal, while Divock Origi is also a fresh face at Melwood having remained at Lille last season on loan.

It completes a second consecutive year of overhaul in the squad following on from the eight new players who came to Merseyside in 2014.

That transfer activity was, in part, reason for Liverpool’s disappointing sixth place finish in the Premier League last season – and the Frenchman believes the club have failed to learn from previous errors.

“Without talking about individual players, it is always a big risk to make so many changes during one transfer window,” he told Talksport.

“I thought it was a huge risk last year after selling [Luis] Suarez and bringing in, I think, nine.

"Now they have decided to change a lot again and totally rebuild. That is always a massive, massive risk.”

Under his guidance, the Reds bought a number of players for high transfer fees, including Stewart Downing, Andy Carroll, Luis Suarez and Jordan Henderson.

The summer of 2011 was partly at fault for Liverpool’s disappointing league campaign as Kenny Dalglish led his side, which contained seven new signings, to eighth - although they would play in two cup finals, including victory in the League Cup.

'I'm not convinced it is the right approach'

Comolli, who also worked at Monaco, Arsenal and Tottenham, believes so much movement in the off-season could harm their chances of Champions League qualification.

He added: “Liverpool have bought in players who have got talent, but they are going to compete against some very settled teams.

"Arsenal, United, City and Chelsea are making some very subtle adjustments to their squad and, on the other hand, Liverpool are changing everything every year. I’m not convinced it is the right approach.

“It is too much [to overhaul the squad] in two off-seasons. When you gamble as much money as they did last summer, you have got to give players a chance, and changing everything again sends the message to the players brought in last summer that they will not get a chance.

“By the time everyone settles into the team, and the players coming from abroad get used to the Premier League, they might be well behind fourth place.

“It is a huge risk. If you look at the stability of City, Chelsea, Arsenal throughout the years – the proof is in the pudding.”

OK, given Commolli's own fairly disastrous transfer record (Suarez and Hendo aside), he is hardly in a strong position to criticize his successors. But leaving aside his personal qualities, do you think that maybe he has a point?

Personally I think after a season like the last one, a squad overhaul should be in order and most of the signings were dictated by clear need to replace a first-team player who has left (Sterling/Firmino, Gerrard/Milner, Johnson/Clyne) or players who have shown themselves woefully below the standard (a horrendous trio of strikers who, it must be noted, have all been signed by Rodgers himself - more on this point later). So as of right now I have no issue with the number of players we've brought in (I just wish we chose to bring Origi last January so he would have time to acclimatize).

However, even if buying 7 or 8 new players in one transfer window is justified, it doesn't mean it's not a problem. We suffered badly from lack of cohesion early last season and we will probably suffer somewhat this time around too. And while we might still have room for one more classy, experienced player in defense or DM, I would be very much against it if Rodgers continues the shopping spree by giving up on players who were only signed a season ago. I am concerned by the rumors of Markovic leaving on loan or Moreno being sold in order to bring another LB or the totally incomprehensible rumors about Sakho being offered to Lazio. If Rodgers starts giving up on players he bought himself after only one season - bought not as stop-gaps, but as an investment in potential - then he officially doesn't have a bloody clue what he's doing.

 

[mom]

Damian was hardly great during his tenure with us, so forgive me if I don't pay much heed to his utterances.
And besides, if the squad is shit, the squad is shit. If it needs several replacements, you replace them. If we had only brought in two or three faces this season, we'd be finishing mid table. Yes, of course it's a big job having to integrate more faces, but I'd rather that than have a team full of integrated but sub standard players.

 

[RedStar]

Regardless of the fact that its Comolli making this point Im inclined to agree. Changing too much from season to season is always a steep upward curve with the first month or two being a little chaotic as new players find their feet. If we were talking aboit a title challenge then this would be a disaster, but realistically we are not in contention for the title so the stakes are a little lower. The fact that we need to make so many signings again after last season tells you all you need to know about the quality that was brought in but at least this season there seems to be a certain amount of logic behind each signing so far which clearly wasnt the case last summer.

We need to sell a few at this stage, we have too many forwards and centre backs who wont be getting near the pitch. Balotelli Borini Lambert Enrique can all go along with one or two of Lovren Wisdom and Ilori. We are only allowed 25 players in the squad over 21years of age.

 

[Dirkus_Circus]

Yes buying a large number of players was the problem, not the fact that we played without a competent striker for much of the season.

 

[juniormember]

Considering the result of the stoke game after a full season together, I'm less inclined to agree than I perhaps would have done in the past.

And if a player is shite, then he's shite.
I wouldn't care one bit if we got rid of Moreno.
Gomez is already better than him.
Clyne's already better than Johnson.
We had to bring in a striker that could score more than, what, 5 goals a season. And even if Benteke doesn't get along with the team straight away, we know he can hold his own upfront.
We had to replace Gerrard.
We had to replace Sterling.

Last summer was the time to splash big on 2-3 players, as the team played so well, so cohesively in attack.
This summer, we had to replace shite with good.
It was 100% necessary.

 

[rurikbird]

Yes buying a large number of players was the problem, not the fact that we played without a competent striker for much of the season.

Look, you're now saying they are incompetent with the benefit of hindsight. Remember the mood here last summer, it all seemed pretty safe with Lambert scoring 13 league goals for Saints and Mario 14 for Milan. So how the hell did they combine for only 3 for us last season? It only makes sense if you take into account things like team style and cohesion rather than just individual player talent. It's easy to say "he's shite", but the simple truth is that our lack of team cohesion made them a lot more "shite" when playing for us than when they were playing for teams that had enough time and patience to understand how to use their best qualities. So in short, yes, bringing 3 new* strikers in one transfer window and expecting them to "click" with one another and the rest of the team WAS a big part of the problem of last season's striker disaster.

Of course if you can afford to buy a top well-rounded striker at the peak of their career, those kinds of players usually can adjust to any system and are expected to "click" right away. But other than that you will need either time to discover/develop the player's qualities (like we did with Suarez) or you need to adjust the team's style for the player's limitations. Or you can get lucky when the new player just happens to fit like a glove. Let's hope one of these summer's 3 new strikers is the jack-pot.

* including Borini, who hardly played for us before

 

[redhorizon2]

Only time will tell.

 

[Mystic]

Comolli is a bit like your ex who keeps criticising your current girlfriend telling you how much better they'd be than them.

 

[Frogfish]

Comolli is a bitter cunt.

Most of the changes are obvious and required, however according to Comolli we should maybe consider keeping Balo, Lambert and Borini and giving them extended runs in the team ?

 

[Oliver Twist]

Damien is never right.

 

[Judge Jules]

I was never a fan of our employing him in the first place, but IMO he does have a point about the difficulty of making so many changes at one go. If we'd gone more for quality than for quantity the first time around, things might have turned out better in the long run.

That said, it's precisely because that earlier window wasn't so successful that we had to do what we've done this time.

 

[mark1975]

I do think people have a fair point about having to replace Johnson, Gerrard and Sterling in Clyne, Milner and Firmino - that's more than half of our Summer spending. That aside, we've added the strikers we should have added last Summer and a kid in Gomez.

 

[gkmacca]

Did we need to bring in more than the odd one or two players? Yes. Is it a gamble? Yes, it always is.

 

[Silver Sean]

Massive roll of the dice by all concerned. Fuck it up as badly as last season and Rodgers is gone. Could go either way. The new front line could mean we outscore the opposition, or we could get regularly dicked again by all the mangers that have got Rodgers' number.

 

[Mors]

Yes, it is a gamble replacing so many first team players, and in an ideal world you'd replace 1 or 2 in a summer. BUT, when several leave, you have no choice, and when some of your current ones are shit, you have no choice.
Fuck off Comolli you bitter cunt.

 

[mark1975]

He's pretty much taking two different sets of circumstances and surmising that it won't work just because it didn't last year. Last year we bought heavily on numbers rather than strength, this season we've had to do both. Hopefully we'll get back on track, but it's not really a given that it won't work, the players we added last Summer will benefit from last season, particularly the likes of Lallana and Can. Milner and Clyne both seem like the type of players who will slot in seamlessly. While Benteke has scored goals for the last few seasons at this level in this league. Ings is learning the ropes so will only be an impact/lesser game player, the only real issue we have to concern ourselves with is how long it takes Firmino to settle.

 

[mark1975]

Massive roll of the dice by all concerned. Fuck it up as badly as last season and Rodgers is gone. Could go either way. The new front line could mean we outscore the opposition, or we could get regularly dicked again by all the mangers that have got Rodgers' number.

You keep saying this. He didn't get regularly dicked by them when he had good strikers to execute what he was trying to do, the only reason we got fucked over so regularly last season was because our only outlet was a winger who couldn't hit a cows arse. Say what you want about the transfer window being fucked up - it was, but don't make it down to some tactical superiority by the likes of Mark fucking Hughes, we stuffed most of those teams for the 18 months previous.

 

[Hansern]

Had we kept Sterling and gotten the striker situation correct last summer, we wouldnt be in this position.
But replacing Gerrard, Johnson, Sterling and new strikers will obviously result in several signings.

Its a gamble but at least we wont start the season with 3 out of 4 defenders just signed.
The team playing Stoke will probably have 3 new signings. Clyne, Milner, Benteke.
Not ideal but certainly not as bad as last season.

Next summer should be about getting 2 maybe 3 top quality additions. Like we've said for the last 5-10 years.

 

[Ryan]

He is undoubtedly right.

 

[mark1975]

Undoubtedly. Says the man who sanctioned us blowing a disproportionate wad on Adam Lallana.

 

[Rosco]

Ultimately he's got a (very obvious) point. It will take time for the team to click.

But what other choice did we have - roll with Lambert, Balotelli and Borini as our strike force?

You can criticise regardless of what decision is made, but if given the choice to stand still or try again with a new bunch it's difficult to argue we went the wrong way

 

[Silver Sean]

You keep saying this. He didn't get regularly dicked by them when he had good strikers to execute what he was trying to do, the only reason we got fucked over so regularly last season was because our only outlet was a winger who couldn't hit a cows arse. Say what you want about the transfer window being fucked up - it was, but don't make it down to some tactical superiority by the likes of Mark fucking Hughes, we stuffed most of those teams for the 18 months previous.

Fair points. But even without a decent striker no Liverpool team should ever concede six goals to Stoke City. Just my opinion. But I really feel that BR has been worked out by opposition managers. We'll see I guess, and I really hope I'm wrong. I'd much rather LFC be successful than be proved right to a few strangers on the internet!

 

[Silver Sean]

Undoubtedly. Says the man who sanctioned us blowing a disproportionate wad on Adam Lallana.

I actually think Lallana will become a really important player this season and and prove he's worth about £10 million less than we paid for him.

 

[Ryan]

Undoubtedly. Says the man who sanctioned us blowing a disproportionate wad on Adam Lallana.

Comolli's point, you massive whingeing fucking woman, is that you can't keep chopping and changing 8 new players every summer. I've said it for years - you need stability, consistency and to build the core of a squad that you can rely on every year, with a sprinkling of talent each transfer window to compliment it. Comolli's point is absolutely spot on, by any measure.

That has absolutly fucking zero to do with one individual transfer, and/or Adam Lallana, but in your rush to make a fucking point, you fell all over yourself.

Just like a fucking woman. Mark - whatever credibility you used to have on this site has completely evaporated. Everyone thinks you're a fucking gimp these days. They're not saying it, but it's clear as cunting day.

Get some balls man.

 

[Frogfish]

Yes, it is a gamble replacing so many first team players, and in an ideal world you'd replace 1 or 2 in a summer.

I don't think any team EVER replaces just one or two a Summer. If you check the final tallies when the window closes there are usually anywhere between 4/5 and 8/9 for most teams. Arsenal this season seem to be the exception but their history and last season's performance may go part way to explaining that too.

Activity thru 22nd July (includes loans) and with 6 weeks still to go. Considering the numbers released/sold you'd have to say that there is still a lot of inbound activity still to come for many teams. Some clubs maybe needing to raise funds first.

Arsenal IN 1 OUT 8
Aston Villa IN 5 OUT 9
Bournemouth : IN 7 OUT 9
Chelsea IN 3 OUT 14
Crystal Palace IN 2 OUT 8
Everton IN 3 OUT 5
Leicester IN 3 OUT 5
Liverpool IN 8 OUT 10
Man City IN 5 OUT 7
Man United IN 4 OUT 7
Newcastle IN 2 OUT 5
Norwich IN 2 OUT 5
Southampton IN 5 OUT 8
Stoke IN 7 OUT 8
Sunderland IN 4 OUT 1
Swansea IN 5 OUT 5
Spurs IN 3 OUT 10
Watford IN 8 OUT 4
WBA IN 1 OUT 9 (only 1 is understandable since they have been discussing the sale of the club)
West Ham IN 6 OUT 7

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/foot...-window-2015-list-of-all-Premier-League-deals

 

[Hansern]

Comolli has got a point but it was neccessary to do so this summer.
I think everyone knows its not ideal so its just stating the bleeding obvious to have a go.

If he thinks we should continue with Lambert, Balotelli and Borini he's even more thick than we thought.
We can blame ourselves for last seasons fuck up. But thats done and dusted. Move on.

 

[Ryan]

“Without talking about individual players, it is always a big risk to make so many changes during one transfer window,” he told Talksport.

“I thought it was a huge risk last year after selling [Luis] Suarez and bringing in, I think, nine.

"Now they have decided to change a lot again and totally rebuild. That is always a massive, massive risk.”

That right there, is absolutely fucking spot on.

I'm really not sure what people's issue is.

 

[Hansern]

I dont think anyone has an issue with it. Its just that it was neccessary for us to do so.
3 of the 8 are replacements for players out of contract.

He's just stating the obvious. But should also have said that we because of last years fuck up had to take a massive risk this season.

 

[Jack D Rips]

It's not a massive risk to replace Lambert, Borini and Balotelli.

Is it a massive risk to replace Johnson, Gerrard and Sterling?

Of course bringing in a load of new players is going to be a risk, but I wonder what would Damien think is the alternative.

 

[Rosco]

Somebody who once made a mistake can't ever be right again Ryan