Diouf, Diao, Dzagoev & The Poborský Effect

In the past twenty years, football has become an even more global game by bringing the world to our doorstep.  Once upon a time the greatest players on the planet only ever played against each other in major international tournaments, now we can see them every other week in the Champions League.  The pool from which teams could draw upon to find people is deeper now than it has ever been due to vast expansions in worldwide scouting.  Up until the 1980s, Liverpool only ever flirted with talent that wasn't from these shores.  Hugh Lester was a twenty something American when he became the first overseas player to play for Liverpool in 1912, his career spanned only two games.  Throughout the century, a handful of South African exports plied their trade at Anfield, most notably one Gordon Hodgson who went on to score over two hundred goals (241) for Liverpool, placing him in the all time goalscoring charts above the likes of Kenny Dalglish and Robbie Fowler.  It wasn't until the arrival of 1980s that Liverpool began to cast an eye upon the wider world, having all but conquered things domestically.  Avi Cohen (signed late 1979), Craig Johnston, Bruce Grobbelar, Glenn Hysen and Jan Mølby became household names up and down the country, let alone on Merseyside.  Liverpool had opened it's door to the world, a door that would never be closed again.

A decade later and the foreign revolution was in full swing, what with money being readily available and often they being a cheaper alternative to their English counterpart.  Unfortunately that led to some more than questionable signings.  Stig Inge Bjørnebye fared better than Istvan Kozma and Torben Piechnik, mostly because even Charlie Adam looked like a decent bit of business compared to those two.  The less said about Sean Dundee, the better.  Fast forward to the mid nineties and we are now looking to the wider world as a way of keeping up with Manchester United, as opposed to setting the pace ourselves.  Gérard Houllier, Liverpool's first ever foreign born manager was the man to be set that task.  With him came Sami Hyypiä, Dietmar Hamann and Jerzy Dudek, players who would go on to join the likes of Grobbelar and Mølby.  The Anfield trophy cabinet was getting stocked again on a regular basis.  By the arrival of the 2002-03 season, Liverpool - on the back of finishing as runner up the season prior - were in buoyant mood of finally ending their wait for a nineteenth league title.  That's where El-Hadji Diouf and Salif Diao come in.

Karel Poborský will forever been known in his homeland for lobbing the ball over Vítor Baía in their quarter final match of Euro 96.  He wowed onlookers to the point where clubs all over Europe were vying for his signature, Liverpool included.  Manchester United were the team that managed to get his signature and he arrived at Old Trafford amidst a wave of hype and expectation.  Hype he could never live up to and expectations he had no chance of matching.  Two years and a mere thirty three appearances later Poborský and Manchester United moved on, both trying to forget it ever happened.  This is most often cited as an example of why teams should not buy players on the basis of having had a good international tournament.  Karel has - somewhat unfortunately - become the poster child for the caution one must heed with those who appear to be a lot better than their record would suggest, it happened before then (Piechnik's performances in the 92 European Championships will have done a lot to persuade Souness to go and get him) and since.  But for all that was wrong with Diouf and Diao, one of them was signed before the World Cup had started and the other played all of one game before Liverpool acquired his signature.  

A lot has been written about Salif Diao, most of it includes any number of profanities. “With Salif, I knew after a week of training that he wasn’t going to be good enough,” said Steven Gerrard in his autobiography, a frighteningly accurate statement from the Liverpool captain who no doubt will have been as frustrated as anyone with the club so close to where it wanted to be.  Players who are lacking in ability are fairly blameless.  It is not they who asked to be put forth in the spotlight in such a way, for even those who have the talent to thrive in such an atmosphere wilt under the pressure.  What really separates a flop from someone who isn't fit to wear the shirt is attitude.  Liverpool requires it's players to carry themselves in a certain way, perhaps more so than many others.  Which is why the image of him trying to get his hands on the European Cup when he had spent the last few months on loan at Birmingham City stands out the more than any of his failures on the pitch.  

Even more baffling than some of the mind boggling performances Diao put forth on the pitch will have been the reasons behind his transfer in the first place.  He agreed terms to come to Anfield on May 27th 2002, four days before Senegal opened the World Cup with a shock victory over the holders France so it wasn't as if the scouts at Liverpool had been collectively bamboozled by a one off performance.  A few days later in Daegu saw the best and worst of Salif Diao.  Scoring arguably the goal of the tournament and then being sent off in the final ten minutes.  At the very least Houllier would have saved himself a few million, as this would no doubt have added to his transfer fee, had he indeed signed the midfielder post World Cup as is erroneously believed to be the case.  That he has still managed to carve himself out a career in the Premier League suggests that there was always some talent there but that tactics needed to suit in order to coax it out.  In that sense Stoke and Diao are a match made in heaven and to a lesser degree could have worked at Liverpool.  But not at the expense of Steven Gerrard, Didi Hamann, Gary McAllister, Danny Murphy, Nick Barmby or Patrik Berger.  Liverpool had an abundance of central midfielders at the time, signing another one would be a glaring case of ignoring what problems did exist in terms of chance creation.  After his illness, Gérard Houllier went to his default setting of buying from Ligue 1 and got found wanting.  Unfortunately he would not be finished.

Going through the list of players that have worn the Liverbird upon their chest over the years, it's hard to find anybody worse than El Hadji Diouf.  There have been players that came and went who had nowhere near his ability but his conduct was so far below what you'd expect from anyone in terms of representing the club, let alone a paid employee.  After lighting up the world stage with his performance against France on May 31st, the BBC announced his signing for the reds the following day.  It's possible that Houllier could have been watching his countrymen fall at the hands of this nation of seemingly untapped potential, while simultaneously patting himself on the back for signing Salif Diao prior to the tournament when it occurred to him to sign Diouf aswell.  With that, Gerard instantly reached for the chequebook and somehow managed to get all the necessary paperwork completed within a few hours.  A far more likely scenario is that everything had been sorted prior to the tournament and after the opening game Liverpool wanted to prevent anyone from coming in at the last minute and complicating matters.  Whereas Diao was lacking the talent to be a success at Liverpool, Diouf had all that and more.  More came in the form of an attitude that made Didier Drogba and John Terry look wholesome.  

Trying to make sense of the Diouf transfer is a little like trying to barter with Freddy Krueger, except that Diouf has given me more nightmares.  Choosing him ahead of Nicolas Anelka appeared baffling at the time but this was the tipping point in terms of Houllier's decision making with regard to signings.  He'd not really got one wrong up until then, unfortunately this one backfired spectacularly.  Having said that, if you discount the goals scored by Anelka in the last ten games of the season, Liverpool still managed to hit the back of the net nineteen times.  Houllier could have been forgiven for thinking that we needed more of an unknown quantity in terms of opening up defences or someone to cut inside and cause a threat.  Signed as a goalscorer - if that was indeed the case - Diouf was a bust from the get go.  He was hardly prolific, having only managed nineteen goals in ninety eight games during his time in France.  There's also the fact that Gérard Houllier was a massive disciplinarian and taking a chance on such an impetuous footballer smacks of either desperation or a gross overestimation on his part to either coach the goals into him or the demons out of him.  He may also not have liked the idea of breaking up the Heskey/Owen partnership with there being very little chance of Anelka being happy on the bench.  Fitting him into the side wasn't the issue, it's what he'd do off the pitch - and sometimes even on it - that made Diouf one of the worst pieces of business Liverpool have ever done.

This time next week the Euros will be over and the teams will begin their annual shopping sprees, highlighted by those names and faces that are on now at the forefront of our minds that would a few weeks ago was nothing more than a spectre.  Dzagoev, Mandžukić and Pilař have seen their respective reputations enhanced to a level that they would have only dreamt of prior to the tournament.  Do the lessons learnt from Diouf and Diao mean that these players should be avoided at all costs because they now represented an inflated sense of worth? Yes and no.  Because of how much money is involved in the game these days, success and those players that will bring it mean that scouring all over the globe has become a necessity.  In terms of finding the right player, there is no stone to be left unturned and as such if a team wanted to buy Alan Dzagoev for example then this tournament would only confirm what they already know about the player, not that nobody had ever heard of him before Euro 2012.  The idea also that any club would be willing to pay over the odds for a player based on the strength of a handful of games is naive bordering on lunacy.  Many teams in the Euros play little over three or four games, to underline how small a sample size that is, three games into the Premier League season, Wolves were sat third.  

Buying players - whether they've had a good tournament or not - is a risk.  A team like Manchester City - or Manchester United during the nineties - can ignore almost any advice and take a chance with a Poborský like signing, if only to prevent him from being successful in a rival team.  Real Madrid it could be argued have done this with Özil and Khadira after the World Cup in South Africa with the gamble seeming to have paid off.  For everyone else it's about knowing as much about the player as possible and even then hoping for the best.  At the top level of European football, it's unlikely there are ever any genuine unknown talents to break through in any tournament and that those that were previously low profile players will have done nothing more than add a couple of zeros to their value.In this age of information and the influence of the internet over all aspects of society - let alone football - mean that even the most casual of fan can become somewhat knowledgeable on all aspects of the game.  One of the reasons it's harder for these players to come into a team is because they lose part of what made them successful in the first place, that element of surprise.  Expectation weighs heavily upon certain people and that somebody can instantly go from being a high profile player in an international side built around them is too big a leap for many people to hurdle.  Despite the lack of empathy toward the England national team, a lot of players around the world are still as motivated as to play for their country, something which might be lacking - or at least not on the same level - when it comes to having garnered your big money transfer following on from that.

From the outset, it does not appear as if Brendan Rodgers will be using the European Championships as an excuse to spend some money.  The players we are being linked with (Sigurðsson, Rodriguez, Borini, Tello and Adam Johnson) are all either players he has worked with in the past or talented prospects that are unable to force their way into the superstar teams they play for and as such may be more affordable.  No doubt that certain stars of this tournament will find themselves in new cities and with new challenges in the coming season.  Whether they work out or not is not down to the fact that they're playing well now.  The so called "Poborský Effect" may have carried some weight sixteen years ago but with the changing face of football the way it is, only the rich can even afford to take that chance.  Gérard Houllier made a massive mistake in signing Diouf and Diao but they were not caused by what Senegal achieved on the world stage.  They are mistakes Liverpool cannot afford to make again.

Forgive and Forget: A Tale of Two Strikers

The marriage of player and fan is rarely a happy one.  Before the ink on the contract is even dry, people all over the world have pinned their hopes and dreams on someone they're not ever likely to meet.  While clubs reward talent with obscene sums of money, it is the love and support of the fans that cement the legacy of a professional footballer.  For example; Dirk Kuyt has the same number of winners medals with Liverpool as El-Hadji Diouf, who meant more to the club?  In return for our devotion, their duty is to step out over the white line and do the things we don't have the talent for, with the minimum requirement that they put in the same kind of commitment to the cause that we do.  It's not an arrangement that most of them can adhere to.

Ending a relationship can be very painful.  The spark that first united tends to either fizzle out or explode.  When something that was seen as a promising partnership dissolves into nothing, while unpleasant can be very easily rationalised.  It's the ones that were taken close to heart that leave the biggest emotional damage.  With whom we placed out trust and believed - with no real foundation - that they would never hurt us.  Two such cases spring immediately to mind.  Similar in name, nationality and position.  Everything else about them - and their time at Liverpool - is at opposite ends of the spectrum.  They are Fernando Morientes and Fernando Torres.

Heroes on different sides of the same city, Torres and Morientes both rose to prominence in Madrid.  Whereas the one they called El Niño was a fully fledged product of the Atletico youth academy and the one to whom everybody looked toward, Morientes was a fairly modest acquisition - 6.6 million euros in the summer of 97 - from Real Zaragoza bought with the intention of being nothing more than a back up striker.  Despite occupying the same space on the field, their on field play is far removed from each other.  Torres' best form has been as a result of a team suited to play through him - unlike Morientes who was always cast in a supporting role.

They arrived at Anfield under different circumstances and at separate stages of their careers.  One arrived as a star of world football - albeit a faded one - with all the medals to prove it.  The other was an incredible prospect but also an expensive gamble, a risk many teams had decided against taking.  In addition to everything else, their fortunes at Liverpool contrasted dramatically.  Torres dazzled while Morientes couldn't quite match the heights he'd reached previously.  In the end, both of them have reasons to be unhappy with the way things ended up.  While neither of them became heroes, one of them became a villain.

If it's possible to comprehend, twelve years ago Real Madrid were even more untouchable than they are now.  The Galácticos - even as a concept - were a world away from the chaos of Roy Evans and the functionality of Gérard Houllier that followed it. Steve McManaman's transfer over there was one of bemusement rather than contempt - after all - nobody could turn down the chance to play in that team.  Despite assembling a team made up from the best players around the world - and Macca - there still remained a Spanish focal point within the team; Raúl and Morientes.  While the former was far and away the heart and soul of Real Madrid, Morientes played his part in what was one of the best tandem strike partnerships of the last twenty years.


The fans loved him but he was no Galáctico. Players came in to replace him on a yearly basis.  Still he remained loyal to the team even though never being at the forefront of either the manager or the directors plans and in the process added to his incredible medal collection, ending his stay at the Bernabéu with a total of three European Cups and two La Liga Titles among others.  After being sent away to France he would eventually get one over on those that had looked him over by knocking them out of the Champions League in 2004 while on loan at Monaco.  After returning to Madrid, there was another striker to be found that had been bought in his absence; Michael Owen.  Little did he know that it would not be long before he was to go the other way.

With six months of the season still to go and an ever worsening striker crisis, getting somebody in of the quality of Morientes was a coup.  Slightly past his peak, that didn't change the fact that his game was seemingly perfectly suited to the Premier League with his strength and heading ability as well as a magnitude of experience having played at the highest level in Spain for so long.  His first goal arrived almost a month later, grabbing the equaliser goal in a comeback victory over Charlton.  Though it took a while in coming, it had all the hallmarks of a striker who had been among the very elite.  Taking the ball outside the box, skillfully dragging it past the defender and then smashing it beyond the keeper from the edge of the box.  The hope was that it would be the first of many.  It wasn't.

Four months after the arrival of Morientes came Champions League glory in Istanbul.  Had he not been cup tied and subsequently been anything other than a spectator that night, his place in Anfield folklore would be assured.  He would have his part to play in the FA Cup success a year later but would be overshadowed - as with everybody else - by one Steven Gerrard.  That summer saw a return to Spain for the original Nando, to Valencia where he would forge another partnership with one of their young prodigal talents, this time it was David Villa in place of Raúl.  The overall feeling of Morientes' fifteen months at Anfield was one of disappointment.  He seemed to have everything that was needed to succeed over here and the sheer mystification over why he did not faded him into obscurity inside many Liverpool fans minds.  There was no ill will there whatsoever, sometimes you have to just accept when things aren't meant to be and move on.  Having said that - even when it does seem like it's meant to be - things don't always work out.

Twelve months after one Spanish striker left Merseyside, another came in.  This was a younger, flashier model than the Fernando that Liverpool had sold on to Valencia.  Fresh faced, rosy cheeked and eager to incorporate his ever growing talent to the Rafa Revolution, Torres was every bit the marquee signing that had fans drooling with anticipation.  He was not a member of Real Madrid's exclusive club but a boy who at times alone carried the weight of ambition from his hometown club, much like Steven Gerrard.  Torres and Liverpool was like a whirlwind romance and Anfield fell in love with him faster than he could get around Tal Ben Haim.  He would very quickly go on to be regarded as among the best strikers in world football.  There appeared to be no limit to the heights he could take the club.  The fall would be just as great.

A partnership formed as records tumbled and debt mounted.  On the back of yet another successful tournament for Torres and Spain, Liverpool would embark on a campaign that would see them as agonisingly close to the title as ever before.  Missing out by just four points having lost only two games, it was an opportunity lost.  With things at boardroom level now worse than ever, it was only a matter of time before things went sour on the pitch.  Seventh place the following season would see Rafael Benítez depart as manager of Liverpool and in his place was a man incredibly out of his depth.  Injuries - by now - had taken their tole on Torres, with every international break that passed being the cue for another problem with the star striker.  Broken down and incredibly isolated by the inept tactics of Hodgson, salvation came in the form of Kenny Dalglish and a change in ownership.  No longer would the club have to sell in order to buy.  Three goals in three games under Dalglish and with the prospect of playing with Luis Suarez looming on the horizon things were looking up for Liverpool and Torres.  Then he did the unthinkable.

Many people see Manchester United as the antyhsis of everything Liverpool stand for.  At least we both have tradition in common.  In the modern era, Liverpool and Chelsea are a much better fit as nemesis to one another.  What began with Abramovic taking over was only accelerated by the personalities of Mourinho and Benítez.  The continual - seemingly annual - engagements in the Champions League only harboured that ill feeling long after the self proclaimed "Special One" had left Stamford Bridge.  In dealing with Hicks & Gillette that rivalry was forced to take a back burner as we got our own house in order.  Once that arduous process was completed there was one final insult left to add.  Torres had turned blue.

The fact that it was Chelsea rankled, but it hurt more to know that Torres was just another in a long line of those players who say one thing and do another.  His goals made us cheer but it was the boy himself to whom Liverpool took to heart.  His quotes about the city and Liverpool fans, were in the end nothing more than a well executed PR exercise.  It hurts because of the fact that there was this perception that Torres was more than just a modern footballer.  That he would go to Chelsea and embrace that club in much the same manner as he did Liverpool - despite the way they will have reacted to him during his time as a red - feels hollow and empty.  That his goals dried up or whether he comes back to form is inconsequential.  Torres chose to walk alone.

There are a plethora of reasons why transfers don't work out in football.  In many cases it's simply a case of the player in question not being good enough - either physically or mentally - to do the job.  Part of the reason why we love the beautiful game is because it's one with an infinite number of possibilities and they sometimes involve the unexpected.  Even when things do go according to plan the world of football is such that circumstances - even people - can change overnight.  Should we then not try?  Not open ourselves up to sharing their professional moments and our personal moments of joy for fear of eventually being hurt, or that they will fail us?  Life is all about taking chances, whether it's five yards out with an open goal or opening our hearts to someone.  With some it's love at first sight.  Others take a while to get used to.   A few don't work out at all. Plenty more fish in the sea.

Making A Case For The Defence

"You stay back". They are the words every child hates to hear. Being told to defend is the footballing equivalent of sitting in at home while your friends got to have all the fun up front. At fault for seemingly everything that went wrong and never quite given enough credit whatever went right - it was always much more fun to laugh at the misfortunes of the opposition striker - it's a wonder anybody grows up and wants to be a defender. On pitches all up and down the country, our first introduction into the role of a defender is nothing more than those silhouette like frames they put in front of goal to replicate a wall during training. You're an obstacle to be gotten around, a spoiler, somebody who wasn't talented enough to score the goals that everyone loves. At least goalkeepers get to use their hands.

Twelve months of frustration and false dawns. Crossbars, cup runs and Coates' goal at QPR all combined to lay out a path that made us smile, but all too briefly. Of all the problems we had last season - which grew to pandemic proportions as the season stuttered to a close - the defence for the most part anyway, was not one of them. Liverpool conceded only fourteen league goals in the first half of the season. That's including the four goal horror show at White Hart Lane. It would be easy - and also true to some degree - to point out that the absence of Lucas protecting the back four as the season went on contributed to what became a torrid league campaign but there were other factors at hand. Before we take a look at each player individually, let's have a look at the defence as a whole.

Consistency is more than just a byword when it comes to the art of defending and even though - José Enrique apart - everyone is more than comfortable and used to each other it's more to do with partnerships all across the park. Toward the back end of the season - a completely understandable - rotation set in and as such a lot of chopping and changing came in toward the latter part of April, to the point where a stretch of five games saw nine different defenders used and no two line ups the same. It could also be argued that our failures in front of goal contributed to our increased fragility at the back, purely in the sense that there was added pressure to keep things tight while we struggled to score ourselves. Collectively I think it's fair to say that defensively we were solid enough save for one or two lapses of concentration (QPR, West Brom). As a group they pass the test. How do they do individually, and what roles do they have to play in the future?

Jamie Carragher

Our opinionated vice captain was not so long ago enjoying god-like status. No more. The body that made him one of the best defenders in Europe for a period (2005-07) has long gone. Now his mere inclusion in the line up is more likely to induce groans than confidence. I love Jamie Carragher. His name is on the back of my lucky shirt and was also the nickname I was given for years playing five a side football (it was endearing, honest) but as Liverpool Football Club moves forward he must realise that his time is up. It feels horrible that I would ever grow to dislike the man, almost betrayal even on a subconscious level, but things like hearing him talk about Rafa leave a very sour taste in my mouth. His playing time will be severely restricted next season, not least of all because he fits in with Rodgers' tactics about as well as I fit in with a group of South American drag artists. Having said that, I have no doubt that both his experience and passion for the club would make sure he would answer the call if required.

Jon Flanagan

After a couple of incredible filled to the brim with promise when Kenny returned at the back end of last season, this year was very difficult. Took a lot of flack on the opening day of the season for Seb Larsson's equaliser and was taken out of the firing line until the needs of the squad called for it as FA Cup duty took precedence over the league. Even then, there was still time for a real nightmare against Blackburn, during which he should probably have seen red. It's amazing how when you first come into the side and nobody expects anything someone can become a legend overnight, unfortunately the fall is just as fast - maybe even faster for a defender. Taking everything into account it's very possible we have a decent player on our hands but we have to handle him carefully. Loaning him out would certainly be an option but if we are going to adopt a certain style right throughout, maybe his football development might be better off right here with the added bonus of knowing he has first team experience if necessary.

Danny Wilson 
Short of anybody who frequented Rangers in 2009/10 or a regular viewer of the Liverpool reserves, it's really hard to make any kind of judgement about Wilson. There is a danger with the suggestion that he's been in and around the club now long enough to have made some kind of impact but I think Rodgers will at the very least give him a chance. He's a capped international and has fledgling experience at a lower level (sorry Rangers fans, although I'm sure you've got bigger things to be worrying about) so with that in mind given the schedule we're likely to be playing this year I see no harm in having a player like this around. The most likely scenario is a loan to a Championship club with Blackpool again being the likely candidate.

Glen Johnson
Theseus and the Minotaur. Jason and the Argonauts. Glen Johnson can't defend. I don't know which one of those is you're favourite myth but I do enjoy tales of fantasy nonetheless. Has had a rough year through injury but of the twenty three league games he did manage this season, we conceded eighteen goals and had nine clean sheets in that time. Our best football does seem to coincide with Glen being on the pitch as he contributes on both ends. I would like to see him get to the byline a little more but that's something that could be said of all our wide players - the few we do have.

José Enrique
Two days passed between Newcastle announcing we had agreed a fee and his debut at Anfield. He looked like he'd been in the team for years. For the first few months he was our best piece of business. With no real cover for him other than to play Glen Johnson out of position, it's no surprise that as games went on he looked visibly tired compared to his early season performances. Despite the fact that his tenancies to try and play the ball out from defence caught him out a few times, it's something I think will fit the style we're likely to play this season. Costing comparatively little for the talent we have and the fact that it was his first season, I think he did very well. Needs some help though.

Sebastián Coates
Despite my affinity for defenders, I can't ever remember being that excited by one. Even the iconic big Finn Sami Hyypiä came to us with minimal fanfare. Having grown an attachment to watching Uruguay for all their attacking prowess, I did get to see Coates play in the Copa America. At the moment he is incredibly talented, albeit somewhat raw as a defender. You never want for anybody to get injured during the course of a season, it's a natural occurrence however hence why it's a squad game. Maybe I'm expecting too much for him to be the direct cover for Agger or Škrtel but I'm chomping on the bit to see him play. It will be very interesting to see how he fits into our style of play under Rodgers.

Jack Robinson
Cautious though I may be to over hype or put any undue expectation on someone so young, it's still very hard to shake his debut performance from my mind. To be thrown in at the Emirates against Theo Walcott, I can imagine there would have been some players who would have walked off the pitch and straight into an asylum such was their torment. The hunger for first team football may urge him to look for a loan move but I'd want him in and around the squad as much as possible. Given the demands of Thursday-Sunday football that we're going to have this season as well as any additional cup games - along with Flanagan - is likely to feature a lot more next year.

Martin Kelly
There's something to be said for consistency. Being able to perform not necessarily at the highest level but still doing everything right on a regular basis. Kelly has barely put a foot wrong since coming into the side and is very unfortunate to be behind anyone in the pecking order as when he gets into the team looks very hard to dislodge on merit. Whether or not he ends up playing out wide or in the middle - something that at least needs to be tried - is open to debate. He is right now for me our next in line if anybody goes down injured. My only hope is that he comes home from Euro 2012 a better player for having the experience of being with an international squad in a tournament like this, rather than a scapegoat for a team full of excuses.

Martin Škrtel and Daniel Agger: The Monster and The Maestro

I put these two together because that's where they belong. Everybody knows that Agger is class. If it wasn't for injuries I genuinely think he'd be in the top five defenders worldwide. Having him in the side is like taking Valium before boarding a plane, you just feel so much more relaxed. His assurance, accuracy of passing and all around ability on the ball is something more befitting a midfielder, with one hell of a powerful shot on top of all that. Pretty much the complete package for a defender, he will fit into our new way of playing perfectly with Brendan loving defenders who are comfortable on the ball. Finally we come to the final piece of the jigsaw. Liverpool Football Club's player of the year. Harder than a diamond Chuck Norris. Martin Škrtel. It's been something of a bumpy ride for our skinheaded Slovakian over the last few years. In a rich vein of form before a horrific cruciate injury at Man City, he was then knocked out by Carra on the opening day of the following season and it looked like he'd never get back to anything like his best. This year he's been a one man wrecking crew. Not withstanding, there is still that tendency to lunge into tackles he can't possibly win which leads to unnecessary free kicks but other than that he was more than deserving of the award. Don't believe me? Watch this

Outlined magnificently in this article here, we perhaps have the blueprint for our future. We are moving into an age where set positions are becoming less rigid all the time and as such if this is the way in which Rodgers will be setting up then we certainly have the players capable of fitting that mould. Agger we know is immaculate in possession and Skrtel on occasions has shown to be more than capable of striding forward with the ball. Johnson and Enrique will have a heavy burden placed upon them as it appears the wide players will have a heavy workload but both are quick and athletic so that shouldn't be a problem. It's important to note that while we may be looking to emulate the way in which Rodgers got his Swansea team to perform, because of what we want to challenge for we must outperform them in certain areas. One that has become key in recent seasons for any side wishing to finish high up in the table is not one that may immediately spring to mind. Goalscoring.

We ask a lot of our footballers these days. Forwards must track back, provide and score goals. The midfield should possess the unique ability of being in two different places at once, helping out at both ends of the pitch. Once upon a time it was considered useful if somebody was able to assist in areas other than their own, now it's become a necessity. At the very highest level it doesn't matter how good the player is, he must be able to do it all. As the game has moved forward in this respect so has what's been required of our defenders. Very much based around utilizing all aspects of the squad, as crazy as it sounds the defence now needs to chip in with a certain amount goals itself.  Swansea only managed to combine one goal from the seven players that played in defence for them last year and that's fine because they were only looking for survival.  If we are to push forward however - and we aren't lacking in players with the capablities of doing so - then our back four need to find the net more often.

In the nineties, goalscoring defenders came in one mould. South American who were more concerned about scoring than preventing. To some extent that's still true but as with everyone else, they've improved on that aspect also - Dani Alves being the rightful heir to Cafu's throne. The other stereotype was a burly centre half who would take full advantage of his size on set peices. Again that type of player is more prevalent than ever, to the point where Ryan Shawcross averages a goal every ten games. They're not just big lumps anymore however, Vertonghen and Vermalen both examples of players who affect the play dramatically on both ends of the pitch. Taking the Arsenal centre half as an example, he scored as many goals last season in the league as Torres, Ashley Young, David Silva and one more than Nasri, Drogba and Steven Gerrard. The difference this can have cannot be understated. Below are two tables. The first shows the amount of clean sheets in a season between the champions, those that finished fourth and Liverpool. Secondly is a table showing the amount of goals from the back. You'll notice that there appears to be no real difference in terms of clean sheets but a distinct line in terms goalscoring and where you end up. Even for defenders, it's all about sticking the ball in the net.

While the rest of the side may be open to various changes, there appears to be very little that needs changing at the back.  I would rate our best defence (Johnson-Škrtel-Agger-Enrique) as one of the more watertight in the league who are capable of contributing enough for us further up the field aswell.  Added to this the talent we have in reserve (Kelly & Coates) as well as those coming through (Robinson & Flanagan) it's hard to see anybody else coming into that.  Despite that, there is a chance we may be in the market for a left back as with Aurelio's departure we have no real cover for José Enrique.  Unless a player became available at the right price then it's very unlikely we'll be doing any buisness as it's not that high of a priority.  The right peices appear to be in place.  It remains to be seen what we do with them.

Brendan Rodgers: Reading Between The Lines

The journey of life is one of self improvement. That constant strive toward bettering oneself, with no real end in sight. Perfection as a concept may be unattainable and yet because it's relative it has become no more than a stock phrase.  Not a ninety minutes passes without someone executing what is decscribed as the perfect through ball.  More often than not the striker misses, or hits the post if it's Liverpool.  These are all notions defined by us and can be as diverse and contradictory as we are. Everybody makes mistakes.  In no other industry however are those mistakes held against you quite so personally as the world professional sport. Just ask any referee.

While most people of his age were acquainting themselves with the local Weatherspoons, Brendan Rodgers was coaching the Reading youth team at just twenty three. Determined to scale the heights as a coach that he was never able to as a player, he left for Chelsea in 2005 and built upon his tag as one of Britain's best up and coming coaches by studying abroad. His first real crack at management came at Watford and after a difficult introduction into the life of a football manager - winning only two of his first ten - Rodgers found a way to turn it around and ended the season in thirteenth place. It was then that the opportunity of a lifetime came along. To go back to the club he had been with fleetingly as a player and who had enabled him to cut his teeth as a coach. "Brendan is the perfect fit for Reading Football Club," said Reading chairman John Madejski upon his appointment in June of 2009. So what went wrong?

The numbers read like a Stephen King novel. Eleven defeats in twenty three league games. Five victories over the course of nearly two hundred days in charge and only one of those at home. To put that number into perspective, Roy Hodgson had five wins at home during his time in charge of Liverpool - and he had a few days less than Rodgers. Before anyone starts to panic however, remember one thing. Stats only told half the story. It wasn't just about the wins and losses for the soon to be harangued England manager, it was his entire demeanour. The same is true of our current manager, in that as soon as you start to scratch the surface it becomes very clear that the numbers are as misleading as a quote from Dave Whelan.

First of all, let's take a look as a whole at the state of Reading Football Club when Brendan Rodgers arrived. They had finished six points off automatic promotion play-offs in fourth place and scored the joint second most goals in the Championship, a more than reasonable platform for someone to build upon. Top scorer Kevin Doyle and veteran goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann both went to Wolves shortly after his arrival and they would be followed shortly after by Stephen Hunt. André Bikey, former captain Graeme Murty and Leroy Lita would also leave the club that summer but of the three only Bikey was finding regular playing time during Steve Coppell's final season. Money to bring in new recruits was in short supply with Reading opting to use their parachute payment the season prior in retaining most of it's Premier League squad. If he was going to meet the demands - which sounds a little harsh but there will have been given expectation - of promotion then he needed to hit the ground running. That didn't happen.

Despite having his hands tied by a high wage bill, Brendan was active in the transfer market. Matt Mills came in for two million, Jobi McAnuff for three hundred thousand and players like Grzegorz Rasiak, Brian Howard and Ryan Bertrand came in on loan. It appears that what Rodgers had on his hands was a team trying to balance the expectations of gunning for promotion while trying to cut back some of the money in failing to do so previously. In addition to this he will have seen first hand the young talent we now know existed at Reading at the time. Both Alex Pearce and Adam Federici played during Rodger's tenure and were also vital parts of the team that has just won promotion, the latter having gone on to becoming Mark Schwarzer's back up for Australia. Also, let's not forget one Glyfi Sigurdsson who we may be seeing an awful lot of very soon. This talented bunch of youngsters coupled with a management style based with intensive attacking football had the potential to light up the Championship. Unfortunately for them, it was "sink or swim" football and they weren't quite ready for it yet.

By late October, Reading were in the midst of a four game losing streak that saw them in the relegation zone. Their form picked up, taking ten points from their next five games but another three games without a win saw Brendan Rodgers leave the club on the 16th of December. He wasn't necessarily the wrong man but it was certainly the wrong time - both for he and the Royals. Going back to a more direct style of football suited them and given what's happened since nobody can really say that it was a bad decision for either party but it did appear that he may have turned the corner. Six months passed and the once golden child of British coaching - touched by the hand of Mourinho himself - found that he was left with a seemingly immovable stain on his record. When the Swansea job became available after Paulo Sousa's departure he wasn't on anybody's list of top candidates, including the chairman Huw Jenkins. Paul Tisdale, Gareth Southgate, Gary Speed and even Graeme Jones were all considered for the job but for one reason or another didn't end up at the Liberty Stadium. This time he had a point to prove.

Given a twelve month rolling contract as opposed to the implied security of the three year deal Rodgers was given at Reading, there wasn't much time for reinventing the wheel. It's naturally assumed that what happened at Swansea was a case of adding the finishing touches to Martinez's work but again there's a little more to it than that. Though they achieved their highest ever finish for over a quarter of a century, the style of football didn't exactly endear himself to the Swansea faithful. Missing out on the play-offs wasn't so much heartbreak as it was frustration. They had been in either forth or fifth from December until late April and were defensively very solid but simply couldn't find the net, especially at home where the Swans ended up scoring only twenty one goals in twenty three games. Remind you of anyone?

What's noticeable - even before a ball was kicked - is the absence of a big money transfer. Championship clubs often walk a fine line with their finances and have to make do with free transfers. Not having a war chest ready for an assault on promotion, if things were going to work then it was clear he would have to be a lot more savvy than at The Madjeski. For one reason or another having spent two million bringing Matt Mills to Reading from Doncaster, Rodgers only played the defender seven times. This time around money was going to be a lot more scarce and there would be no room for gambling. With that in mind, it's not too hard to understand why he went looking where he did. Enter Scott Sinclair.

When things eventually got under way, results were mixed. After the heartbreak of the previous year coupled with the club having it's third manager in two years, nobody could have expected what was about to happen. Although Swansea lost three of their first six, they would then go on to lose just one of ten. It would take Rodgers just fourteen games to eclipse his points tally at Reading as everything seemed to come together. One thing that's very clear is that the rotation was a lot tighter, employing just fourteen different starting players over the first five games (as opposed to nineteen with Reading). In fact, eight of the starting eleven that began game number one played all five. There was also one massive difference between the team he had and the one he had left. Swansea's team may have been filled with young potential, but it was also much more experienced. Players from lower league clubs who had been plying their trade from an early age and were hungry to climb the ladder. Sinclair for instance was 21 when the season started and he had already wracked up seventy two appearances. Nathan Dyer was a year older and had over a hundred. To illustrate both these points, I've taken the top ten most used players from both teams and sorted them by their age when Rodgers first had them and also the games they had been a part of up until that point. Swansea's team collectively was just over a year older and on average had played more than forty games more than their Reading counterparts. Inexperience cost him at the Madejski but this time Brendan was able to put together a young team that was not only physically suited to playing his style of football but one that had the know how to implement it.

Last year we looked on in envy. Like a child with it's head pressed up against the glass of a toy store window just before Christmas, Brendan Rodgers was on everyone's list. Now that we've opened the wrapping paper, we should be careful not to discard or break him. The idea that we've all got out knives out and are collective waiting - willing - him to fail is about as laughable as it is inaccurate. It's important not to get carried away too much in either direction at the moment, neither calls of crisis nor mindless grandstanding will do him any favours regardless of results. Patience is the one word everyone is tired of hearing because it's the only one worth saying. Rodgers will save his words for the training ground. The strive for perfection continues.

Luis Suárez: Playing In The Shadows

Uruguay. A nation whose motto literally translated means "freedom or death" with a population half that of the city of London. Oscar Tabárez - manager of the national team - before their semi final against Holland two years ago remarked that most nations have more footballers than they have people. Despite their modest size they have made an indelible mark on the face of football, winning their first two World Cups - having boycotted the two in between their victories in 1930 and 1950 - as well as a record fifteen Copa America titles. On the global stage they appeared to be something of a fallen empire to be laid to rest alongside Hungary and not likely to ever be relevant again. That has all changed in recent years as a new dawn appears to be on the horizon for La Celeste (The Sky Blue). Their success in South Africa was built on the solidity of Lugano, Diego Perez and the incredible goal scoring form of one Diego Forlan. In amongst that they had a crop of raw talented players who grew into their roles as the tournament passed. In two years, the likes of Cavani, Ramirez and Lodeiro will be ready. They will be well placed as dark horses in Brazil to trample over their dream of winning on home soil, just as they did sixty two years ago. The man who rose to prominence in between that time - the link between those two generations - is the man they call El Pistolero. Luis Suárez.

Like most, it was the World Cup in South Africa that was my first introduction to Suárez. Given the circumstances surrounding the French at the time, it wasn't too much of a stretch to predict that Uruguay could go far. They became my adopted team and I admired their traditional intensity matched with the skill of those I hadn't had the privilege of seeing before. When it comes to that tournament and Luis, there's only one incident that springs to mind. With time almost up, Dominic Adiyiah's effort was about to send Ghana through to the semi finals, until Suárez stopped it with his hand. It's something I had given a great deal of thought to, even before it's main antagonist signed for Liverpool Football Club. Not only do I applaud his actions, I think anybody telling you they'd do anything else is either lying or has never played football to any real competitive degree. What's the alternative? Let it sail beyond him and hope for better luck next time?

Football is a cruel game and there can be no more callous a fate than that which befell Ghana but in the interest of doing everything you can possibly do to win, I'm with Suárez on that one. Of course, his joyous celebration which followed Gyan's penalty miss seemingly makes his transformation into a cartoon villain complete. To someone who had been fully on board with the glorious African narrative - or even a more casual observer - it's easy to close the book on Suárez completely. He revels in his defiance of the law and of the misery of his opposition. I'm not the most patriotic but I gather Uruguayans are so you'll have to forgive me for the potential naivety of the following statement. His country had just been - quite literally - handed a reprieve. Is it not possible he could have been simply happy for his nation? Much easier to believe he was drinking in the tears of all the Ghanaian supporters around him. Without wanting to second guess his reaction I do know one thing. If that same thing had happened to us, I'd be delighted.

His arrival on these shores was bittersweet. Any drooling over the potential deadliness of a Suárez-Torres combination had barely time to drop to the floor before Torres left for Chelsea. If there was a hole in our hearts waiting for a star to fill it, it wasn't going to remain empty for very long.  The aforementioned blond bombshell seemed to settle down into the English game pretty well but even that paled into comparison with what Suárez did to Man United. In being the architect to Dirk Kuyt's - maybe even the - easiest hat-trick ever scored, he had made a statement. Things got even better for him when he drilled one in from a ludicrous angle against Sunderland. The snaggle-toothed smile of Luis Suárez was infectious and there was a real optimism that we could really kick on this season. That didn't happen, for both us and for Suárez. We even arrived at a point in the season where some people were questioning his ability to finish. Let's have a look at the numbers then and see if they had a point.

The first question that needs to be asked is whether Suárez has ever been prolific or - in the case of Ajax and Uruguay - just been an important part of a high scoring team. In both cases the answer is a resounding yes. At international level his strike rate is exactly one in two (27 goals in 54 games) and that only gets better when you look at his efforts at club level. For the purposes of this I've taken league goals only but even the season in which Ajax scored over a hundred goals (106), Suárez scored a whopping thirty three percent of those goals himself, averaging over a goal a game as he topped the Eredivisie charts with thirty five in thirty three games. Overall during his time with Ajax he averaged nearly three goals every four games (80 in 110) but a very large majority of those goals (almost eighty percent) were scored after the 2007/08 season, by which time he had already spent two years in Holland getting to grips with the game. To underline that fact, his stats for the season just gone are almost identical to those of his first season in the Eredivisie with Gronigen.

Stats don't always tell the truth. Seeing is believing. What becomes very apparent at even the most fleeting observation is just how good he is technically. His close control and ability to change direction in an instant make him incredibly dangerous inside the box. Drifting out wide he does a lot of damage, because of that ability to move the ball in tight corners we often see full backs who are unable to cope with his movement and skill. As a defender he can punish you one of two ways, either by forcing you into giving away a penalty or by getting around you so it's important that when he receives the ball it's as close to goal as possible. Constantly on the move, as a focal point he works very well when you have runners from midfield or someone else alongside him, hence why all Suárez's best work has come alongside Dirk Kuyt and latterly Andy Carroll while forming - as most players do - a good partnership with Steven Gerrard.

Despite being a perpetual motion machine, there isn't much wasted in there either and he does conserve a lot more energy than you'd think, allowing people to pass it around alongside him. Having said that he does appear to be on the front foot more so than anybody in order to advantage of any mistake. Watching a lot of his goals for Ajax, it's clear Suárez is naturally very high on his own ability. Very instinctual, he doesn't often play percentage football but instead he tries to make things happen. Who he reminds me of is Peter Crouch. Obviously he's a lot more technically gifted (although at the same time Crouchie is a little underrated) but he was always one to go for things people wouldn't necessarily think of. Sometimes they come off, sometimes they don't. When it comes to scoring goals, I like having someone that is prepared to take a risk or two but with Suárez it's done because he believes fully in his ability to pull it off. Take the wonder goal at Sunderland for instance, I had no idea he'd done that before (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xA0QGL_RnXQ) 4.50 onwards. There will be times when he'll smash it high into the stands but what people will say is a lack of composure is actually a great confidence in his own technique. As many people have stated, next season we'll need to get as many people scoring as possible and hopefully get the burden of making the difference off his shoulders. Without that pressure and free to express himself, who knows how good he could be next year?

Worshipped by his nation and cherished by his club, the rest of the footballing world that looks on disapprovingly. I imagine you could look at any given match and find things to dislike about him - as you could do with countless others - but that doesn't define him. To judge him is not to know him. To those that care only to follow a narrative, Suárez casts a very obvious and dark shadow over the faux moralities within the game. He's Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba or Maradona. Someone whom it's easy - comforting even - to ignore their talents because of their unsavoury veneer. I've never really understood the connection between footballer and role model. Mostly we seem to admire either their talent or money.

Simply being talented shouldn't be enough to be idolised. There are plenty of skilled footballers around the world that amount to nothing. It's how you apply that talent which determines whether or not you're worthy of admiration. I am talking specifically here about what happens on the pitch by the way. Players should only ever answer to one authority, that of the club. If they fail with that responsibility by doing something unscrupulous off the field then that's where the line should be drawn. It's not my place to turn ignore the more unpleasant aspects of Suárez's game or even defend them. Labels like cheat are bandied about almost as quickly as a player is praised for "earning" a penalty. If we're going to be picky then fouling is technically cheating. Grant Holt gave away the most fouls in the Premier League this year. Is he a cheat? Typically the answer would come back that he's fighting for his team and I happen to agree with that. If he were - let's say Uruguayan for instance - I do wonder however whether he'd be a cynical, dirty Latin yard-dog. Then again, the latent hypocrisy between one players actions and another based on their nationality is nothing new.

Alex Ferguson suggested we should get rid. He's a disgrace to the club. It really is that simple. Get rid of all these we don't want spoiling our beautiful game and everything will be alright. The idea of cleaning up the game is very admirable, but it just wouldn't work like this. Firstly, how would we decide? Big Brother style votes to decide just who has annoyed us the most this week? Even then it has no real effect. Remove Suárez as public enemy number one and someone else would step up in his place. Let's get this right. To prevent a nation of children brought up on diving, moaning and histrionics we must accept certain realities. Unfortunately those realities include the clubs we love dearly missing out. I've seen it virtually once a week in the Premier League. Somebody stays on their feet when fouled and doesn't get a penalty. We will never be able to draw the line on what is acceptable so long as there is something in it for us and so long as we're fans there will always be a conflict of interest. I'd rather teach someone how to behave rather than removing them altogether and pretending that kind of attitude has gone. I happen to think that Luis isn't even one of the worst offenders.

Some have said that Luis Suárez is a perfect example of the modern footballer. I can't help but think they're talking in negative terms but I think the point is a valid one. He's talented, impetuous and divisive, brought up in the culture of "win yesterday" football and actually managing to do well for himself. Is he hot headed? Certainly. I've seen people get into fights down the park let alone in a high pressurised game, so it's not like he'd be the first to step over the line on a football pitch. As for the man behind all that, it seems obvious that he's no different than the rest of us. Primarily that means he's capable of making mistakes. Regarding what happened on the 15th of October, I think that's been done to death. There's a friend of mine who went to law school whom I've bothered with this enough, I won't bore you with things that have probably been said better elsewhere. Those willing to condemn, I would like to point toward Suárez's work in South Africa well before all this happened in 2010. A shade of light upon a player who has been banished into the darkness, by those who judge him on the words of others.

What then of the future? It's pretty obvious that Suárez is going to be an integral part of the team moving forward, both here and abroad. The next two years going into this World Cup may very well define his career as a player given the challenges in front of him at Liverpool and the potential prize that awaits with Uruguay. He will - maybe more than anyone - benefit from the change in tempo we expect Brendan Rodgers to bring. Having the summer off - far more of it than years past anyway - will definitely make sure he's chomping at the bit when the season starts, the question is whether or not he'll be coming back to Merseyside with a gold medal or not. Playing two solid years back to back, it's quite possible this was the season when he hit the wall a little. The numbers would certainly back it up. In the thirteen games he played after coming back from the eight match ban he scored six times, a much more familiar ratio of goals to games that we'd expect to see from him. It's important we realise exactly what we have on our hands though. He is a talent that would be welcome at pretty much any club in world football right now and at twenty five is only going to get better. I don't know what's going to happen for him next season or in years to come. I do know that whatever happens, from the moment he arrived until the moment he leaves. I just can't get enough.