Brendan Rodgers accepted full responsibility for Liverpool's dire performance at Hull City when he reappeared yesterday.
“If there’s anyone to blame, blame me,” he said of the “painful” 3-1 defeat. The delicate issue of responsibility for the strength of Liverpool’s squad, however, saw Rodgers at his diplomatic best.
The Liverpool manager invited scrutiny at the KC Stadium by claiming his squad could not cope with the loss of two key players in Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho. Given what a side with Champions League aspirations had just served up against Hull, who had scored only four league goals at home before kick-off, it was impossible to disagree.
It was also difficult to accept. Liverpool signed eight players in the summer, two on loan, for almost £50 million but only one – the goalkeeper Simon Mignolet – has truly established himself in the first team.
The rest may have improved the squad, a task Rodgers and the owner, Fenway Sports Group, agreed on for the summer, and may yet enhance Liverpool’s future.
Transfer strategy
Results in 2013 and a consistent place in the top four this season show that FSG's strategy of acquiring young potential and the occasional gem such as Coutinho has its merits.
The intended path towards a Champions League return has been clear since Rodgers arrived and a transfer “committee” was set up but Sunday’s display, and the manager’s analysis, suggest the transfer policy has not maximised the prospect of a top-four finish this term.
Rodgers wanted not only depth this summer but proven first-team talent. The cost of being outside the European elite hit home as Henrikh Mkhitaryan chose Borussia Dortmund over Anfield, Diego Costa secured a better contract from Atletico Madrid and another top target, Willian, opted for the periphery at Chelsea.
Then, having pursued attacking quality all summer, the club spent about £24 million on two more central defenders, £18 million Mamadou Sakho and £7 million Tiago Ilori, having secured Kolo Toure on a free.
Ilori has yet to appear for the first team and, when Rodgers dropped Daniel Agger at Hull, he preferred Toure and to switch Martin Skrtel’s position instead of a straight swap for the expensive France international.
Scattergun approach
Clearly successes such as Coutinho and Sturridge are difficult to land without Champions League football and two creative losses are bound to impact on the performance level.
But Liverpool’s approach appears scattergun in comparison with, say, Southampton’s £36 million spend on three players who instantly improved the spine of their first team – Victor Wanyama, Pablo Osvaldo and Dejan Lovren.
“It was about the players who were affordable and available,” said Rodgers yesterday. “We tried to get a host of players in and get the types who could improve us. At the same time we knew we had some who were going and had to replace the likes of Jonjo Shelvey, so we needed to bring in ones who would give us cover.”
As for Sunday’s comment on the strength of Liverpool’s squad, the manager elaborated: “The thing for me is trying to maximise the players we have got. It’s more about putting it in context when you compare squads, not on money spent.”
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