FLOPS? NOT YET, BUT IT’S TIME TO DELIVER
Liverpool’s big signings f inding it hard to adjust to the spotlight
TIME. The one thing that seems to be lacking in the Premier League nowadays. And if there is one thing some of the players at Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur need, as well as Brendan Rodgers and Mauricio Pochettino, it is more time. There are a lot of similarities between the two clubs who are in action this afternoon, facing opposition which should present three points.
Crystal Palace and Hull City away are the sort of games Liverpool and Spurs should surely be expecting to win, especially given the amount of money they have spent in recent seasons. Premier League football is not as easy as that, as they are both discovering. Of course they would be even more likely to win the games if they still had Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale in their squads.
But how do you lose players of their quality and maintain a challenge for the Champions League? They lost the pair to two of the biggest teams in the world and for substantial fees.
And if you’ve got that sort of money from Real Madrid and Barcelona for one of your players how do you cash it in?
Just how much they influenced play, the teams and outcomes at Anfield and White Hart Lane respectively has been proven in results since they left.
The loss of Suarez has been particularly hard for Liverpool, on top of losing Daniel Sturridge through injury. Not only have they missed Suarez’s presence and his goals, but the intensity be brings to a team when they haven’t got the ball. Sturridge might have made some amends but he just hasn’t been fit. And you’re not going to get anything like that intensity and effort from Mario Balotelli, sadly.
The reality is that clubs like Liverpool and Tottenham are not going to be able to replace world class players like-for-like. So, understandably, Plan A, when you have planned to spend around £100million, is to strengthen the entire squad.
And that’s dangerous territory for Rodgers, who is now in his third season in charge at Anfield and returning to Selhurst Park today after the debacle there last season saw their title challenge disappear.
THE QUESTION is, having lost those two players, have Liverpool and Tottenham found good enough replacements? Only time will tell. So far the answer would have to be a resounding no, but in many cases it is just too early.
Last season Tottenham brought in a lot of players, and most of them found it difficult. Fast forward to this season and Liverpool are find- ing their new recruits are having exactly the same problems.
Last season it was Roberto Soldado and Eric Lamela who were struggling to find their feet in the Premier League after their big money moves.
This year it is Emre Can and Lazar Markovic. Mind you, even Premier League regulars like Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren have struggled with life at Liverpool. They all seemed to be signed for £15-30million, which is still a lot of money and brings pressure.
Markovic is a classic example of a young player who has not found life easy in a new country. But he is a 20-year-old boy who has come from Benfica for a lot of money and who was always going to find it tricky.
He may have had a couple of seasons playing in a good Benfica team, but, with due respect to the Portuguese league, you’re looking at eight really tough games in a season, maximum.
Playing for Liverpool and playing in the Premier League are totally different propositions. Every game is a challenge.
Raheem Sterling is the barometer by which Markovic and the new signings can measure themselves. And while Sterling may have been Liverpool’s best player this season, even he has struggled recently.
MARKOVIC could show off his technical ability in Portugal – and he has bags of it – but in a game like Crystal Palace away, you might not get the time to show off those attributes. When a player like Angel Di Maria goes to Burnley or Leicester away so early in his Manchester United career, he probably expects it to be a walkover.
Let’s be honest, once, sometimes twice, a month Real Madrid and/or Barcelona can expect a five or sixgoal romp, home or away. Manchester United drew at Burnley and famously lost at Leicester.
You wonder what Eliaquim Mangala makes of it all, another player who looked extremely good in Portugal – and as a defender he probably had it even easier in the handy games – he was outstanding in his Manchester City debut against Chelsea. Since then he has looked vulnerable but he is only eight games into his City career.
It is far too early for any of these players to be labelled flops, or not. They just need time.