Liverpool Fans Reflect On Broken Promises
Steven Gerrard, Daniel Agger and Martin Skirtl show their disappointment.
The clock is ticking. Tom Hicks, Liverpool’s unpopular, in-debted co-owner, promised eight months ago that this would be a “big” summer transfer window for a club who have spent much of the last two years operating on the tightest of budgets. He has just six days to prove he is as good as his word.
Anfield is used to broken promises from Hicks and his partner, George Gillett. The last week of the transfer window, as far as Liverpool are concerned, will bring simply a resolution to the Javier Mascherano saga – the Argentine will not travel to Turkey today with the rest of Roy Hodgson’s squad – and perhaps one or two perfunctory additions. Few are expecting Hicks’s vow to come good.
“Our debt is very manageable,” Hicks wrote in an email sent in January. “We never use player sales for debt service. January is a poor-quality market. The summer window will be big.”
Even Hicks would struggle to defend Liverpool’s outlay so far this summer as “big”, at least when compared to that of Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United or even Arsenal. Christian Poulsen, Brad Jones, Joe Cole, Milan Jovanovic, Jonjo Shelvey and Danny Wilson have all arrived, for a total of £11 million. Hardly a princely sum.
Perhaps, then, he was hinting at the threat of those departures which have haunted Liverpool for so long? Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard may have pledged their loyalty, but both Mascherano and Dirk Kuyt may yet leave. Liverpool may be in line to suffer big losses to a squad already threadbare in quality.
Argentina’s captain, who Hodgson claimed “was not in the right frame of mind” to play in Monday’s 3-0 loss to Manchester City, returned to training on Tuesday, but will not join his team-mates, who are thought to be unimpressed at an attitude they believe forced Hodgson to change his tactics at Eastlands at the last minute, on this morning’s flight to Turkey.
Mascherano has made it clear to Liverpool that the club he wishes to go to is Barcelona, with whom he has agreed a four-season, £4.5 million-a-year contract, though the Spanish side are still thought to be some way short of Liverpool’s £25 million valuation. Liverpool hope a deal will be completed by the end of the week but have no interest in any of the fringe players Barcelona have offered in part-exchange.
Kuyt, meanwhile, remains a target for his former manager, Rafael Benítez, at Inter Milan. The Italian champions, with £49 million to spend from their Champions League win, are believed to be readying an improved offer for the Dutch international. Kuyt is tempted by the prospect of a reunion with Benítez.
But while their sales would raise as much as £40 million, the precedent of Hicks and Gillett’s reign at Anfield suggests much of that will not be reinvested in the squad. Hodgson’s philosophy, too, that he will not spend money for the sake of it, makes it hard to see high-profile captures before the window closes on Tuesday.
Little wonder, then, that Liverpool seemed so deflated, so dispassionate, as their credentials were ruthlessly exposed at Eastlands. City are the standard-bearers of the Premier League’s ambitious wannabes. Liverpool are not even treading water. They are fighting against the tide.
The fans, of course, are familiar with the feeling. When Hicks fired off his missive amid the controversy prompted by the decision of his son, Tom Jr, to send an abusive note to a supporter, his message was greeted with derision on the Kop. Nobody expects Hicks and Gillett to deliver.
More worryingly, though, the club’s players share that belief. The sentiments which sit guiltily in Hicks’s email outbox have been expressed to the squad for more than a year as Liverpool attempt to oust their absentee landlords. Many have long been concerned that Liverpool’s inability to compete in the transfer market would soon translate into an inability to compete on the pitch. They had their proof on Monday.
Prime among them, of course, is Torres, who has gone public with his insistence that Liverpool need an infusion of top-class signings.
When Purslow shuttled back and forth to Madrid last month to convince his crown jewel to remain, no doubt he made much of the fact that the Americans’ demise was imminent. With their departure would come investment, funding and the calibre of team-mate Torres craves. Such a hope played a large part in convincing the Spaniard to spurn Chelsea, Barcelona and City to stay.
With just days left in the transfer market, that promise looks like being broken, too. No investment will come before the close of business. True, it may arrive in October, or by Christmas, as some involved in the sale process believe, but that will not be enough to salvage this season. If they do not arrive at all, Torres will be forced to reconsider his decision to stay, perhaps as soon as January. So, too, will several of his team-mates. The clock is ticking.
Courtesy of The Telegraph
Lack Of Suitors At Liverpool
Fernando Torres
It is a measure of football’s moral code that a man’s decision to honour a £110,000-a-week contract signed little more than a year ago is viewed as an act of loyalty, a pledge of allegiance. In truth, though, there was little else Fernando Torres could do.
Whether Liverpool priced him out of a move or whether a bid for his services simply never materialised is not clear, but, to an extent, the Spain international’s decision to allow the Anfield side one more year to prove they can match his ambitions was not his to take.
Chelsea, certainly, did not pursue him with the vigour which their indications earlier this summer suggested they might. Barcelona’s financial travails, prioritisation of Cesc Fabregas and failure to offload Zlatan Ibrahimovic ruled the Spanish champions out of the running.
True, Manchester City possess the means and the ambition, but Torres craves exposure among the elite. Eastlands is not yet the stage for that.
That is not a criticism of Torres’s character or an intimation of hypocrisy.
He deserves praise for his decision to draw a line under the episode, for a year at least, immediately after returning from his summer break on the beaches of Galicia and Ibiza. He should be feted for his willingness to allow Liverpool time to remedy the ills which have blighted the club for so long.
And he will be, of course, by a public even more adoring than before, their hearts fonder than ever simply from the prospect of absence, and by a manager whose life his words, delivered to Liverpool’s official website on Tuesday afternoon, he has made substantially easier.
Torres is the one man who lifts Liverpool above the ordinary and the Kop to the edge of their seats. He is, perhaps, the only true global icon plying his trade in the Premier League. Whether Roy Hodgson adopts the 4-4-1-1 he used to such great effect at Fulham or retains the 4-2-3-1 his new team are designed and built to employ, Torres fits the bill perfectly.
He is the perfect example of the modern forward: more comfortable on his own than in a pair – see also Drogba, Didier – and equally capable of holding the ball up or playing on a defender’s shoulder. He is a one-man forward line.
Such wondrous talent, though, comes at a price. His presence at Liverpool this season may be certain, but doubts linger over how often he will be seen. Torres has proven his loyalty. Now he faces the task of proving his fitness.
For two years, Torres has been blighted by injury. Twice last season the striker was absent for six-week spells with knee complaints, while his most notable contribution to Spain’s victory in the World Cup was the groin injury he suffered in the dying minutes of the final.
Perhaps that is due, in no small part, to the burden he shoulders at Liverpool. Few players are so conscious of how much their team relies on their presence, so determined to play through pain to help their side.
Hodgson may finally be able to dismiss the idea that he must replace his irreplaceable forward – instead concentrating on offers for midfielders Mathieu Flamini and Christian Poulsen – but he must also provide him with the cover he so desperately needs.
Should Hodgson fail, as his predecessor Rafael Benítez did, to deliver Torres the back-up that would allow him time to rest and recuperate, the risk of the player enduring another abortive season is overwhelming.
Liverpool, takeover or no, know that would most likely result in continued exile from the Champions League. Should that happen, Torres may find that, next summer, he does have a decision to make.
Courtesy of The Telegraph
Joe Cole Delighted After Liverpool Debut
Liverpool's new signings Milan Jovanovic, Danny Wilson, manager Roy Hodgson and Joe Cole.
Joe Cole was delighted to make his Liverpool debut and insisted the team will be ready for Arsenal on August 15 despite suffering a 1-0 loss to Borussia Monchengladhbach in Sunday’s friendly.
A comical error by young defender Daniel Ayala gifted victory to the German side through Karim Matmour as Cole and his England team-mates Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson and Jamie Carragher made their first appearances for Liverpool after their post-World Cup holidays.
“It was lovely to pull on a red shirt. I really enjoyed it. I’m glad I got a run-out as I needed to get the legs going,” Cole said in quotes reported by the Sun. “Nobody is firing on all cylinders yet but there were some good moments. The main thing we take out of it is the shape of the team and the organisation, which was good.
“It was a good workout. It was a hot day and pre-season is always difficult. There were no injuries, so everything went well. We have looked solid in all the pre-season games and we can build on that. We lost the game but the young lads who were playing got some good experience. While it’s good to do lots of training, you need as many games as you can get and I am so glad I got through the 60 minutes.”
Roy Hodgson fielded a strong side including England’s World Cup captain Steven Gerrard as well as Jamie Carragher and Glen Johnson, while Fábio Aurélio was named on the bench after re-signing for the club yesterday.
Mönchengladbach had arranged the match as part of their 110th anniversary celebrations at Borussia Park and the hosts made an early breakthrough through Karim Matmour in the eighth minute. The Algerian took advantage of some poor play by Daniel Ayala inside the area and the 19-year-old defender was duly punished as Matmour produced a powerful finish.
Matmour was proving a real irritant for the Anfield club and came close to doubling his side’s lead.
Liverpool had to wait until the 56th minute for their first real chance when Cole’s low drive was parried, with the former Chelsea player withdrawn nine minutes later.
The hosts continued to threaten and, although David Amoo headed narrowly wide, Mönchengladbach fully deserved their victory.
Courtesy of Soccernet and The Guardian
Hodgson is Not Confident of Liverpool’s Debut
Roy Hodgson
The handful of Liverpool fans congregating at Skopje’s Alexander the Great airport wore increasingly puzzled expressions as a series of red-tracksuited figures ambled through arrivals and out into the afternoon sunshine.
With Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Glen Johnson and Joe Cole left behind in England at a time when Fernando Torres, José Reina and Dirk Kuyt have still to return to pre-season training, there are few familiar faces on Europa League qualifying duty here in Macedonia.
Roy Hodgson seems hardly to have put a foot wrong during his first month at Anfield but Liverpool’s new manager appeared slightly terse, his refusal to answer questions about anything other than the game against FW Rabotnicki perhaps betraying a certain tension.
Deep down he must wonder whether a scratch XI comprising reserves and academy players can avoid dissipating the considerable feelgood factor engendered by Cole’s signing and the decisions of Gerrard and Torres to remain on Merseyside.
Defeating a battle-hardened Macedonian team sprinkled with gifted Brazilians in this gateway to the Europa League proper is unlikely to be straightforward. “We are obliged to put our fate in the hands of many inexperienced players,” Hodgson said.
“We can only hope they come through against a side well versed in European football. I couldn’t have envisaged a more difficult situation at the start of my Liverpool career than the one I find myself in: playing a European qualifier against a good opponent without 10 senior players. I’m hoping we’ll be able to win but I’m far from confident that will be the case.
“It’s especially hard to play qualifiers on 29 July in World Cup years. Everyone, most of all Uefa, knows you can’t bring people off the beach, give them three days’ training and throw them into a top-class match. I’m relatively confident tomorrow’s team won’t let Liverpool down but we’ll have to be very good to survive.”
If there was an ominous sense of a honeymoon about to come to an abrupt end, at least Hodgson had not entirely lost his sense of humour.
Reminded that three years ago Rabotnicki drew 1-1 here in a Uefa Cup tie against a Bolton Wanderers team then managed by Liverpool’s current assistant manager, Sammy Lee, he said: “Sammy hasn’t been able to tell me much; I think he’s erased Bolton from his mind but he does remember they got through with some difficulty.”
Liverpool’s manager had earlier said he would discuss with his board the Europa League’s position in the club’s pecking order of priorities but, asked whether that chat had happened, he merely replied: “All we ever seem to do is have discussions so I’m pretty sure they’ll have taken place. But this is a very important game.”
Whatever this season’s European policy, this game at a ground in the process of being rebuilt – both ends of the Phillip II Stadium are largely rubble and, of the two functioning stands, one was surrounded by cranes yesterday as final building blocks were lowered into place – could be the opportunity Alberto Aquilani needs finally to begin demonstrating why Rafael Benítez paid £17m for him.
Just as Skopje is a mishmash of communist-period architectural atrocities and Ottoman era gems, Hodgson’s teamsheet promises to be a mix of delicate talent – Aquilani, Daniel Agger and Milan Jovanovic, a newly arrived Serbia winger once coveted by Real Madrid – and raw youth such as David Amoo.
“Most people will not have heard of the players here, they won’t recognise them,” acknowledged Hodgson who is privately well aware that Anfield’s youth production line declined on Benítez’s watch. “But if you’re going to be a top player at Liverpool you need to be able to handle a game like this. We’ll find out if they can. It’s an opportunity to swim.”
He did not contemplate throwing seniors in at the deep end here. “Gerrard and the others never came close to playing, they’ve only been training four days. It would have been complete folly to play them in difficult conditions,” said Hodgson it was also too late to parachute any new buys into a club boasting only five of the eight homegrown players aged over 21 now mandatory in all Premier League squads.
Asked whether he was poised to sign Luke Young from Aston Villa, Hodgson typically straight-batted: “Well he’s not playing tomorrow.”
He must trust Liverpool’s imitation defence proves similarly unforthcoming this evening.
FW Rabotnicki (4-3-3, possible): Bogatinov; Dimovski, Fernando, Belica, Sevlovski; Tunevski, Grigorov, Todorovski; Ze Carlos, Vandair, Fabio
Liverpool (4-5-1, possible): Cavalieri; Kelly, Skrtel, Krygiakos, Agger; Amoo, Spearing, Lucas, Aquilani, Jovanovic; Ngog
Courtesy of The Guardian
Hodgson Admits Torres Transfer Possibility
Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson's admission that Fernando Torres is unsettles at Liverpool could spark a bidding war between Chelsea and Manchester City.
Roy Hodgson says he has done all he can to keep Fernando Torres at Liverpool, admitting the Spaniard is in dispute with the club.
Hodgson replaced Rafa Benitez as Anfield manager last month, and believes if Torres leaves the damage will have been done before he arrived.
“Unfortunately, I cannot do much more,” Hodgson said. “His beef is with the club and not me.
“Fernando’s situation has nothing to do with me, he made that perfectly clear over the phone during the World Cup and when I met him face-to-face.
“He knows what I would like to do with the club. He knows how much I value him.
“But his issues are with what has gone on in the past rather than the future.
“If he has problems with the club for things in the past, it is difficult for me to dismiss that.”
Torres was part of Spain’s victorious World Cup squad, although he failed to score in South Africa and was dropped from the team.
He has scored 72 goals in 116 games over three injury-hit seasons for Liverpool.
Courtesy of Eurosport
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