I don't even think it's just the transfers we've brought in, it's also the way in which we've managed players once they've slipped down the pecking order that has had such a devastating effect on our squad.
Players who slip from being a first choice seem to get treated with disdain and that's why we've lost a fair few 'decent' squad players, like Crouch, Warnock, etc..
Look at Riera now, the way he's been treated since his 'bustup' exemplifies how once you cross the manager or slip below standard, there's pretty much no turning back. Add the fact that the purse strings have been tightened, and it's clear at times Benitez has had to make it well known to players that they're no longer wanted, in order to be able to move them on. The plus being we generally receive good fees when these players are sold on, the minus... Well we're seeing that now when we look on the pitch in the absence of two or three first teamers.
Yeah we've had our fair share of duff buys, though in Babel and Lucas you only have to look up the East Lancs to see how gambles on younger players don't necessarily always work out, Nani and Anderson have so far proven costly, underwhelming buys too, more than a combined double of what we paid for our two.
Then we have players of the standard of Agger, Reina, Skrtel, Arbeloa, Yossi, Kuyt, Alonso and Garcia, all brought in for a relatively modest price of less than £11m each, most were less than £6m. Then there's Johnson, and we're yet to see how Aquillani will fair. So it's clear that he has bought well at times within a budget, while the prospect of error obviously increases too, the lower the price.
There's no escaping the fact that the Summer of 2008 was a disaster. Keane, Dossena, the Brazilian goalkeeper and Riera for a staggering combined fee of just shy of £40m. That was a devastating blow to our squad, despite us pulling together, getting a good balanced side out there and generally exceeding expectation. Had that money been better spent on one more top quality player and a couple of the lads we were looking at from the Premiership this Summer, then it might now be an entirely different story.
Regards Benitez, we win as a team and we lose as a team. There's no escaping criticism, but the knee-jerking is pathetic, he's the same manager who's got us as close as we've ever been to the title, since we last won it, and he's also the same guy who's proven one of the shrewdest coaches around in the knockout stages of the CL, given how thin our squad has been in recent years and how stretched we've been in the final months of the season. It's a blip but it's probably his strongest test yet and one he must prove he's good enough to steer us out of.
The 'team' itself with everyone fighting fit is as good as we've had in the last (almost) two decades, but beyond that there's no escaping our lack of quality. Yeah we've bought poorly when looking at the likes of Degen, Voronin etc (though they were frees), but fans have also demanded that we stop going for quantity and start going for quality (at a price), well I guess this is the draw-back. In most positions in the side we have quality. Few teams can boast some of the talent we've got on the books. But when you've got a net spend each Summer of less than £20m, it becomes increasingly more difficult to do both, in adding quality like Johnson, and picking up enough quantity to make a difference over those potential injury crisis's.
It's a tough job but someone's got to do it. As Farky touched upon the other day, I'd love to see our advertising credentials when looking for a potential suitor to replace Rafa.
"Must be prepared to put up with two owners who don't speak to each other, be willing to work on a net spend of fuckall and be expected to put up consistent, credible titles challenges".
Wake up eh?
Players who slip from being a first choice seem to get treated with disdain and that's why we've lost a fair few 'decent' squad players, like Crouch, Warnock, etc..
Look at Riera now, the way he's been treated since his 'bustup' exemplifies how once you cross the manager or slip below standard, there's pretty much no turning back. Add the fact that the purse strings have been tightened, and it's clear at times Benitez has had to make it well known to players that they're no longer wanted, in order to be able to move them on. The plus being we generally receive good fees when these players are sold on, the minus... Well we're seeing that now when we look on the pitch in the absence of two or three first teamers.
Yeah we've had our fair share of duff buys, though in Babel and Lucas you only have to look up the East Lancs to see how gambles on younger players don't necessarily always work out, Nani and Anderson have so far proven costly, underwhelming buys too, more than a combined double of what we paid for our two.
Then we have players of the standard of Agger, Reina, Skrtel, Arbeloa, Yossi, Kuyt, Alonso and Garcia, all brought in for a relatively modest price of less than £11m each, most were less than £6m. Then there's Johnson, and we're yet to see how Aquillani will fair. So it's clear that he has bought well at times within a budget, while the prospect of error obviously increases too, the lower the price.
There's no escaping the fact that the Summer of 2008 was a disaster. Keane, Dossena, the Brazilian goalkeeper and Riera for a staggering combined fee of just shy of £40m. That was a devastating blow to our squad, despite us pulling together, getting a good balanced side out there and generally exceeding expectation. Had that money been better spent on one more top quality player and a couple of the lads we were looking at from the Premiership this Summer, then it might now be an entirely different story.
Regards Benitez, we win as a team and we lose as a team. There's no escaping criticism, but the knee-jerking is pathetic, he's the same manager who's got us as close as we've ever been to the title, since we last won it, and he's also the same guy who's proven one of the shrewdest coaches around in the knockout stages of the CL, given how thin our squad has been in recent years and how stretched we've been in the final months of the season. It's a blip but it's probably his strongest test yet and one he must prove he's good enough to steer us out of.
The 'team' itself with everyone fighting fit is as good as we've had in the last (almost) two decades, but beyond that there's no escaping our lack of quality. Yeah we've bought poorly when looking at the likes of Degen, Voronin etc (though they were frees), but fans have also demanded that we stop going for quantity and start going for quality (at a price), well I guess this is the draw-back. In most positions in the side we have quality. Few teams can boast some of the talent we've got on the books. But when you've got a net spend each Summer of less than £20m, it becomes increasingly more difficult to do both, in adding quality like Johnson, and picking up enough quantity to make a difference over those potential injury crisis's.
It's a tough job but someone's got to do it. As Farky touched upon the other day, I'd love to see our advertising credentials when looking for a potential suitor to replace Rafa.
"Must be prepared to put up with two owners who don't speak to each other, be willing to work on a net spend of fuckall and be expected to put up consistent, credible titles challenges".
Wake up eh?
