January Transfer Window: Liverpool At The Crossroads

Dedlfc’s excellent recent blog in which he asked whether Fenway Sports Group has the financial muscle seems to take on more strength by the day.  The club in my opinion have developed a transfer policy of one in one out and as a standard are happy to regurgitate standard lines of young players being the future.

Chelsea and the Manchester clubs are not going to stand still and it’s highly unlikely that UEFA’s fair plays rules will curtail their spending to the extent that it will bring them back for us to challenge.   So are the Liverpool board being naïve in their thinking regarding buying older players?

They say you never win anything with youngsters and one has to wonder whether the board actually understands what it takes to compete for a Champions League place let alone win a Premiership title?

Steven Gerrard’s comments about our possible interest in Wesley Sneijder says to me that he recognises what it takes and what is currently missing.

He said, “He’ll do.  He’s a top player, I think we’ve seen it at every major tournament he delivers; He went on to say, “He’s done it in the Champions League for years.  We’ll have to see on his wage demands, he gets paid well and he’ll have all kinds of options I’m sure but I’d love nothing better than to see him in a red shirt.”

Liverpool are at a crossroads.  We’ve been there before with Torres.  But with the young players in tow it more resembles the Arsenal situation and Wenger’s steadfast belief that Fabregas and moreover Van Persie would stay.  Listening to the last named in his televised interview before the Spurs game, one could actually hear him purring about playing alongside Rooney and co and we should not take it for granted that Suarez love for the club and Merseyside will automatically preclude him from joining another club. 

We all heard Torres eulogising about how the city of Liverpool very much reminded him of the part of Madrid where he came from, yet he left to join one of our mortal enemies.

Gerrard was also quoted in The Daily Mirror saying “In general, I like the direction the club is going in, but the harsh reality is that we still need two or three big players who can help.”

“We were short before the last deadline and I think we struggled to find consistency because of that.  The gap between  us and, say, Manchester United is now severe, but I believe that – on our day – we can beat any team in the league.”

“When we don’t play well, we don’t win.  We need to find a way to win games when we’re not really at out top level.”

While some may some may say this is a player thinking about the final few years of his career, anyone who has followed his career knows that he loves the club and what he says makes sense and is at odds with comments emanating from the board.

Iain Ayre said after the signing of Daniel Sturridge, “People may feel that they want to criticise the fact that we didn’t have an additional striker,

“But at what price would you sacrifice spending for something that is not in the long-term interests of the club versus what we just did which was getting a great price on a great player in Daniel Sturridge?

“If we had spent that money in the summer, then we wouldn’t have done that trade recently.  It may have left us short, but the pieces just did not come together.  We’ve come through that period now and still feel it was right decision.”

From where I’m standing leaving the squad threadbare in the striking department was a bad piece of decision making.  As I look up hearing the roar from the television, Spurs have just equalised with almost the last kick of the ball and the goal scorer is… Clint Dempsey. 

Should we fail to get 4^th place by a few points I know where I’d apportion blame if Luis Suarez leaves as a consequence.