Interesting fact, you can buy 11 million roles of Renova Colored toilet paper with £215 million. Speaking of wiping your behind with money, let’s now focus on Brendan Rodgers, a man who has spent the same figure on some truly farcical players.
While very few can question his achievements last season, Rodgers’ men still finished the season trophy-less. Football is a fickle games, and the bridesmaid position, aka 2nd place, doesn’t deliver silverware.
Yes, the Northern Irishman took the team into the Champions League, however, one could argue that this achievement had a hell of a lot more to do with the SAS factor. You see, watching Liverpool closely, they are still defending as shambolically as ever, something that has been evident ever since Rodgers took charge. The only singular (but significant) difference between this campaign and the previous one is this, they no longer have a feisty Uruguayan capable of rescuing them from the most perilous of situations. No, now they are lumped with the likes of ‘Not So Super’ Mario and others with delusional, heroic dreams.
Fighting Fire With Gasoline: The Liverpool Transfer Philosophy
While he is the current LMA Manager of the Year, since the summer of 2012, Rodgers has spent in excess of £215 million on substandard players, with just two exceptions. Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge, both signed in January of 2013, are quality players, especially the latter. In Sturridge, Liverpool have one of the most lethal strikers in English football, while Coutinho is clearly a natural talent. Not yet the finished product, the Brazilian playmaker will develop into a far more complete player, but will that evolution occur at Liverpool? Only time will tell.
When Kolo Toure is the next name on your list of somewhat successful signings, well, you know that the proverbial crap and the proverbial fan have well and truly met, and the result is ever so messy.
After being comprehensively beaten by Palace last Sunday, Brendan Rodgers experienced his sixth defeat of the season. Disillusioned and clearly worried, Jamie Carragher, a Liverpool legend, summed it up perfectly by using the term ‘bullied’ to describe Liverpool’s performance. Their third consecutive Premier League loss, Liverpool now find themselves 18 points behind leaders Chelsea. Now, somewhat astonishingly, Rodgers finds himself swimming against the tide, desperately fighting to stay afloat and save his job.
It’s important to remember that the ex Reading and Swansea manager inherited a shambolic squad. Let’s not forget this: the likes of Charlie Adam and Stewart ‘One Dimensional’ Downing were first team regulars. Now, two years on, Liverpool find themselves back in an all too familiar situation, one that involves the words ‘quantity and very little quality’.
In an attempt to replace the gaping hole left by the departure of Suarez, Rodgers panicked, splashing £117m in a frenzied summer spending spree. By bringing in nine new faces, the manager is now left with an abundance of average players, not one of them in any way comparable to the South American Rottweiler. While doom and gloom might be a little too dramatic of a phrase, yet, in all honesty, things certainly look dire if you happen to be a Liverpool fan.
Take Fabio Borini, for example, a striker signed from Roma for £10.5m. As a fresh faced 21 year-old, the Italian’s Anfield arrival excited quite a few, with some asking, “could this be the ‘Torres replacement’ we badly need?” Sadly for Liverpool fans, Borini has looked more like modern day Torres than ‘old-school’ Torres. Before succumbing to injury early in February of 2013, Borini managed to bag just one goal against Gomel in a Europa League qualifier.
Loaned out to Sunderland last season, as a mediocre player plying his trade at a mediocre club, Borini looked to have found his perfect platform. Gus Poyet, the Sunderland gaffer, desperately wanted to hang on to the slightly built striker, however, a £14million deal never came to fruition. Returning to Anfield with wild dreams of warming the hearts of fans, Borini has instead found himself warming the bench.
Next up, how about the idea to replace Pepe Reina with Simon Mignolet? It might have seemed like an educated decisiona few years ago, but many Liverpool fans would take the bald ballstopper back in a heartbeat.
Facing a barrage of heavy criticism of late, the Belgian goalkeeper needs the presence of another top-class stopper to keep him sharp and alert. Quite simply, the 26-year-old has become complacent, no longer looking like the perfect man to fill the gap.
Mignolet’s Anfield career couldn’t have started more positively, cast your minds back to that last minute, opening-day penalty save against Stoke, a feat that earned the Reds three crucial points and a clean sheet. Nevertheless, as the season progressed, his performance levels regressed, with more and more mistakes creeping in to is game. Cleans sheets became as rare as a Robert Soldado goalscoring celebration. Women and children took to the streets, each one wailing uncontrollably, so several probing questions were raised. While Rodgers has shown his loyalty by not signing another goalkeeper, this move looks to be a huge mistake.
When Liverpool signed Joe Allen from Swansea for £15m, Rodgers famously referred to the diminutive midfielder as the ‘Welsh Xavi’. If the Barcelona maestro actually cared, then he could sue for slander, as all of Allen’s passes seem to either go backwards or sideways. The defence-splitting once possessed by Allen at Swansea is no longer evident, so to compare him with Xavi is as fallacious as it is farcical.
A very recent signing, Alberto Moreno arrived from Sevilla for £12m. Like Mignolet, he got off to a flying start by scoring in a joyous 3-0 thumping of Spurs. While he is gifted at going forward, Moreno is regularly out of position and rarely ever makes a tackle, which for a defender is kind of a necessity, wouldn’t you agree? On the topic of non existent defending, how about Dejan Lovren, the £20m summer acquisition from Southampton? Signed in the hope of addressing a defence leakier than Keith Richards’ bladder, Daniel Agger’s replacement looks like a horse playing chess; utterly ridiculous. While Agger was a favourite amongst fans, the Croatian seems to be anything but.
Lazar Markovic, yet another player that has failed to impress, arrived from Benfica for £20m. Initially, especially during pre-season friendlies, the Serbian winger impressed with his pace and skill. But, largely down to his limited playing time, Markovic has yet to repay any of the substantial fee through meaningful performances. The youngster was courted by numerous top European clubs, so there is hope yet. Unfortunately, the boy needs time, while Liverpool need instant answers.
One man who has been given far too much time to clean up his act is Mario Balotelli. Signed from AC Milan for £16m, Rodgers knew only too well that he was taking a huge gamble by signing the petty, immature striker. With Sturridge sidelined through injury, Liverpool looked to the Italian, a sporadically potent striker, to provide the firepower. Now, after firing a fair share of blanks, Mario is still without a top-flight goal. With only two strikes to his name in a Liverpool jersey, Balotelli has managed to bag a Champions League goal against Ludogorets and a Capital One Cup goal against Swansea. It’s hardly a record that leaves a defender lying awake at night, sweating with fear.
Realistically, Liverpool could never really replace Suarez, but come on, Brendan, you could have tried a little harder.
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Main Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
