Topic: Comolli: Only 1or 2 adjustments in the summer

[Gene]

don't know why people are saying Comolli should be fired if we sign more british players this summer

from what I understand the manager has final say on the signings, Comolli just finds the type of players the manager requests.

So there's blame to both if people feel their transfer dealings have been poor

This bugs me as well.

"Comolli is terrible! Look at who he's signing!"

Yet, as it's been said over and over Kenny has the final say on signings, and frankly, he plrobably has the majority of the say on signings.

[Gnurglan]

Let us be honest our competitors are now NUFC, Everton, Villa, only the most optmistic person would think we could compete for players THFC, AFC, Chelsea etc can attract. Forget full stop about top bracket players the Manchester teams can get.

We have to hope the potential we paid for in Henderson and Carroll starts bearing fruit next year. If we get a couple in next year I expect Scott Sinclair, Jarvis level players. You can forget about anything better.

For any player we sign next, they need to be able to do the business for us. More or less immediately. One way to do this is to go for solid international players, from abroad (to get the value for money up). We should leave the potential to Robinson, Flanagan, Kelly, Spearing, Shelvey, Stirling etc and hope they can grow into their roles. I just don't understand why we, when we have lots of promising young (British) players coming through, decided to spend all the cash we have on domestic players who fail to live up to their price tag.

I think we can attract real quality players. We may not be able to get the best of the best, but when is the last time we bought those? What we should target is players like of Alonso, Mascherano, Torres (before they came good here) and Suarez, plus Maxi, Bellamy and similar, experienced players of high quality. That I believe we can do. We can attract better players than NUFC, Villa etc, but Man C/U are out of our reach for the time being.

What needs to happen for certain is Comolli & Co must find much better value for money than they have so far. Much better. We only need to look at this season. Of the new players, who has actually improved the team? Who has stepped forward and been a real improvement on what we had last season? I'd say Enrique. Then? We have wasted so much money. More or less all the Torres money has been lost on overpriced players. If one, in any business, waste 30M, 40M or 50M, serious questions would be asked, and in many cases questions wouldn't even need to be asked.

[Smudgester]

I don't think it needs many adjustments at all.

Others have said on other threads, if we had had RvP this season then we'd easily by Top 4 by now (based on other areas of our play) and could well be on our way to winning the title ... that's the difference just 1 player can make.

[rossipersempre]

Comolli signed Henderson, Bellamy, Doni, Suarez, Coates and also wanted Jones and Young but they moved to Man Utd.

Kenny signed Adam, Enrique, Carroll, Downing... We went for both Young and Downing. Would have been great if we got both...

Imo the only terrible buy with the price into consideration is Carroll... Adam has been decent because of his goals and assists. Id be looking to sell him though and get a top replacement. Would definitely keep Downing, great squad player and also Henderson who has great potential.

What a load of speculative bollocks. Not worth deconstructing but one thing is for sure, anyone who thinks Comolli had anything to do with the ex-Newcastle/Blackburn/Liverpool/Celtic Bellamy re-signing, is deluded.

[lfcmaster]

Why pay for Zaha when we have Sterling?

zaha can play as a lone striker aswell as a winger

[smig]

Lucas and Suarez aren't our only quality players. Our squad isn't terrible. Hell even with one decent finisher we'd be comfortably in the top 4 this season. Add to that a creative right sided player and we're not looking bad at all.

Like the lads on Anfield Wrap said last week, we've got a decent squad now, we just need one or two first XI players. RAWK has turned into a bipolar forum. One week we've turned a corner and are on the up, and the next Everton and Newcastle are beating us to signings and we only have 2 good players.

Good post this.

[Vinay]

You know what, i watched the leeds southampton match last night. Lambert scored, wasnt an insanely difficult finish but he took it well, powered it home on the volley, it struck me that i doubted whether any of our lads would of scored it. It was just a goal scored by somebody who knows how to put the ball away. Now i'm not saying buy ricky lambert, quite the opposite...just that we need a goal scorer, a real fucking goal scorer who knows how to put the ball away and gets into scoring positions naturally.

Yeah, just like me. I am 5 kg heavier than what I used to weigh, 2 seconds slower, get back pains when I play for more than an hour, am out of breath and have flat foot. But dear me, even though I play in midfield, I know where the net is.  I hear what you say.
I am not sure how much of it is down to confidence, but I doubt this current crop of players is going to live up to their 'hype'.

[lgvkarlos]

I don't think it needs many adjustments at all.

Others have said on other threads, if we had had RvP this season then we'd easily by Top 4 by now (based on other areas of our play) and could well be on our way to winning the title ... that's the difference just 1 player can make.

Problem is Carrol was ment to be that player.

[filopastry]

For any player we sign next, they need to be able to do the business for us. More or less immediately. One way to do this is to go for solid international players, from abroad (to get the value for money up). We should leave the potential to Robinson, Flanagan, Kelly, Spearing, Shelvey, Stirling etc and hope they can grow into their roles. I just don't understand why we, when we have lots of promising young (British) players coming through, decided to spend all the cash we have on domestic players who fail to live up to their price tag.

I think we can attract real quality players. We may not be able to get the best of the best, but when is the last time we bought those? What we should target is players like of Alonso, Mascherano, Torres (before they came good here) and Suarez, plus Maxi, Bellamy and similar, experienced players of high quality. That I believe we can do. We can attract better players than NUFC, Villa etc, but Man C/U are out of our reach for the time being.

What needs to happen for certain is Comolli & Co must find much better value for money than they have so far. Much better. We only need to look at this season. Of the new players, who has actually improved the team? Who has stepped forward and been a real improvement on what we had last season? I'd say Enrique. Then? We have wasted so much money. More or less all the Torres money has been lost on overpriced players. If one, in any business, waste 30M, 40M or 50M, serious questions would be asked, and in many cases questions wouldn't even need to be asked.

Can't argue with any of that, another summer of transfer business like we we've had up until now and heads will be rolling so we need to get this right, unfortunately we don't have the likes of Torres to sell to give us a nice one-off windfall this year either, so we'll need to be smarter with what will almost certainly be a realtively modest budget (relative to what some people on here seem to be expecting anyway)

[Camarero25]

Yeah, just like me. I am 5 kg heavier than what I used to weigh, 2 seconds slower, get back pains when I play for more than an hour, am out of breath and have flat foot. But dear me, even though I play in midfield, I know where the net is.  I hear what you say.
I am not sure how much of it is down to confidence, but I doubt this current crop of players is going to live up to their 'hype'.

I reckon I could put the ball into an open goal from six yards out, which most of our current players seem incapable of doing. Sign me up, I'd play for 10k a week too.

[lachesis]

Based on what Comolli said about the transfers last year it appears the process works in conjunction with Kenny and Comolli.

Kenny identifies a player that fits the buying strategy, Comolli goes along to verify quality/type of player and if they agree a bid is put in based on the strength of the managers recommendation.

How pleased are you to have completed this deal for Charlie Adam?

For Kenny, he was a priority and we've done everything we could to get him. We are delighted......


When you and Kenny were scouting him - what made you think, 'This is the player for us'?

A little bit of everything. If you look at him physically, he's very impressive.....


There is a lot of talk in newspapers about our strategy in the transfer market - is there a strategy and, if so, what is it?

There is a strategy in terms of profile of players we want to bring in: the mentality, the attitude, the work ethic - and the age is also a factor. People think about the citizenship and passport - but this doesn't really matter as much as what I've just said.

Comolli appears to be there to verify that the players Kenny wants fits his strategy. However, what I'd say is because of the stature of Kenny and given the way we reacted when Benitez was told 'No' with players he wanted, Comolli is in a difficult place with regards to saying 'No' - if it were to get out to the fans he and FSG would be accused of not supporting an LFC manager. Something to perhaps think about.

[Bob Loblaw]

Let us be honest our competitors are now NUFC, Everton, Villa, only the most optmistic person would think we could compete for players THFC, AFC, Chelsea etc can attract. Forget full stop about top bracket players the Manchester teams can get.

We have to hope the potential we paid for in Henderson and Carroll starts bearing fruit next year. If we get a couple in next year I expect Scott Sinclair, Jarvis level players. You can forget about anything better.

As Ray Wilkins would say, my word! We weren't competing with those teams last season for players, we won't be next season, we might even go and poach a one or two of those teams better players. The table is a lie, we're in better shape than people think.

[kdorg]

Lachesis if you want to read Comolli's own description of how things work have a look at this -

Comolli gave a really (really) long interview about his role at LFC, last May to an academic. You can read it here http://www.leadersinperformance.com/the-leader/damien-comolli-an-eye-for-talent-with-a-talent-for-detail/

Here’s a few salient points but it’s really best to read the whole thing if you are interested in what Comolli does.

This interview offers us a chance to hear for ourselves Damien’s thoughts on talent identification, scouting, recruitment and player development. (These are the areas he is responsible for at LFC)

The process of recruitment is, more than ever, a strategic operation. At a first team level, due diligence must be afforded to potential multi-million pound acquisitions. The initial player recommendations of the scout are followed up by at least 3 to 4 more viewings from ‘other’ senior staff. Subsequently, three positive reports will trigger a ‘buying’ mechanism

Comolli’s role is not confined to first team player recruitment. He’s also involved in the development of the scouting network for the Academy.

Comolli recognises the importance of the youth academy in his strategic recruitment plan

Comolli’s experience knows that he needs the owners on board as well as the manager. To carry out his strategic plan he needs support and patience from those around him. Such virtues are typically in short supply in such environments but Comolli seems to have found them with Liverpool FC and FSG.


As for the future of talent recruitment, Comolli extends his need to understand every detail of a player before the club decide to sign them. The need for (accurate and reliable) data and information; physiological, physical, technical, psychological and social is critical to help inform decisions.

DC doesn't just verify Kenny's solo choice of who he wants. It's a management team now. As stated above you need 3 'go' decisions from senior staff to trigger the buy mechanism out of a possible 3 or 4 who consider every player we consider signing.

[Smudgester]

Problem is Carrol was ment to be that player.

Arguably, yes, but if we had had more time (ie Torres hadn't left within days of the window closing) to find a £50M striker ... would we have bought him or somebody else ?

[shelovesyou]

Let us be honest our competitors are now NUFC, Everton, Villa, only the most optmistic person would think we could compete for players THFC, AFC, Chelsea etc can attract. Forget full stop about top bracket players the Manchester teams can get.

We have to hope the potential we paid for in Henderson and Carroll starts bearing fruit next year. If we get a couple in next year I expect Scott Sinclair, Jarvis level players. You can forget about anything better.

Do I not like this.
I think its safe to say our ambitions are set a lot higher than that, with all due respect to those players and clubs.

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

I don't think Chelsea 7 points ahead of us, without a manager, an aging squad and onto their 5 regime change in 6 years are a 'draw' in comparison to us.

Also, this summer is the first of FFP, so does anyone really think there are going to be marquee signings? Now is the time for our scouting department to unearth some gems! Oh, and I 100% believe that Suarez and Carroll is the way forward - with a young, promising striker as back up / rotation.

We need to use Carroll as the back-up and rotation striker, he is not going to become a top CF overnight, his is progressing but we need to make sure we are winning games while he is and it would take the pressure off him as well

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

Top players we need to build our squad around

Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Enrique, Johnson, Lucas, Gerrard, Suarez, Bellamy

Promising young players who are good enough as squad players now and hopefully will become key players between 1-3 years

Coates, Kelly, Henderson, Shelvey, Carroll

Squad players who we may look to upgrade

Spearing, Adam, Downing, Kuyt, Maxi, Carra


I think having only 2 senior CM who we can rely on for quality performances and one of them being injury prone is a worry. But we also have 2 promising young players there, hopefully we can add some experienced quality in that area.

Then there are only two senior attacking players and one also injury prone, only one young talent in that department and most of our other players are squad players. We need to add no less than two to attacking players.

Someone mention the Giroud, I also feel we may be able to tempt Soldado even without CL, then would like to see use get and attacking player who is comfortable on the right, pacy and a good dribbler. I can't think of many quality players in this mold we'd be able to get atm, but that's what the scouts are there for. There are also some interesting talent in the prem I wouldn't mind us going after, Hoilett, Dembele, Joe Allen but these would be an after thought when the important deals have been done.

I saw someone post that we would only get 5M for Adam, I feel he and Enrique are the two players who would get us the most money in regards to our summer signings. I think lots of mid-table teams would spend upwards of 10M for Adam despite hims shortcomings, I don't see us selling him though more likely Spearing atm.

[AirConGipsyRed]

If we sign Scott Sinclair or Matt fucking Jarvis I'm going to strangle someone.

May I suggest either of these as potential victims?

[Cid]

We can't afford a 35m squad player.  We're not Chelsea.

[spider-neil]

Top players we need to build our squad around

Gerrard, Bellamy

you don't build your team around 30 somethings

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

We can't afford a 35m squad player.  We're not Chelsea.

Doesn't matter does it, we can't force him to become the striker we need. It will either happen or it won't in the mean time we need to keep improving and hope he works out

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

you don't build your team around 30 somethings

Yeah, experienced players are vital to any team so long as they can still perform at a high level even if its not week in week out. Scholes, Giggs are good examples especially when you are also trying to bed in young players

[Kochevnik]

We can't afford a 35m squad player.  We're not Chelsea.

This is an argument that totally ignores that Carroll's fee is a sunk cost.  That money is gone, and therefore is irrelevant to what we decide to do with him moving forward.

We have two choices, basically.  One, to sell him for 12-15 million or so and buy a replacement.  Two, to keep him and use him as a squad player.  (I'm ignoring the third choice, that he actually does develop into a player who can play up front for a team who challenge for the league, as it seems most of us are slowly losing hope that will happen.)  It will come down to who is available to replace him, and at what price.  I'm not sure we could find someone significantly better for what we'd get for him, but perhaps Comolli has his eye on a relatively unheralded striker who he thinks would improve us.  If it were up to me he would stay for at least another year, but definitely not in the starting lineup unless we have injury problems.  I think he can offer a good option for certain games and coming off the bench.

[LondonRedMan]

I really don't like this blame tone that's running through the thread. Yes, some of our signings have not worked yet - one or two may not work at all. However, rather than looking to blame DC and KK why not think about the bigger picture here.

Due to our position in the league and lack of CL football we were not in  a psoition to secure the signings of our 1st/second choice players. It's not like we were passing off the likes of Silva, Mata, Lavezzi, Cavani, etc...we were forced to a lower level of player so the blame game doesn't really work

[Adam_LFC]

Yeah, experienced players are vital to any team so long as they can still perform at a high level even if its not week in week out. Scholes, Giggs are good examples especially when you are also trying to bed in young players

Well a lengthy injury to either one of them could ruin any building you have done around them. If Bellamy injures his knee again he is done, same with Gerrard's groin really..

[Caffeine]

I really don't like this blame tone that's running through the thread. Yes, some of our signings have not worked yet - one or two may not work at all. However, rather than looking to blame DC and KK why not think about the bigger picture here.

Due to our position in the league and lack of CL football we were not in  a psoition to secure the signings of our 1st/second choice players. It's not like we were passing off the likes of Silva, Mata, Lavezzi, Cavani, etc...we were forced to a lower level of player so the blame game doesn't really work

So are you saying the players we bought and the money we invested in them was the best value for what was available?

[macca888]

Not sure whether we could get him, but Higuain or Huntelaar would be the answer to our prayers. People keep going on about this Luke De Jong, but i haven't got a scooby if he's any good or not, so I'll hold judgement on him. Maybe he's the type of player Gnurglan is talking about, a player about to make the step up to being a class player rather than one who's already here.

[Upinsmoke]

Let us be honest our competitors are now NUFC, Everton, Villa, only the most optmistic person would think we could compete for players THFC, AFC, Chelsea etc can attract. Forget full stop about top bracket players the Manchester teams can get.

We have to hope the potential we paid for in Henderson and Carroll starts bearing fruit next year. If we get a couple in next year I expect Scott Sinclair, Jarvis level players. You can forget about anything better.

Your really over reacting mate.

Personally i think we have to look at the way teams in portugal and holland do there business. They always have one or two stars up there sleeves, they bring young foreign (south american) players in, develop them, sell them on, rinse and repeat so to speak. We just have to get to the table before other clubs, take a risk too. Taking a risk doesnt have to end up like Andy Carroll, where his transfer fee is constantly under the spotlight but just taking a punt on a prospect. Every transfer is a risk, whether your signing a player for a small fee who is based in the same nation or a large fee from a different nation. We just have to be more intelligent in the market and do our best to attract top talent before anybody else gets there hands on them. Thats commoli's job in the main imo.

[Themask]

Really think we should take a punt on Sigurdsson, I'm from Reading and I used to run the line on a lot of their youth games, was head and shoulders above anyone else even at that age and I've followed his career closely. He stepped into the Reading team as a teenager and was sensational, by far the best player in that league at the time. Didn't get on too well at Hoffenheim, although they've had a lot of problems over the last couple of years, and now he's tearing it up at Swansea. Young, superb technical ability, scores and creates goals (watch the assist for graham on his Swansea debut against Arsenal) and would be well within our price range, I would guess at about 6-8 million unless he keeps this form up for the rest of the season. Could be the perfect long term replacement for Stevie. The only problem is that one of his strengths is his genuinely superb set pieces, and he would inevitably lose the ability to take a good corner or free kick as soon as he joined...

[Juan Loco]

Really think we should take a punt on Sigurdsson

Good man.

[Solomon Grundy]

you don't build your team around 30 somethings

We shouldn't be building our team around anybody end of!!!

[stevedo]

Your really over reacting mate.

Personally i think we have to look at the way teams in portugal and holland do there business. They always have one or two stars up there sleeves, they bring young foreign (south american) players in, develop them, sell them on, rinse and repeat so to speak. We just have to get to the table before other clubs, take a risk too. Taking a risk doesnt have to end up like Andy Carroll, where his transfer fee is constantly under the spotlight but just taking a punt on a prospect. Every transfer is a risk, whether your signing a player for a small fee who is based in the same nation or a large fee from a different nation. We just have to be more intelligent in the market and do our best to attract top talent before anybody else gets there hands on them. Thats commoli's job in the main imo.

Except the dutch/Portuguese model isn't practical for an English club. Unless they have played a certain % for their non-EU national side, or they're classed as "exceptional talent" then you are unlikely to get a work permit. If they satisfy either of these conditions then getting a bargain is unlikely. Possible, but unlikely.

[TOMMO86]

its Gomis.

[redk84]

we all dream of a team of Voronin's
a team of Voronin's
a team of Voronin's

[Suarez7Carroll9]

Reina

Johnson
Skrtel
Agger
Enrique

Kuyt
Lucas
Gerrard
Maxi

Torres
Suarez

Doni, Kelly, Coates, Aquilani, Henderson, Downing, Bellamy

is something like the team we should have had if we wanted to challenge for fourth.

[Suarez7Carroll9]

its Gomis.

You got any info on any other targets mate? How many you think we're after?

[Didi_ram]

its Gomis.

Caused quite a stir back in Jan 

[Twelfth Man]

For any player we sign next, they need to be able to do the business for us. More or less immediately. One way to do this is to go for solid international players, from abroad (to get the value for money up). We should leave the potential to Robinson, Flanagan, Kelly, Spearing, Shelvey, Stirling etc and hope they can grow into their roles. I just don't understand why we, when we have lots of promising young (British) players coming through, decided to spend all the cash we have on domestic players who fail to live up to their price tag.

I think we can attract real quality players. We may not be able to get the best of the best, but when is the last time we bought those? What we should target is players like of Alonso, Mascherano, Torres (before they came good here) and Suarez, plus Maxi, Bellamy and similar, experienced players of high quality. That I believe we can do. We can attract better players than NUFC, Villa etc, but Man C/U are out of our reach for the time being.

What needs to happen for certain is Comolli & Co must find much better value for money than they have so far. Much better. We only need to look at this season. Of the new players, who has actually improved the team? Who has stepped forward and been a real improvement on what we had last season? I'd say Enrique. Then? We have wasted so much money. More or less all the Torres money has been lost on overpriced players. If one, in any business, waste 30M, 40M or 50M, serious questions would be asked, and in many cases questions wouldn't even need to be asked.

An emphasis on technical ability. The need for speed and trickery to circumnavigate the parked buses at Anfield. Players that can play quick high tempo football in the final third. At present we have too many who are better suited to counter attacking. This has to change and the next few transfer windows should try and address this issue.

Your right btw I was being too pessimistic, we should still be able to attract up and coming Hazard's rather than the real thing. As for squandering the Torres money, I have to question our scouting and due diligence. Surely Kenny/Comolli should have been given large dossier's on these players. No more flash in the pan, 1 season wonders please.

[Renato]

Not sure whether we could get him, but Higuain or Huntelaar would be the answer to our prayers. People keep going on about this Luke De Jong, but i haven't got a scooby if he's any good or not, so I'll hold judgement on him. Maybe he's the type of player Gnurglan is talking about, a player about to make the step up to being a class player rather than one who's already here.

Yeah, he's ripping in up in the Eredivisie, 25 goals now for the season i think. Would have him for about 12m, maybe a bit more. No chance of Higuain and i Huntelaar is exceedingly unlikely so we'll probably have to settle for that type of player who is just about to step up to highest level.

[Mashy-rawr!nooo]

Lets not make this a transfer thread for who we want to sign,but rather what positions we need to sign.

Deffo need a creative midfielder unless adam steps up his game massively/henderson provides well in that position. Well lucas comes back,we will need someone else with him aswell. I personally see adam as gerrards cover as he won't be playing 30 games a season or more imo.

A striker be nice, but we should still try and intergrate carroll in more,make him feel welcome.

A decent and respectable winger. Kuyt and Maxi are over 30 and should be used as last 25 minute players to burst over their tired defence. Henderson shouldn't be our first choice winger. Downing is on one wing,we need someone for the other.