How are our new signings performing so far?

With the end of the international break on us, and no games to report on this week, I thought this might be a good time to have a look at how our summer signings have been doing so far. The season has been patchy as so many new players try to become part of the team, and our coaching staff try to work our tactics to make best use of them. Its not gone all according to plan really for any of our summer signings but we have seen pieces of brilliance from each one of them with only Enrique and Downing so far failing to find the back of the net. I've included marks out of 10 for each player, because I thought this may be useful if doing follow up articles at the midway point and end of the season. it will be good to see who I feel has improved, or not as the case may be, as the season unfolds. As always this is just my opinion and I welcome any comments from any reader in the section below the article.

Charlie Adam

He has certainly shown signs that he can be a potent attacking threat. We have seen many of the qualities which we hoped we would see, he can play some magnificent long range passes, this has been very useful when trying to switch the play quickly from one wing to the other or when trying to build quick counter attacks. He has been very good in possession and hasn’t shown many signs of stress at making the step up to such a big club from Blackpool. Unfortunately, we have also seen some of the drawbacks to his game of which we were forewarned by supporters of his previous clubs. He doesn’t seem to be the best tackler and when trying not to allow his man to get past him he gives away a lot of needless free kicks. He also seems to drift out of games when it gets to around the 60 minute mark. I actually think this is more of an issue around his fitness and conditioning, he doesn’t look like a natural athlete and his stamina suggests he isn’t one either. Overall I think he has done well , and although giving away free kicks can be very frustrating, his efforts when taking our free kicks have been a joy. Be it a fiercly driven shot, a sublime curling placer or a good delivery into the box Charlie can provide them all perfectly. It will be interesting to see what kind of role Kenny deems him worthy of when Steven Gerrard is fully fit. I see him as understudy to Stevie who can offer an alternative tactically as the 3rd man in a 3 man midfield but right now I don’t think he is a definite member of our strongest 11.

7/10

Jordan Henderson

Hendo is what he is, a youngster still learning his trade, albeit a youngster with a very hefty price tag around his neck. He certainly hasn’t done much wrong, but he hasn’t shown an awful lot to justify his price tag either. He has shown that he is capable of producing brilliance, particularly in the Bolton game when he scored a great goal and played some beautiful passes too. I just don’t think he brings an awful lot to the sideright now, certainly not as much as the more experienced and industrious Kuyt, or the more classy Maxi.  I certainly don’t think it harms us to have him in the team, as long as we appreciate what he is, a young inexperience player. Unfortunately a lot of our fans have fallen into this trap of writing him off already. When the results were briefly going against us he became a bit of a whipping boy to certain sections. Ridiculously, he has even been jeered by sections of the Anfield faithful. When judging Hendo I think everyone just needs to have a little perspective. The price-tag has much more to do with what he will become, than it does to what he is right now. Perhaps Kenny's faith is what is causing people to make harsh judgements, but you need to remember that he needs experience. He is not going to start every game (as evidenced by the game at Goodison) but when he is in the team he needs to be cut a bit of slack and be allowed to grow. As is true for nearly all players at his level of development, inconsistency will just have to be accepted until he matures. I have certainly seen enough to convince me that he can become an important player.  For now I think he should also be an understudy but Kenny can see something in him which has earned his trust

6/10

Stewart Downing

Another player who has shown bits of what he is capable but is yet to truly announce his arrival. He started off very brightly in the first few games, his performances improving simultaneous to the whole teams, but when the team hit a bad patch so did his form. He still looks fit and offers quality which no-one else can right now, genuine natural width and pace on the flanks. He has been useful as an outlet too as he always seems to be available for a pass when needed.I feel he is one where those who welcomed his arrival will be satisfied with what they’ve seen, but the doubters will not have seen much to change their minds as yet. It has been so long since Liverpool have had a natural winger, that by virtue of him being that I think his place in the team has been justified. There certainly arent many wingers i can think of in the premiership who match his level of experience in the league. Its important to remember too that his position on the left, is not being backed up by a veteran of the team, his main support comes from another newbie and as their partnership grows, each of their performances will surely improve.   I certainly think ive seen enough to justify his starting place right now and assure me that he will be a big success through the rest of the season. Andy Carroll too seems to be coming into better form and this can only help Downing.

6/10

Jose Enrique

Probably the most impressive summer signing has been the arrival from Newcastle, Jose Enrique. Different from the others, he has arrived without the burden of a big price. I think this has helped him in settling in so quickly. In his first game he kept his game simple and made defending his priority, rarely carrying the ball past the halfway line or overlapping Downing on the wing. In subsequent games he has shown more of his attacking ability, without ever compromising his defensive stability. Its been refreshing and exciting. Himself and Downing are still getting used to how each other plays and I feel that each of their performances will grow at the same time. Already as a change from last season, and seasons before most of our attacking play seems to come down the left hand side. . I think once Glen Johnson returns to the team this will change and we might begin to use the right flank as frequently as the left but until then, it seems that our left side is more of a potent weapon than it has been for many years. From starting last season with a very poor left back, with  an experienced and very classy but also very fragile substitue. We now have a very classy and exciting left back, with the same experienced and fragile player in reserve along with an impressively improving young player. The form shown by Enrique so far means he is definitely a member of our strongest 11, and in my eyes one of the top 4 left backs in England.

8/10

Craig Bellamy

Its a bit to early to make a major judgement on Beller's return to L4. The fact that he was a free transfer means that it really is a no lose situation for us. If it were not to work out we couldnt really have many complaints, but the early signs are that he is going to give everything to make a success of his second spell in red. He was impressive in his (second) first start, showing the pace, drive and tenacity we have come to expect. And adding a fine finish to get his (second) debut goal out of the way. His introduction at Goodison Park also seemed to give the team some much needed impetus and he was very much involved in the build up to Carroll's opening goal of the game. He can perform in pretty much any of the positions accross the front and so gives us options as well as putting a number of people under pressure for their place in the side simultaniously. He may not necesarily be a member of our strongest 11 on paper, but for different opponents when variable tactics are required he is very much part of the 11.

Too early to give a rating

Spurs 4 - 0 Liverpool (Talking Points)

Liverpool travelled to White Hart Lane on Saturday hoping to rekindle their early season form but instead suffered a bit of a thrashing from Spurs. It really was a day when everything seemed to go wrong, although while defeat seemed likely from the kick-off the score line surely would not have been possible but for 2 sendings off. Spurs were brightest from the first whistle and had chances to open the scoring even before Luka Modric’s sublime effort in the 7th minute. While trying to stop the Croats effort Daniel Agger managed to damage his ribs and he was in evident pain from then until his withdrawal at about 20 minutes. Dagger has been our best defender so far this season but unfortunately his injury curse has stuck again and it seems like he will miss at least a few weeks as a result of this latest set-back. Young Uruguayan defender Sebastian Coates came on in Dagger’s stead to make his debut in a Liverpool shirt.Shortly after Agger was replaced, Charlie Adam was also leaving the field, Kenny Dalglish however didn’t have the luxury of replacing the Scot, because Adam was leaving after receiving his second yellow card, for a tackle which although it didn’t seem malicious was certainly reckless. From here on in damage limitation seemed to be the order of the day. Hold on in the game and hope to sneak one on the break. It seemed that we had achieved the unlikely equaliser before half time when Luis Suarez slotted home but his strike was ruled out for offside, upon seeing the replay it was clear this was the correct decision. The game continued at 1-0 into the second half when another unnecessary foul, this time from Martin Skrtel earned him his second yellow and an early bath. With Glen Johnson injured and Martin Kelly only regaining his fitness, Skrtel in an unfamiliar role was preferred to young JohnFlanagan in his natural position. It seemed a strange decision, but more on that later. By the time the final whistle blew Liverpool had conceded a further 3 times, 2 goals from Adebeyor and 1 from Defoe. It was a dark day and certainly one we cannot allow to linger. The lads need to regain their confidence and soon before any downward spiral begins to take hold. Our next opportunity is away at Brighton in the Carling Cup, for me its not an ideal fixture. It’s a real no-win situation, where by a win will be greeted as no less than expected but a loss could be used by critics as a major stick and the players themselves would find it much harder to restore confidence. Let’s not expect a cricket score, a win would be enough to satisfy me and begin the turn around in fortunes to set us up nicely for the Wolves game next week.

Perspective 

The old adage that “your only as good as your last game” is a truism of modern football. Its an adage which I’ve never gone for. When trying to determine where your team is at any moment a sense of perspective is needed. True this performance was poor but there are certain extenuating circumstances which need to be thought of along with the result. Its very easy to watch a poor performance, accompanied of course by a surprise score line and decide that that means we are currently crap, the players are crap, tactics are crap and the manager is crap. How true is this though? I mean the players were certainly poor on the day, with one or two exceptions, and I am certainly of the opinion that some of Kenny’s decisions were not very good, but this game doesn’t reflect an entire season. Only 2 weeks ago the players were on top form, our tactics spot on and changes were influential as we put in a stellar performance against Bolton at home. Throughout the upturn in fortunes since the Kings second coming we have seen magnificent performances against Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal. We have pride back and we are building towards a new set up with a lot of new young blood in what will surely be a very exciting team. Nobody can expect that everything is going to click immediately and that we will be unbeatable throughout the campaign. The players will have more off days, and the manager will make mistakes, every manager does. In the grander scheme of things though there will be more good performances than bad, and more great decisions than poor ones. In the same way as we shouldn’t herald every victory as a return to greatness we should be careful not to over emphasise poor games as a sign of regression. The manager still has plenty to learn about his players and the players have a lot to learn about each other.

Tactics

There were a few decisions on the day that I found hard to interpret. Of course I am only talking about these because we suffered defeat, had the game plan worked there would be no need to think about any of these. But after seeing how the game pans out, and with the benefit of hindsight you can spot things which may have been improved if different choices had been made. I thought the decision to go with a straight 4-4-2 seemed strange, especially starting with Suarez & Carroll together for the first time in a few weeks. I felt Andy was one of our better players on the day actually so its not that i didn’t want him in the team, i felt thought if we were going with the 2 up top either Kuyt or Bellamy may have been the better option as they could drop off and become auxiliary midfielders when we lost possession. Having said that, Spurs are quite a big team these days so perhaps Kenny felt we needed Andy’s height for defending set pieces. In the end we were being over-run in the middle of the park prior to Adam’s exit. Lucas worked hard, doing what he doesn’t, but i felt he wasn’t given much help by Adam, Downing or Hendo. Of course, all three of the midfielders I just named had weak games and so perhaps an extra body wouldn’t have helped either way.

Our right hand side also seemed to be screaming out to be attacked. As mentioned before Skrtel was chosen to play out of position at right full, I presume Kenny made the decision due to Spurs quality on their left, he went with the experience of the Slovakian rather than play Flanno who is natural in the position but clearly still a bit green. That seems like a reasonable decision but the question mark for me is in advance of this position. Hendo was picked again to play right midfield, this lessened the support on offer to whichever right back was picked to play. I just want to point out, I don’t actually have any problem with Hendo, but he is still young and while he has attributes in an attacking sense he doesn’t offer much yet defensively. It seemed clear to me that whether we chose Skrtel (out of position) or Flanagan (inexperienced) Spurs were going to attack our right full back, and knowing this maybe it would have been a better idea to offer the better protection of Dirk Kuyt who would get up and down and take a bit of pressure off the full back. While i’m on the subject, i thought it was also strange that Flanno didn’t even make the bench in the end. It seems that Kenny has lost a bit of trust for him. From starting our first game of the season against Sunderland he is no out of the picture, even when he is our only fit right full. In that Sunderland game he was blamed for their goal, he lost his concentration on one or two occasions during the game but at the time i felt he would need a break but get back into the squad soon enough. The thing is, in that game he was paired on the right with Hendo, and i personally felt that his lapses in concentration were connected to the lack of support he had been offered throughout the game. I wonder if his fall has something to do with Kenny’s faith in Hendo? He knows he cant play them both together but right now it seems that he has complete faith in Hendo, which seems to mean young Flanno has to miss out.

Stoke 1 - 0 Liverpool (Talking Points)

Liverpool fell to their first defeat of the new season on Saturday when we were defeated 1 - 0 at the Brittania stadium. Liverpool had started the season well and in our first three games of the season we certainly seemed to be improving with each performance. So much so that expectations for the season ahead had started to rise. From aiming for a return to the Champions League suddenly there was talk of title challenges and people were starting to consider us as only behind the 2 Manchester clubs in our aims for the season. If there is any positive to be gained from this defeat its that hopefully it will give everyone a slight reality check. Its not that optimism itself is a huge problem, but when expectations get too high, a team, at our early stage of development, can end up in a no win situation. If people start to have expectations above what is realistically achievable they can only be disappointed when the expectation is not realised. We saw this a few years back when a second place finish under Rafa somehow became painted as utter failure, regardless of the fact that we got 86 points, lost only two games in an entire season and finished behind a Man Utd team who picked up 90 points! As things stand we still in a decent position and in line with our realistic targets. We are not the only team who will come away from Stoke with nothing and the performance by the man in black (charcoal?) on the day was nothing to be ashamed of. We were in control of the game for the most part and how we didn’t score at least once on the day is beyond me. Jordan Henderson alone could have had three, alone all in the same move! The fact that the performance levels never slipped and the effort put in right until the end, shows that the players haven’t necessarily lost form, it just wasn’t to be on the day. It certainly wont knock |Kenny, or the players, confidence going into next weeks game against Spurs.

Kenny’s post game comments

I’ve heard a lot of comment over the last couple of days about Kenny’s post match comments regarding the referee. Some are trying to use them to say that Kenny is clearly in a state of paranoia and getting worried now that his honeymoon period is over. Ridiculous! What Kenny said was nothing more than the kind of statement Fergie has been making for the last 20 years when he spots a pattern of decisions going against his team. it’s a kind of mind game where he knows he cannot influence what has happened in this, or pre-ceding games, but he is trying to influence the referee’s thoughts in our next games when there is a 50/50 decision to be made. There’s nothing wrong with that, Lord knows we can use all the help we can get this season! The comments about speaking to the owners about which course of action to follow are, I believe, for effect only. I would be very surprised if there are any official complaints made by Liverpool. Hopefully the short few comments will have the desired effect and there will be no more need for discussion on the subject!

The Penalty

To be 100% honest, I think there was enough to excuse the referee giving this penalty. I’m no fan of Clattendburg, I find it very hard to read him as a ref. but on this occasion he probably got it right. Carra gets himself into an awkward position by allowing Waters to get his body between him and the ball which leads to him putting his arm around Waters. I certainly don’t believe that he pulled the Stoke man to the ground, but by putting his arm round he gives the striker the chance to go down, and gives the referee a decision to make. Put it this way, if this was up the other end I would have been screaming for a pen!

The Performance 

Of course, whilst watching your team suffering a loss and immediately after the game its very easy to say it was shite and rant about the performance, once you let the dust settle a bit you can look back on the game and see things a little clearer. We didn’t hit the heights we’d been hitting recently but we were still very much in control of the game from early on. Stoke did their thing and played a solid hardworking game but never put us under much pressure. We started with a strong team. Skrtel, who had impressed in this position last time out, continued at Right Back. Caroll stayed on the bench leaving Kuyt to start up top with Suarez and Hendo moved to the right. The new boys in particular struggled in this game. Downing’s levels dropped, Henderson and Adam, even more noticeably, but we still had enough on the day to win the game, we created enough chances. The team worked hard enough, as said before, if we continue in this vein we will certainly win more than we lose.

Arsenal 0 - 2 Liverpool (Talking Points)

On Saturday we achieved our first win of the 2011/12, we also simultaneously won our first away fixture against Arsenal in almost 11 years. Suarez was dropped to the bench for this fixture, along with John Flanagan, who made way for Dirk Kuyt and Martin Kelly respectively. Arsenal were clearly under strength, between injuries and high profile departures, they were not at their strongest. This was still Arsenal though, and through the game they looked pretty strong at times. Liverpool looked strong too and for the first time in as long as can remember we dominated possession against Arsenal. We were a little fortunate in that the first goal was a pretty calamitous own goal from Arsenal, but i don’t think many people would deny that Liverpool were worthy winners on the day. Certainly there were no question marks over the quality of our second goal.

A Lucky Victory

A lot of people have been writing this victory off as nothing more than a “lucky” victory. From fans of other clubs this is no more than we’ve grown to expect, but I have hear it said by a lot of Liverpool fans too, which is surprising. There are a number of things people point to back up this “lucky” theory. Firstly, the early injury to Koscielny, well this is just one of those things really isn’t it? In this very fixture last season we had to start with John Flanagan (still in his first few appearances) at Right Back, he was quickly joined by Jack Robinson on at Left back when Fabio Aurelio succumbed to his usual fate. I don’t remember Liverpool being given extra credit for achieving a draw in that game and so similarly I don’t think Arsenal’s injury issue should take anything away from this victory. Secondly the sending off of Frimpong. The only thing lucky for Liverpool about this sending off was that the tackle which lead to his second yellow card didn’t also lead to Lucas being seriously injured! That tackle on its own could very well have resulted in a straight red card, and I’m sorry but Frimpong had been at it all game. He really does look like an outstanding player and I’m sure it was not malicious, most likely nothing more than youthful naivety, but from the first few minutes he was throwing himself into tackles, having niggles and moans at the referee and opposition players so it seemed it could happen that he receive a second yellow at some point, if his manager chose not to take him off having seen all this then I don’t think that is as much down to our good fortune as it is the player or manager themselves. Finally, we come to the Own Goal and Offside. I wont for one minute try to deny that the OG was good fortune. The offside may have been fortunate too, but it was an incredibly difficult call, the kind of one where if its given against you moan, no matter which team you support. My problem with the own goal being used as fuel for the “lucky” win theory is that this wasn’t the type of OG where a defender tries a hopeful punt back to his keeper only for the keeper to fall and allow it in. This was a crisp passing move where Liverpool forced the ball into a very dangerous position which left a young defender in trouble in a crowded penalty area, he tried to clear through the bodies and it took a wicked deflection over the, here-to unbeatable Szezesny. It was a fortunate outcome but it was forced too.

The Squad

Liverpool started this game with the strongest bench I can remember for a while. Doni, Skrtel, Flanagan, Spearing, Maxi, Meireles, Suarez. The bench had natural cover all over the pitch. It contained some experienced players and it also contained some game changers. Of course Suarez would be everbody’s starting 11 whenever fit, but it showed something new to us that even with these players on the pitch we had a very strong starting 11 on the pitch, a starting 11 which you would back against the majority of premiership teams. Lets not forget that we still have Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Fabio Aurelio, and although it seems nailed on that he will leave soon Alberto Aquilani, in reserve. I would still like us to improve in certain area’s a centre back seems to be lined up by the club and I personally feel we need a back-up striker, but the squad is certainly taking shape and looking stronger than in recent seasons.

The Big Man up Top

Are certain people under some contractual obligation to mention Andy Carroll’s fee every time they mention his name? “Was that worth £35 million?” is the usual refrain, the only way to stop this question being asked is for everyone of Andy Carroll’s touches to be a header into the top corner, or to score a 25 yard screamer with every shot. I understand that Andy Carroll is by no means the finished product and I understand that his price tag seems to reflect that of a player who is very much the finished product, but lets keep things in perspective and not write him off after every poor touch or every goal-less game. I personally think he is doing ok overall. He came into the team last season when clearly not fit and scored a few good goals to get him off the mark. He has done well in getting a full pre-season under his belt, and although he is not at 100% fitness at this early point in the season, neither are most of our players. The team has a set up now which will naturally lead to getting more out of Andy. We can see that our wingers have been told to hit him when in possession out wide. The problem at the moment seems to be too many balls into his head, don’t get me wrong I know the wingers are mostly going to hit his head, and while on the subject I think it’s pretty incredible how many crosses he actually gets his head to, I know these haven’t lead to goals in the first two games but once it all starts clicking it should prove very productive. When I say the problem is too many balls into his head I mean more-so from midfield and defence. When under pressure or when rushing to start a move its an easy option to just lump it, but this ignores the fact that Andy is strong in possession and a lot of the time it would be preferable to see the ball played to him to hold-up, wait for support, lay-off and go. This hasn’t been happening too much so far but I’m sure it will come as the players get more used to playing with him, and of course he with them.

Liverpool 1 - 1 Sunderland (Talking Points)

The new season officially began with a one all draw against Sunderland. Anticipation had been getting higher as the season approached and in the opening half an hour of the game it seemed that all the optimism was totally justified. Early in the game Liverpool were completely in control, we attacked well and early on Suarez went through one on one with the keeper and won a penalty. The shine was quickly taken off the penalty though when referee Phil Dowd failed to dismiss Kieron Richardson, and also of course when Suarez missed the penalty with some flair! He made up for this of course a few minutes later when he got the all important flick to a dangerous Charlie Adam free kick. At this point in the game it seemed Liverpool would capitalise on our control, as the half continued we had many more chances. Adam had a long range effort saved, Downing smashed the cross bar following a blitzing run from the half way line there were other less notable chances too. The best chance of course fell to Andy Carroll who finished it well, the referee struck again though when he disallowed the goal. As half time approached, with the important second goal proving more elusive it became apparent that Liverpool’s intensity had dropped, it seemed the players were getting tired, we hoped that the half time break would prove to re-invigorate them, unfortunately this wasn’t the case. Sunderland were the stronger side throughout the second half and equalized in some style through, a debutant of their own in Sebastian Larsonn. Kenny made some changes, and the players tried to rally but were not able to raise their game to the levels achieved in the first half.

The sending off and penalty: 

The rules state that you receive a red card for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity and I don’t know of a much clearer goal scoring opportunity than Luis Suarez one v one with a goalkeeper.  The ref stated he was moving away from goal, but it is very hard to bring a ball around a goal keeper without momentarily going away from goal. To me, it seemed that Phil Dowd bottled it, he didn’t want to be the first ref to give out a red card in the season and so he took an excuse. I also think that if the rules lead to ambiguity then they need to be clarified for everybody. I think the penalty miss made have been as case of over confidence from Luis. He made up for the miss with his goal a few minutes later, you can be sure the Kop wont hold it against him, so long as he doesn’t make a habit out of it.

The disallowed goal:              

I’m not going to dwell on this too much, I could not see any reason for this goal to be disallowed. A very slight coming together between two players, the defender goes to ground and the referee blows for a free kick. If the same circumstances had left the Striker on the deck, You can be sure that a penalty wouldn’t have been awarded. It was a big decision, looking back on the game we can see how it panned out and say that a draw was a fair result, but who’s to know how a second goal at this point might have effected both teams performances?

The Performance: 

As I said earlier, Liverpool looked tired as the game wore on, I don’t think this is necessarily something for us to be overly concerned about. Pre-season training is not designed to have any team at peak fitness for the first game of the season, its usually  intended that a team hits peak from the second or third game onwards. I think there was enough in the first 30 minutes to show that this team has something about them. Once the team starts to gel and players start reaching their peaks we will be a force to be reckoned with.

There are other talking points, the right hand side, Flanno, the first 11, the tactics overall and playing people out of position but as this is the first game of the season i think we need to reserve judgement on a lot of things for the moment. If things keep on cropping up over the next few games I will certainly discuss them but for now I think we can trust that these issues are nothing more than teething problems