Liverpool have been quite busy so far during this off season.

They have confirmed that Brendan Rodgers will stay on as boss, they have ditched two members of his management team, lost captain Steven Gerrard from the squad, battling to keep Martin Skrtel and Raheem Sterling at the club and have welcomed three new players to the team.

Yet I am probably just as confused by the club as I was at the tail-end of last season when they finished the campaign with little more than a whimper.

The sackings of assistant manager Colin Pascoe and first team coach Mike Marsh after Rodgers meeting with Liverpool chairman Tom Werner is very peculiar.

It’s an admission that things didn’t go to plan last season. But instead of blaming the manager (who should be the one responsible), it looks like Brendan has chucked his pals under the bus. A strong manager would never allow his managerial team to be brushed aside without a fight or ultimatum. It’s as if Rodgers is trying to deflect the blame.

Say Marsh and Pascoe weren’t good enough for their jobs or were negative influences in the dressing room, then it’s the managers job to get rid and replace them immediately, not wait until the end of the season.

The signings of James Milner, Danny Ings and Adam Bodgan are decent but more star quality is needed to rebuild the team.

Milner will offer the midfield much needed experience. The English international will be desperate to prove that he can be an important first team star in the English Premier League (EPL), after years of being on the fringes at Manchester City. The twenty-nine year old is a battler and will give the midfield an added energy boost for the big games. A very good free transfer.

 

Danny Ings will be a better back-up in the striking departments than Fabio Borini and Rickie Lambert. The young Englishman will also offer Rodgers better disciple to his tactics than Mario Balotelli has shown last season. At twenty-two Ings has the potential to grow into a top striker in the EPL but he isn’t the finished article yet, so Liverpool should try and get Daniel Sturridge fit and bring in a ready made top class forward!

The signing of Hungarian goalkeeper is a bit of a strange one. Obviously he will be a back up, but number one Simon Mignolet needs a better class of keeper who will push him for his place. The Belgian stopper has proven a few times during his Anfield career that he goes through slumps in form. Can Bogdan really apply enough pressure that will see Mignolet improve? I doubt it.

If I was rebuilding this Liverpool squad I’d be after a new right-back, a quality striker, a strong holding midfielder, a world-class keeper and a wide-man that will excite the fans especially if Sterling eventually departs.

Getting to the Raheem Sterling saga, his time at Anfield has surely entered it final stages. The player, through his agent comes across as a bad apple who is arrogant and ungrateful. There seems to be no way to get him to sign a new deal.

So with that in mind it’s time Liverpool took charge of the situation. The club should come out and tell suitors that they will only talk about a deal for £50m or more and then put a deadline for bids, say early to mid July. Play hardball and get things done quickly.

I would strongly advise the Merseyside Reds to do all they can to keep hold of Slovakian defender Martin Skrtel. He has been their top defensive performer for quite a few years now and again gives this current squad valuable experience that it needs. They made a mistake letting Daniel Agger leave, surely they can’t make the same mistake again?

The board and manager also need to do their upmost in getting rid of as much of the deadwood that makes up their squad as possible.

Do Liverpool really need; Borini, Lambert, Lucas Leiva, Tiago Ilori, Sebatsian Coates, Iago Aspas or Luis Alberto? I don’t think so. 

I will also suggest that getting rid of Mario Balotelli is in the best interests of all of those involved. The Italian striker doesn’t fit into Rodgers team and tactics.  The forward is an unwanted distraction for the club. He is also a very talented player who could really benefit from moving to the right club.

As I’ve already stated Liverpool have enjoyed a pretty bizarre summer so far. They seem to lack proper direction and at the moment it looks like they are consolidating a mid table team rather than building for a renewed attack on the ‘Top Four’ places.

More quality needs to be added and the saga with Raheem Sterling needs to be ended as quickly as possible.

This really could be Brendan Rodgers last summer transfer window at Anfield. He needs to stop treading water and make more of an immediate impact!

He won’t get another chance to hide behind others next time!

Posted on June 12th, 2015 by scott
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