Do Liverpool Still Need to Replace Phil Coutinho?
Euphoria, that’s the feeling washing over most of the Liverpool supporter-sphere at the moment.
Their front three are reaching meteoric heights, and their devastating influence on games has become a staple of both the Premier League and Champions League. Teams now fear Liverpool, not simply because of the goalscoring prowess, but also the knowledge that it is now harder to breach what used to be a shaky back-line. Liverpool bought the most expensive defender in world football to help fix …
Analysing Liverpool’s Finances and Transfer Activity
When it comes to football, there are few things less interesting then examining sets of accounts. However, the audited set of figures released by Liverpool in the first week of March each year give one of the clearest indications of the off-field standing of the club and its ability to effectively challenge on the pitch. This article aims to explain why the club’s net spend in recent seasons has appeared to be so relatively low, examines the story behind the …
Liverpool's Transfer Committees, Sporting Directors and the need to Step Up
Since FSG have come into the club, transfers have been a mixed bag. There have been some resounding successes in the likes of Sturridge, Coutinho, Mane and Salah. There have also been some real flops like Lovren, Lambert, Balotelli and others. Michael Edwards has had to play a big role in all of this.
Edwards arrived as Head of Performance and Analysis and, more recently, worked with Brendan Rodgers as part of the now infamous Transfer Committee. This was one …
Naby Keita is a Red - Take a Bow, Michael Edwards
So Naby Keita is a Red. In sensational style, it was announced on Monday and confirmed on Tuesday morning by the club, that a deal had been struck to bring main summer target Naby Keita to the club next summer in a deal worth his £48m release clause plus a premium for signing him early, believed to be between £3m and £7m. And what a deal.
Now I’m not here to wax lyrical about Keita. Plenty of other people have …
Why Liverpool are proving me wrong this summer
As Liverpool swept Middlesbrough aside on the final day of the season, I was filled with optimism.
Let the fun begin, I thought We had Klopp, Champions League football and reportedly a rather large pot of gold to splurge on some much-needed transfers.
Most importantly, we'd experienced sensible - logical - progression. We'd moved from a season containing cup runs and an eighth placed finish to a season where the league mattered most, and we moved up to fourth.
We …
FSG In, FSG Out, but what about Jurgen Klopp?
In what has been a turbulent summer for Liverpool fans up until this point, one thing remains reasonably consistent: speculation about FSG. FSG this, FSG that. FSG in, FSG out. FSG are to blame if we don’t sign Van Dijk and Keita, FSG don’t want us to sign Van Dijk and Keita, FSG will have proven themselves, it’s time for FSG to step up. And amongst all of this, it’s not clear who FSG is actually supposed to mean. Is …
Alternatives to Virgil van Dijk - Part 1
Introduction:
From a recruitment point-of-view, a sporting director must always have a deeply scouted list of alternative transfer targets, to not only maintain the club’s footballing philosophy, but to ensure that high quality talent is secured at an excellent value for whatever roles and weaknesses the coaching staff want to improve. With the controversy over Liverpool’s pursuit for Virgil van Dijk, I have selected three alternative centre-backs for Liverpool’s recruitment team to consider, of which my primary target will be …
FSG: Shape Up or Ship Out
It's happened again... it's happened agai-ai-ain... Tottenham Hotspur, it's happened again!So goes the now famous Arsenal song that was aimed at Spurs fans every season for two decades, when the day arrived each year, and it was confirmed that, yet again, their North London rivals wouldn't finish above them in the Premier League - what became known as St. Totteringham's Day. Clearly, that song was rendered irrelevant the season just gone when Spurs finished some eleven points …
What Does Michael Edwards' Promotion mean for Liverpool FC?
Just over a year ago, not long after Brendan Rodgers was sacked, the Daily Mail published an article hatchet job depicting Liverpool FC's head of performance analysis Michael Edwards as a kiss-arse who basically set Rodgers up to fail.
There was mention of a cosy relationship between Edwards and the owners and how they'd regularly share emails throughout the day. I mean, how dare an employee share videos of cats with his boss..
Eddie, as he liked the staff at Melwood …