Turning a blind eye is something we’re good at, isn’t it, us Liverpool fans? Take transfers, just as an example.
Think back to under Rafa. Any bad move he made in the transfer market was never his fault. It was Rick Parry’s meddling. It was the Yanks pulling the strings. It was the Net Spend™ argument. It was this, that, or the other. Under no circumstances were the signings of Keane, Babel, Dossena, Nunez, etc. etc. Rafa’s fault.
Last season we had Uncle Roy. He could do nothing right. His cheap signings – made under the same regime – were shite, and further evidence of how he didn’t belong at this club. He signed a shite full back in Paul Konchesky, and therefore should be hung from the rafters. No, Rafa signing Josemi wasn’t the same. Not at all. Jesus Christ, I can’t believe he signed Joe Cole on a free with such massive wages. No, when we signed Jovanovic or Voronin it was completely different, that was all Parry’s fault.
Now Kenny’s in charge and we’re back to the days of “thou shalt not question”. But when you look at things, the signings we’ve made during Kenny’s time here have been – and let’s not try polishing a turd here – by and large, shit. And unlike the Hodge and Rafa, that shite hasn’t been brought to our doors on cheap transfers and Bosmans. We paid top, top dollar for these new boys.
Now having said that, I do think Kenny brings a bit more to the table than just a little bit of man management. While the points total is the same, there’s a difference about the club now than there was 18 months ago. We’re playing different football. Expansive and open, and as mentioned before, of the matches we’ve lost (and drawn) at home this season, I can’t think of a single one where we not only deserved something from the game, but I genuinely think there hasn’t been a game at Anfield yet where we’ve deserved to lose. We’ve been solid at the back, we’ve controlled the midfield, but when the ball gets in the final third, we seem about as capable as Stephen Hawking in the 100m dash.
Suarezgate hurt. Not just the nine games he missed, but the subsequent fall out and media witch hunt. The biggest albatross around our neck this season though, to me, has been Andy Carroll, and the club’s attempts at making his signing work. The day we signed him I thought it was a mistake – a bloody big one – and it’s been borne out. We’ve wasted far too much money on mediocrity, on players who had a brief period of form but on the whole have been average at best, and we’re seeing the results. We spent a good chunk of the summer giving away (!) our bloated and unworthy players, only to horrifically overspend and rely on players who were, quite clearly, no better.
When you take our activity in the transfer market out of the equation, Kenny’s doing quite well. We’re playing good football on the pitch. We’re quite honestly dominating teams, particularly at home. We keep our business to ourselves, behind closed doors, unless Kenny’s forced into a corner at which point he defends his players to the hilt. We just can’t score enough fucking goals, and that’s down to having to rely on a £35m bag of shit, a supposed England international who was Aston Villa‘s third best attacking player last year behind Young and Agbonlahor, and a midfielder with one year’s experience in the top flight.
In many ways, our current situation reminds me of Parry’s last year here, going into Rafa’s final season. Right now, we don’t know who to point the finger at for bringing millions upon millions of pounds worth of pants to Anfield. But if I had my way, Monseur Comolli would be unemployed come May, and Kenny would be in charge of the transfer kitty, with the explicit instructions of “Your goal is to get into the Champions League next season, either tell us what you need in terms of money to make that happen, or tell us you can’t do it and we’ll find someone who can.”
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