Liverpool's transfer approach about as scientific as the Muppet Show - and Brendan Rodgers deserves better
04 November 2014 08:56 AMDave Kidd
The Reds' three-man transfer committee has come up short with their summer dealings, yet it's the Kop boss who is getting the flack, says Dave Kidd
When Real Madrid wiped the fields of Anfield Road with Liverpool in their Champions League clash two weeks ago, the result seemed crushingly predictable to English eyes.
A team crammed with world-class players had demolished a mid-table Premier League side struggling desperately to cope with the loss of their one global A-lister, Luis Suarez.
Yet while visiting Madrid for Real’s Clasico victory over Barcelona a few days later, it became apparent that the result was viewed with rare significance at the Bernabeu.
Liverpool represented a genuine benchmark. Madrid had lost all of their three previous meetings, without scoring. And the Reds are one of the few clubs who can hold a candle to Real in terms of European achievement.
Often mocked as a club living on former glories, Liverpool’s history does resonate across the continent.
Carlo Ancelotti had posed liked a touristby the famous ‘This is Anfield’ sign. Having equalled Bob Paisley’s record of three European Cups, he spoke reverentially about the great man.
So Liverpool are rightly proud of their history and yet owner John W Henry and his Fenway Sports Group are less keen to remember what made the club great – strong managers.
Brendan Rodgers does not enjoy the same power as his great bootroom forebears, Shankly, Paisley and Fagan, even though his achievement in challenging for last season’s title ought to have earned him the right to autonomy.
Since Rodgers’ arrival in 2012, Liverpool’s player recruitment has been run by a transfer committee consisting of the manager, Harley Davidson-riding chief executive Ian Ayre, head of recruitment Dave Fallows and Michael Edwards.
Edwards, an ally of former director of football Damien Commoli, is 'director of technical performance’, his CV including references to ‘informatics’ and ‘analytics’.
Ayre was really leathered-up and getting his motor running when he boasted about the philosophy behind this committee: “A combination of old-school scouting and statistical analysis of players across the world for a more educated view of who you should and shouldn’t be buying.”
Yet when it comes to transfer ‘science’, Liverpool are at the Beaker from the Muppet Show end of the lab.
Of the 20 senior players recruited by this committee, only two have been true successes – Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho.
It is early days for this summer’s batch of post-Suarez signings but Alberto Moreno and Dejan Lovren made shocking errors in Saturday’s limp defeat at Newcastle, while the disappointing performances of Lazar Markovic, Emre Can, Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana have been overshadowed by the Mario Balotelli circus.
Meanwhile, the myth about players needing time to settle in the Premier League has been exploded by six of its top nine scorers having never played in the division before this season.
While Diego Costa and Alexis Sanchez may have been out of reach, Diafra Sakho and Graziano Pelle are precisely the sort of nuggets recruitment ‘experts’ ought to be unearthing.
The committee’s previous signings - Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas, Kolo Toure, Simon Mignolet, Mamadou Sakho, Aly Cissokho, Tiago Ilori, Fabio Borini, Joe Allen, Oussama Assaidi, Nuri Şahin and Victor Moses have all failed to a greater or lesser extent.
Despite this, Rodgers fashioned a team who were within a Steven Gerrard slip of winning the title. His man-management is outstanding, his playing style thrilling and while defensive frailties have been glaring, he merits the chance to stand or fall by his own recruitments.
Nobody who covers Liverpool closely was left in any doubt that Rodgers did not want Balotelli, as a player or a man. At best, Rodgers was told by the committee that it was the Italian fruitcake or no striker at all.
The days of the truly all-powerful manager may have died with Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. Yet Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger and Louis Van Gaal are not having players imposed upon them.
Neither Ayre, Fallows nor Edwards are true confidantes of Rodgers – and recruitment by committee has failed at Anfield.
Yet if results continue to disappoint, starting in the Bernabeu tonight, Rodgers will be the man in the firing line.
He deserves better. And if Liverpool’s history is to mean anything, their manager should be free to manage from top to bottom.
