Welcome to Issue 291 of Red All Over The Land.
Just when we thought it was safe to be seen out in public again, Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti come along to send us scurrying for cover again. There’s no point in trying to fathom out what went wrong because it was the same things that have been going wrong since the last time, we played Real Madrid. It’s up to everyone inside the club to get together and sort things out. One thing I’m glad about is that Carlo Ancelotti didn’t hang around at Goodison. The man is a tactical genius.
There was a flicker of light when we beat both Everton and Newcastle, but Real Madrid are from a different level. I can’t say the performance at Crystal Palace made the earth move. It was like time stood still for ninety minutes [plus added on time]. I think we’ve said this before, the summer is going to be crucial if this club and this team wants to be back at the level, they took us to less than a year ago. We were fighting on all fronts and dining at banquets. Now we’re begging for scraps. Jürgen said after the Palace game there wouldn’t be any movies about this season, not unless anyone is into horror.
The future of FSG and Liverpool came back into focus when it was announced what may be happening at Old Trafford. If FSG have no plans to sell their major asset but are still open to some investment, things need to be resolved quick especially if that investment is crucial to our ability to compete in the transfer market.
We don’t need a couple of players to improve the squad but a complete rebuild. Players like Núñez and Gakpo have started to show what they are capable of and Stefan Bajcetic, even at his young age, looks like we have found a diamond. I still have hopes for Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho and surely Ben Doak will start to feature soon. His performance for the Under 21 side against Leicester was nothing short of sensational. These players are the future, but we need players to help take them to the required levels.
So, FSG don’t have to spend the money Chelsea have spent, they need to spend money on what we need to get another squad of players to get us back to the required level. As was proved in recent seasons, in the modern game you need a squad of at least twenty players of a quality level. There’s the need to replace like with like but we’ve rarely been able to do that.
Players have reached the end of the line. Our opinions on them won’t change, their status has already been cemented. It’s happened to all the greats down the line and letting them go elsewhere now might be doing them a favour. There are a lot of players in the Academy sides that are not going to make it, let them go and see what they can do somewhere else. If they’re hanging around Kirkby, they’re just denying others an opportunity. I try to watch the Academy sides on LFCTV when I can and it’s easy to see who might be able to make the next step. The same goes for a few players in the first team squad. There’s a level required, but we have too many that have either started the downhill trek or won’t be able to climb the hill.
The UEFA farce gets a mention in this Issue as does the ownership debate and my thanks to all who sent their contributions in.
JJP: My mother once said if someone came down our street selling shite, I’d buy two bags. Didn’t Graeme Souness do that