Comolli Departure Leaves More Questions Than Answers

Comolli's departure from Liverpool today certainly has raised some eyebrows among Liverpool fans. The timing of this story 2 days before an important FA cup semi final has created another media frenzy, leaving Dalglish to deal with yet more questions from the press. The internet is already alive with rumours and theories, the most likely scenario is that this news had leaked to the press early and Liverpool felt the need to get the word out immediately.

 

Back in March when Comolli was promoted to the position of 'Director of Football' John W Henry had this to say: "Damien played a leading role in our January transfer window activity with the recruitment of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll.  These two additions will play a significant role in the future of the Club.  All of us at Liverpool Football Club who have been working on a day-to-day basis with Damien believe he will be a key contributor for many, many years here as we build a football operation second to none.

 

Tom Werner added this: "Damien has already demonstrated a thorough understanding of what a modern football Club needs to succeed in an ever more competitive environment.  He has made a tremendous contribution to our scouting, recruitment and player development so far.  This promotion will see him assume extra responsibilities including overseeing areas such as performance analysis, medical provision, and team administration."

 

Unfortunately Comolli's departure leaves supporters with more questions than answers, just at a time when Liverpool fans are already feeling vulnerable.

 

What did Comolli actually do?

Ever since Comolli's appointment at Liverpool, fans and pundits alike have speculated as to what Damien Comolli's role actually involved at the club. As regards player recruitment, did he he suggest players for Kenny to sign? Or was Kenny telling Damien who to go after? Most likely it was a combination of the two. We were informed by Liverpool staff and even Damien himself shortly after his appointment, that the manager would have final say on all transfers. If this were the case then it would also appear that Kenny may also have his own explaining to do.

 

Why was he sacked?

If indeed Comolli was sacked, as has been suggested, many fans will look to last summers transfers into the club and of course the Andy Carroll signing from last January. Spending £35m on Andy Carroll last January bordered on the absurd and certainly didn't reflect the 'Moneyball' approach the owners spoke so highly of. Andy Carroll - a player that had spent just 6 months in the Premier League for newly promoted Newcastle was made the most expensive British player in history (just let that sink in for a minute), not only that - he was also injured at the time we signed him! That was closely followed by the highly controversial signings of Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson in the summer for a combined some of £40m. It's difficult for any club, even a club as big as Liverpool to spend £75m on players for such little return.

 

Is Dalglish in trouble too?

It would be naive to think that Kenny Dalglish doesn't also have his fair share of explaining to do, however that may well wait until the summer. If we are to believe the club, then Kenny was equally responsible for any players brought into the club.

 

Will Comolli be replaced?

Do we need another Director of Football? We never had or needed one previously but this seems to be the model our owners prefer and is certainly the norm to have someone in that role when observing American sports. One of the advantages of having a Director of Football is to maintain the structure and philosophy of a team even if there is a change in management. One thing we seemed to have been lacking recently is a philosophy. Already there have been candidates rumored with the job, such as Johan Cruyff who has recently left Ajax and David Dein (formally of Arsenal).

 

What will happen to the players brought in under the Comolli regime?

It has already been suggested by some that Andy Carroll could be moved on this summer. He's so far failed to make a real impact but one has to feel bad at the lack of games he's had recently especially given his slight improvement in form. Stewart Downing may be another likely candidate, although we are unlikely to recoup anywhere near the initial outlay, he has failed to make any impact whatsoever and may well be one of the first to be shown the exit door.

 

Whatever happens this summer, there is a worrying trend emerging under the FSG ownership. Poor handling of the Suarez affair and delayed decision making in the Managing Director appointment and the ongoing stadium saga. The honeymoon period for our American owners is well and truly over, an important offseason lies ahead.

One Fan's review of 2011/12

With recent talk in the media discussing Kenny Dalglish and Damian Comolli's pending end of season reports to be compiled for the clubs owners, I thought it was only fitting that a fans version of the report be produced also.

Firstly let me clarify, the fact that this was even a story is slightly farcical and one has to wonder where and why this story found its way into the press? That point aside, producing an end of season/year report is not uncommon in any walk of life, certainly most of us will have had review's with our bosses at work to discuss the previous 12 months. What I'm trying to say is that, just because Kenny & Damian have to produce these reports doesn't necessarily mean they're in trouble or have even done anything wrong, it's simply an opinion on what has taken place during the last year so that that the owners can get a feel of what is happening within their business interest at the ground level.

So here goes... (BTW I'm quite aware that our season is not yet over and could yet end with an FA cup trophy)

Any review of the last 12 months has to begin with an assessment of our transfer policy in the summer. Our transfer dealings began with the signing of Jordan Henderson from Sunderland for a fee rumoured to be between £16m - £20m. Jordan may well prove to be one of our better signings. Apart from Coates, Henderson is the only player from our summer signings I can see still being at the club in 3 or 4 years time. Unfortunately we've rarely see him utilised in what many consider his natural position (centrally in midfield), he's often been shoe-horned in on the right hand side where he doesn't have the pace or skill to really trouble anyone. We've seen glimpses of what he's capable of during games, he has a nice range of passing and maintains possession well. The lads also got a good football brain, he spots danger early and can manoeuvre himself into position to block an attack and makes some great bursting runs forward from deep. Henderson has great energy in midfield as well and never stops running, reports from Melwood suggest he's one of the hardest working players at Liverpool and is determined to improve himself. One thing Henderson seems to lack right now is confidence and can sometimes be slightly naive but that's natural for someone his age and I'm reasonably confident he'll be a solid player for us going forward. Fellow fans need to be patient with this lad. My only problem with this deal is the transfer fee, I see a signing like Henderson as a 'project'. when I say 'project' I mean, he's clearly not the finished article, he needs to be moulded into the player we want him to be, however for a fee of around £20m I expect to see the finished article, someone like a Javi Martinez etc. Coates is what I would class as a 'project' signing, and at £7m seems reasonably priced and is around the fee we should have been looking at for a guy like Henderson.

Moving on, our next signing of the summer was Charlie Adam. Unlike Henderson this signing didn't surprise anyone as we had been linked with him since the January previous. Somewhere In the region of £7m was the fee paid to acquire Charlie and I actually feel that this was a reasonable price although I'm not sure he's the same player we thought we were buying. He was advertised as a poor man's Xabi Alonso but seems more like a poor man's Steven Gerrard. He lacks the vision and passing range to truly control a game from deep and vacates his position in midfield far too often to join in on attacks which leaves us bare in midfield when the opposition regain the ball because he also lacks the pace to get back into position in time to defend. Ultimately I think Charlie is a good squad player for us and has played more often this season than maybe even Kenny imagined due to Stevie's injury problems. Next season Charlie would be best used to reduce Gerrard's work load in the less important games as he reaches his advanced years.

Next up was Stewart Downing at £20m, and at 27 years of age this may have been one of the oddest signings we made. It's fair to say that Downing has always been a 'nearly man' his whole career with the exception of his last season at Villa. One good season however does not equal a £20m player. If there is a defence of Downing it's that in his last season at Villa he was used mostly on the right side and centrally off the front man where he has rarely/never been used for us. Another odd observation when watching us this season is that Downing & Carroll very rarely seem to be on the field at the same time with one being subbed off for the other more often than not. Is Downing better than what we had? Maybe... But definitely not worth anywhere near £20m. We could have probably bought someone for £7m-£8m and not been any worse off.

Next Signing was Doni for around £1.5m....errr not much to say really! He's a sub goalie who as it happens made his debut and looked decent recently. No real issue with this signing, nothing to see here, move along!

Next signing was Jose Enrique for around £6m. Seems like a very good bit of business and arguably our best signing but has suffered a recent wobble in his form since the new year, prior to that he had hardly put a foot wrong. He's a solid, reliable defender who surprisingly to me at least is a far better defender than he is an attacker. Overall I'd say this was a good bit of business for us.

Our next signing was Seb Coates for around £7m. I've already briefly covered Coates but he's obviously a 'project' signing who we have had only brief glimpses of this season. There's certainly plenty to be optimistic with regarding this lad and he is already knocking on the door of the first team (Look out Jamie!). Technically he's everything you'd expect from a South American centre half and what he might lack in pace he makes up for with his reading of the game which seems beyond his years. It will be interesting to see how he develops in the next 12 months and seems like a good signing.

Our last signing was Craig Bellamy on a free. Bit of a no brainer this one really, he's still the lively player we remember and hasn't lost any of that searing pace he possessed the last time he was here. He's supplemented our attacking options well and may well have been our best signing.

I also briefly want to cover a couple of the players that departed the club last summer.

Firstly Alberto Aquilani in a loan deal with a view to a £6m sale to AC Milan. This was a strange deal in my opinion, at £6m it's far less than the original £17m we coughed up for him and leads one to wonder if we may have been better keeping him, especially given his superb cameos in pre-season last year. It leads me to question what Charlie Adam offers to Liverpool that Alberto doesn't? Why not save the £7m spent on Charlie and keep Alberto?

The only other major departure was Raul Meireles on transfer deadline day for around £10m. More or less recouping our initial purchase of Raul it appeared a decent bit of business at the time to sell a player at 29 years old for that kind of fee especially given that he wasn't necessarily guaranteed a place in the starting 11. The fact that we now appear to be missing Raul I'd suggest is a bigger damnation of our summer signings than the actual sale itself.

In reflection and putting everything into perspective it's my opinion that the signings of Downing and Henderson were poor buys and should not have been made. There is an argument to suggest that Adam may not be that bad a signing as a squad player given the fee paid. Nevertheless £40m WAS poorly spent - the vast majority of our summer spend.

That's the summers transfers covered, now to try and explain what exactly happened during the season:

Firstly let me try and describe Liverpool football club as we currently stand......Wait, I can't! Under Rafa it was easy to identify what our principles were, we were built on a 4231 formation that dominated possession and pressed teams high up the field. Every player knew their position and more importantly - their role. For Liverpool's next game I couldn't even tell you with any certainty what formation we'll play, never mind what the starting 11 might be! Any team needs a plan and foundation that the team is built on and currently (at least from the outside looking in) we don't have that. When Kenny first arrived it was immediately noticeable how he tried to bring back the old 'pass and move' philosophy and pressed teams high up the field again. We also had a settled starting 11, the success we had in that period was based on a central midfield partnership of Lucas and Spearing which made us solid in midfield. Suarez was partnered by Kuyt for the majority of the time as Carroll and Gerrard were out injured for long stretches.

If anything, Gerrard and Carroll's return from injury coupled with the added summer signings have confused the team and we have lost our identity. Carroll struggled at the beginning of the season but strangely ever since he started to rediscover his best form for us, has struggled to get into the team? The signing of Carroll does raise some questions however (and no I don't just mean the transfer fee!), why sign a player with Carroll's physical attributes if we are trying to build a team based on pass and move that dominates possession with relatively few long balls?

Gerrard for me has been playing out of position ever since Kenny arrived. Rafa made it quite clear he preferred him further up field playing off the front man or even wide right which left many pundits bemused. While Rafa may never have come out and said it, he didn't believe Steven had the tactical awareness to play as an orthodox central midfield player. Gerrard is far more dangerous to the opposition when he's closer to their box and can link up with Suarez or Carroll, due to Gerrard playing much deeper we have yet to see how that might work.

Suarez this season has mainly been used as a lone front man instead of Carroll, dealing with long balls that would bizarrely better suit the latter. This often means he gets isolated and increasingly frustrated, Suarez as he's proved at Ajax and with Uruguay is far more dangerous when used slightly deeper playing with a strike partner or partners. Used mainly on the right for Ajax he has rarely if ever featured in this position for us.

It's fair to suggest that we have missed Lucas massively since his injury, while Spearing has done an admirable job in place of Lucas whenever he's played, he is clearly some way short of his quality at this stage. While Spearing looked fine alongside Lucas last season he has sometimes been exposed when left alone this season. It would have been interesting to see how Henderson would have looked in central midfield alongside Spearing as he has some of the quality's that would suit this position. One thing that Lucas's injury has exposed is that we are short of good defensive midfielders and this may need to be addressed this summer.

When Rafa left, he left us a legacy in the form of Rodolfo Borrell and Pep Segura. Together they came up with a system and style of play that ALL our junior players would learn and play. The idea was that this would make the transition from youth football to the professional team much easier. Barcelona have used this model to their advantage and are reaping the rewards of their hard work. What we currently have is a youth program setup to play one style of football and our first team playing something completely different. This is counter-productive for any young players looking to break into the first team and hence, our long term prospects.

Somewhere in the last 12 months we've lost our plan, our philosophy and our identity. This is the single most important thing that needs to be adressed this summer. The whole backroom staff need to come together and decide on a plan and a philosophy before this club can even begin to move forward. If we don't know who we are and what we're about then how can we sign anyone? Once we've decided what kind of team we want to be, it needs to be decided if the players within the club have the necessary attributes to fit that style and if they don't then they need to leave and be replaced with players that do fit.

The owners also have questions to answer. What's happening with the stadium? 18 months on, are we any closer to knowing what's going on? As yet we don't even know if we're re-developing Anfield or building a new ground although the former is looking increasingly unlikely. We know about the rumoured naming rights discussions but are they offering an amount anywhere close to what we need?

To conclude I think Kenny has done enough for this club to deserve another chance to get it right.

BUT a major re-think is required...