Spain Wins Everything, England Moves On, and Other Monday Notes

By: Ed | June 27th, 2011

charley So Monday’s here and Charlie Adam’s not, but he also might be, or at least he’s having the world’s longest medical at Melwood. Either way it’s a continual failure for people who think they know something and don’t, and are so content to continue to disregard reality and push back what they thought was happening yesterday but is actually happening tomorrow that they’re really gonna show you once he arrives. All signs point to these folks eventually being right, which I’m sure they’ll view as a vindication of sorts, but I’d caution you to never forget the fact that for weeks they were full of shit. Being right about something that’s become so obvious after actually being wrong more than you were right doesn’t mean you were always right, it means you were mostly wrong.

But, at the some time I’m invested in the wrongness of all this because these are the same people announcing the imminent exit of Raul Meireles, and I’ve got an unhealthy level of emotion wrapped up in him sticking around for awhile. Selling him off because of a contract dispute doesn’t make much sense, as he’s someone who makes the squad much better and likely deserves an increase from a reportedly lowish weekly wage. Not low in the “99% of the rest of the world” sense, but low in the “making £60,000 less than Joe Cole” sense.

Anyway, at risk of becoming known solely for Charlie Adam and Raul Meireles rants, the Monday notes:

* We’ve payed varying levels of attention to the various international competitions lately, and we saw the first final of the summer over the weekend as Spain asserted their dominance at every level with a 2-0 win over Switzerland in the U21 Euro final. Perpetual object of lust Juan Mata continued his high level of play and smartly switched play as part of the move for Spain’s opener and the eventual winner, and Thiago capped things off with a late free kick from forty-odd yards. Another deserved trophy for a nation who’s churning out a scary amount of talent.

Sadly the links with Mata have died down of late, with Arsenal displacing Liverpool as the English club most likely to have their hopes dashed late in the summer. The North London club have apparently bid £18m for the Spanish forward/winger/demigod, which breaks records for clubs that haven’t yet gotten caught up the ridiculousness of bidding on young English talent.

* From hopeful young Liverpool players to actual young Liverpool players—the English youngsters progressed to the knockout stages of the U17 World Cup in Mexico atop Group C after a 2-0 win over fellow qualifiers Uruguay. There was considerable less Liverpool involvement in the final group stage match, with Raheem Sterling, Adam Morgan, Matty Regan, and Jack Dunn all starting on the bench, with only Dunn making a substitute appearance. Brad Smith made his return after missing out through injury against Canada and played a full ninety, and Nathaniel Chalobah (Chelsea) and Max Clayton (Crewe Alexandra) notched the goals that sealed the group victory for England.

We should see a return to normal service for Liverpool’s youngsters in the match with Argentina on Thursday, as Sterling’s been England’s best by a longshot, and each of Morgan, Regan, Dunn, and Smith have featured in two of the three matches. In a summer that saw the U21s fail so miserably, the success of the younger boys has to be encouraging; it’s not just that they progressed past the group stages as expected, but that they’ve put together something resembling football for most of their time in Mexico. So it’s encouraging at least until Stuart Pearce gets a hold of them, when the hoofs start flying and central midfields are bypassed with frightening regularity.

* And lastly, while we’re keeping hope alive that Daniel Agger will make it to the end of August fully fit, it’s nice to hear the Dane speaking positively about the brand of football he sees Liverpool turning out under the guidance of Kenny Dalglish and Steve Clarke:

“I like Kenny’s playing style and I think it suits Liverpool. It suits the football club and it suits the fans. I was really happy he and Steve Clarke signed their deals. Steve has made a big, big impact and he is really good. I can’t say enough good things about him. Kenny suits this club. He knows everything about it, and the fans know him. It’s positive for the future.

“There is a big difference. It is a different way of playing football. The training sessions are enjoyable. People talk about confidence and it is such a big thing in football because it can change from one day to another. The main change is about being positive. Playing positive football and that’s the biggest difference.”

I’ve just as much love for Agger as anyone else, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point some similar quotes at the beginning of last season. But that was also before Liverpool started fighting out hard-earned losses at home to Wolves and Blackpool, and Agger changed his tune even before the calamitous results turned to pot. As usual with Agger, though, the conversation doesn’t really need to be about anything other than his fitness, which has conspired against him far too many times to worry about whether or not he finds the training ground to be an enjoyable place. Liverpool need him fit and are a far better side when he is, and if he’s able to hit the ground running (or at all) in the 2011-2012 campaign we’ve got reason to be optimistic.

That wraps up another slow Monday that we’ll likely all spend awaiting the imminent arrival of Charlie Adam, so keep your eyes on the Twitter for all the inside news that isn’t true. And thanks again to Matt/LucasLeiva21, who was responsible for our guest post over the weekend. Three weeks running we’ve had excellent contributions, which makes the dull days of summer much more manageable.

Back tomorrow to report news of Charlie Adam’s signing before I turn the wheel back over to Noel midweek, so in the meantime you can rethink your strategy to use your backpack as a tee on the cliffside:

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: International Duty, Premier League, Team News, Transfer News

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lfc80uk

I am hoping as soon as the European transfer window opens, July 1st will
open the floodgates for Liverpool to announce deals for such players as
Honda, Lavezzi, Mata, Turan.

And with every media outlet giving LFC the same tag line of buying
'young English talent' it is starting to become frustrating and very
annoying. Buying only overpriced English players does not seem a sound transfer strategy to me. Especially when these players on previous evidence do not justify their inflated transfer fees for one iota.

I will have to pour copious amounts of Russian imported Vodka down my
gullet for the remainder of the transfer window should we only sign
Adam, Downing and Henderson as our 'attacking' options! Not to mention coping with the notion that one of our best midfielders of last season in Meireles may be sold to facilitate said 'young English talent'.

And remember that you heard it here first, but my sources have informed me that LFC are close to signing Charlie Adam! Keep it under your hat though :S
Suarez from the car park...

shock horror ! Adam to sign for lfc!!!!! Can't believe that's still a headline.

Henderson was bought in advance of the FFP rules so while an indication of future intentions is a bit misleading for txfer activity for the coming season. That's the way to look at it so ignore that one.

I think Adam's role is the old Gerrard role higher up and supporting Suarez/Carroll/Kuyt and cracking the odd shot/free kick. He could be ok for that though obviously he's no Stevie (who is?) or VDV.
Downing isn't as exciting a prospect as Turan/Mata clearly, but may be more realistic. However at his age, I don't think FSG will entertain £19m given their clear indication of transfer policy, so it's possible it won't happen.

1st July brings other targets into play which is clearly what the club is waiting for. Otherwise the Downing deal would have been done by now. So we have to wait on this one.

Chin up - you spill less vodka that way!
lfc80uk

I will give Henderson the benefit of the doubt. However, with the likes of Aqualani and Meireles in an already crowded central midfield, I feel we don't need Adam. Agree with you regarding Downing, £19 no way! He is worth £8-10 million tops. But as you say lets wait and see, as soon as July 1st is upon us!
Aguero anyone ;)
Suarez from the car park...

There's one more angle to Henderson - the home grown quota rule. Yes, I know it's been mentioned, but there's a bit more to say on it.
While people will scramble for youth of a sufficient standard to pad the squad a bit, many teams will need to buy home grown players, particularly 1st team individuals.

If each team needed only 1 more home grown player, that's 20 players of EPL standard required. How many are available that would make a top 4 side? Top sides might even need a couple of signings each from the old country.

We have an awesome selection of home grown youth players now - there's no way that all the EPL sides have that luxury of class players coming through.

Hence there is some urgency for buying English talent just looking at the next couple of years. It's not good planning to just assume it'll be ok - that's when you get forced into signings when you don't want to be. Clearly Hendo ticks many other boxes for FSG/KK aswell.

So that's my take on this purchase. There's method in the madness.
Ryan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Thought I would post that, to add to the Monday randomness.

I'm kinda upset about the Ashley Young thing. Just because I was all for him coming to Liverpool the first time there were rumours...which was 2, 3 seasons ago? Anyways.

No charlie Adam. there.
Suarez from the car park...

Young is good, but he might be a dodged bullet.

A bit one trick, run-cut inside-shoot. He might get found out quite quickly. Of course he might get great coaching at Man Ure....
Suarez from the car park...

The Meireles story is rather depressing. It's a strange story, signing on Ngog type wages for a season, only to find the new owners have no intention to re-neg the pay.
FSG have basically shown that they will spend on promising youth - almost without limit, but once you get to 28, basically it's the wrong point of your playing life to get more money in their eyes - unless perhaps you're the ultimate player.

Hence I see Raul leaving and I can't blame him to be honest while he's getting £60K less than Joe Cole. He doesn't have a huge amount of time left in his playing career, and of course it could end tomorrow.
FSG will sell if necessary as you can realise probably a high fee for the player. add to that noone is going to want the deadwood we have - short of an Aug 31st fire sale, mainly due to the wages they were given by Purlsow/Hodgson.

Lets face it, firstly they don't want to move off those wages and secondly, most of the deadwood are seriously crapola. Juve must still be laughing about Poulsen. There's an expensive few years ahead of us carrying this lot.
Cheekyfellow

Damn...so grim, but true. You never know though, maybe come July 1st there will be a club to offload the players that need out. Probably not.
Suarez from the car park...

I guess if we can shift 2 of them we'll have to consider that a result.

I can't see Poulsen accepting any other contract (wages) - he's just had another kid and knows his top flight football career is over and Xmas came early for him.

Konchesky will want to play - somewhere else, preferably down south. Jova will want to play somewhere so might head out, but most suitors will wait and try to force a firesale, so its going to be long and drawn out.There's always the possibility that Cole comes good with a decent pre-season under the superb SC and KK. We have to hope.There's a small chance that Aqua might end up staying despite his wish to leave. Clubs are clearly waiting for the end of the window and a firesale opportunity, but lfc might put their foot down and tell them to sod off now they've paid the £5m extra (which means essentially giving him away). I think Aqua might even have a decent season under our new management.
Steer clear of Italian signings I would say (sorry, very non-pc).
Mike

Sadly, jonny, you make good sense. Although I'm still not convinced Adam can carry Raul's weight in the midfield. (no irony intended) And there's no way he covers as much pitch. No one did last year...

What stage am I in? A cross between anger and acceptance?
Suarez from the car park...

hi mike.
Yes, it's infuriating isn't it? he's an excellent player and clearly better than Adam, you just can't believe in a summer of building we're talking about a key player leaving!!!

Stuck between Anger and acceptance - great way of putting it.

If you look at the Adam scenario, which I guess we must consider, is he supposed to be a marauding midfielder, going forwards at every opportunity, given that Lucas and Gerrard are to play a more holding role?

Will that work? He's no Van der Vaart, but Carroll, Suarez, Kuyt (plus 1 youth) are the main front men and his job would be to back them up as Gerrard has always done.

It's a frightening thought that someone has to replace Gerrard in that forward role.
Anyhow, too speculative perhaps.
Red2death

I guess it's ok to move a good player on for the right amount, as long as there's a decent replacement. There are lots of instances of players from good clubs being sold in their prime to command a high fee. Ronaldo is one, Berbatov, McManaman, Rush. Torres is another example - if we had waited six more months, would he be worth 50m?

What doesn't work is having owners/dealmakers who are too incompetent/stubborn to sign the identified replacement after the good player has left. eg. Alonso/Barry. Or pretty much the story of every season during Rafa's reign. In that respect, FSG/Comolli still have to prove themselves better than Laurel & Hardy.

We'll miss Raul for sure, but for 15m plus a bit more, he can be replaced.
Justin

Is anyone else getting increasingly depressed at the speed by which ManUre keeps signing players, while Liverpool seems to be stuck in this deadlock between old, useless, and overpaid talent that doesn't want to leave because of their lucrative contracts and Charlie Adam?
Geza

yep, depressing news...or lack of news... I am getting particularly annoyed about the Meireles story like most folks on this blog... And btw sending Jonjo to the Championship for a year won't do him or LFC any good in the short or long term.
Red2death

Maybe on July 1 we'll finally announce five fantastic deals for Mata and Hazard and 3 future Messis that have already been done but just not made public yet - because that's the 'Liverpool way' of doing things.

Or maybe we'll just have Adam. Even if he's entirely unimpressive now, hopefully he turns out to be the next Lucas and not Kenny's version of Poulsen.

Anyway, back to watching paint dry...
Russell

Believe it or not there was a guy on twitter who was claiming to be an ITK to prove a point to LFC fans and his story was that we would be signing Mata, Cissokho, Sakho, and Javier Martinez on July 1st. And guess what, people believed him.
prad

I've been wishfully thinking the same thing. Hopefully, when July arrives, we announce a couple of fantastic signings.

And hopefully once July arrives I won't have to wake up every morning dreading to learn that Charlie Adam is now an LFC player. Because either he already will be, or because the rumours will have moved on to the continental players.
Ed

Eh, sort of---with two of their three so far we've been led to believe that Liverpool were in the hunt, and while we could look at it as losing out, I don't know that I'd have been overwhelmed had either Young or Jones arrived. Factor in that the De Gea move was in the works for a long time, and I don't know that I'm too concerned.

Unless, of course, Charlie Adam signs today.