quote Sacchi
Liverpool are exemplary in two ways: their spirit and tactical organization. Benitez knows what he is doing. His team lacks talent, but they are a true team, compact, modern and with a great football culture. He’s work has been fantastic.
I enjoyed the article but this statement stood out to me. Why do our team lack talent? I am not saying i disagree, but have the signings not turned out as expected? Or are we making poor signings?
The existing players around that time not signed by Rafa would have been Gerrard, Carra, Finnan, Risse and Hyppia. Now i wouldn't have swapped ANY (yes even JAR) of them for any otheres in the prem before the Athens final.
I think we're making poor signing. Quantity not quality...which I've got to say is just like Houllier did as a general rule of thumb, and it was his downfall.
He had to replace a sub-standard squad that was built up by Houllier, and in general has done ok...but ok doesn't win you the league. Particulary in attack, he's not bought well.
Kaka behind Inzhagi or Gerrard behind Kuyt. Spot the weak-link, spot why we didn't win #6 and instead they got #7. We've now finally gone out and got that top drawer striker in Torres, but he's the only one.
I love Crouch, but jesus he's slow.
I like Kuyt simply because of the effort he puts in, but there's no way he gives defenders sleepless nights the night before playing us.
Voronin the jury is out, but no way we were beating off the cream of Europe to secure his signature.
Before them there was Bellamy who I think was hugely underused and underutlised, but again, we never snapped him up with Chelsea closing in.
And then there's Babel who could be many things, but a winger (what we needed) won't be one.
Benayoun who is again second tier fare, although I'd be playing every week because he at least gives us something different.
Morientes - never going to adapt to the pace of the game over here. I know that in hindsight, Rafa should have known it in advance.
Zenden - most unspectacular left-winger since Carter.
Gonzales - might still come back and might still be a decent player, but didn't do it.
Nunez - a make-weight and decent player who did a good job for us (despite people thinking he should get lumped in with Josemi on the dud front) but again, second tier at best.
Pennant - I like him, and I think we're better with him on the pitch, but he's not the full package and never will be.
In terms of attacking players, he's not signed well...and he has signed a fair few. A few bob more spent on 1 or 2 top class players would see us in a much better position. Only Garcia and Torres I'd say are of the standard that we need if we're going to be challenging for the league.
Conversely, Agger, Alonso, Mascherano, Reina, Arbeloa, Carson - all very, very good signings of the highest quality...and easily outweigh the odd dud in Paletta, Josemi (got as much back as we paid for him), Kronkamp (did ok and again recouped our money).
