Liverpool FC Forum

[Fowler_E7]

Of our new signings that have joined the club since January 2011 apart from Luis Suarez, Jose Enrique and Craig Bellamy the rest have been hit and miss, unused or just plain terrible. Of these signings which player or players do you beleive will turn it around and go on to have a succesful career with the club?

Personally i think Charlie Adam and Steward Downing will stay for a few years as good/decent squad members although very expensive ones, Andy Carroll i cant make my mind up on, after some games i feel he may stay and become a good player other times i think the guy is complete donkey who lacks the required quality to play for a club of this size. Jordan Henderson is the one player who i am certain will be back playing for a mid table side within 2 years, nothing about him suggests he will be anything more than an average premiership peformer.

[Benny The Noon]

Did anyone see Henderson's glorious ball to Downing yesterday, or his ball to Gerrard to set up the third against Newcastle, or his volleyed cross to Suarez for the winner against QPR , or his goal against Bolton .

If only had done something to say he has a bit of talent.

[andy_g]

i think just about everyone will agree that suarez, bellamy and enrique are already good and will stay good. of the rest i think the opposite to what you stated. i think that downing, carroll and adam are what they are and will be mostly average with the odd, expectation raising, outstanding game. henderson, however i think has what it takes. keep and eye on his passing and his tenacity a bit more and maybe you'll see it too. that pass he made for downing's spurned chance against city was one of a few moments of excellence he's regularly shown.

[Fowler_E7]

Did anyone see Henderson's glorious ball to Downing yesterday, or his ball to Gerrard to set up the third against Newcastle, or his volleyed cross to Suarez for the winner against QPR , or his goal against Bolton .

If only had done something to say he has a bit of talent.

4 good things in what 20 games? even you can do better than that?  like i said hes average, average players can occasionaly do a good thing.

P.S id expect any half decent player to roll in that pass for Gerrard the other day, it wasmt exactly difficult

[stmichael]

really excited about henderson. people forget the kid is only 20 years old. even now he's one of our best players technically.

it's laughable ho everyone raves about cleverley at united for example when he's done nothing in the premier league compared to henderson and has nowhere near as much natural ability imo.

[Fowler_E7]

i think just about everyone will agree that suarez, bellamy and enrique are already good and will stay good. of the rest i think the opposite to what you stated. i think that downing, carroll and adam are what they are and will be mostly average with the odd, expectation raising, outstanding game. henderson, however i think has what it takes. keep and eye on his passing and his tenacity a bit more and maybe you'll see it too. that pass he made for downing's spurned chance against city was one of a few moments of excellence he's regularly shown.

With Downing and Adam i think im more hopeful that they will become more than they have shown as they have shown more than Henderson, like i said with Carroll im not convinced yet whether he is a complete rubbish or its because he hasnt received the right service.

Henderson IMO just seems content to coast along by keeping things neat and tidy without having any impact on the game, he lacks character plus i dont think he is anything special on the ball anyway, cant see him being anymore than a Jermain Jenas or Michael Carrick type player.

[Benny The Noon]

Did anyone see Henderson's glorious ball to Downing yesterday, or his ball to Gerrard to set up the third against Newcastle, or his volleyed cross to Suarez for the winner against QPR , or his goal against Bolton .

If only had done something to say he has a bit of talent.

4 good things in what 20 games? even you can do better than that?  like i said hes average, average players can occasionaly do a good thing.

P.S id expect any half decent player to roll in that pass for Gerrard the other day, it wasmt exactly difficult

There is plenty more - if you open your eyes you might actually see the potential in the lad .

You said he has shown nothing so 4 things is at the very least not nothing is it .

The ball to Gerrard looked easy because Henderson and Gerrard made it look easy .

It's safe to say you have firmly nailed your colours to the mast and I expect to see months of post's slating Henderson as he improves wih each game yet some will never see that .

It will be Lucas all over again .

[stmichael]

downing has been a big let down. when he signed i thought it was a good signing because he was excellent at villa last season and would give us much needed width and balance. for whatever reason it hasn't happened for him. this no assists stat is a bit harsh because he could easily have had 5 or so if any of our forwards could finish a dogs dinner.

adam is a good player but he was always going to have his share of good and bad games. the thing is his bad games are highlighted more than his good ones because of his lack of mobility to play in a 2. at blackpool he played on the left of the midfield 3 and was outstanding as he had literally no defensive responsibility. here he has to do more, especially with lucas out for the season and his form has dipped.

carroll is a bit of a mystery for me. if you'd seen him against city last year when he destroyed them you'd have thought he was going to be a world beater. however the lad got an injury and has been lacking confidence ever since. he needs a run of games now and we have to get behind the lad. in his defence the service we put into the box recently has been diabolical anyway.

enrique and bellamy for a combined £6m is a brilliant bit of business.

[metalhead]

Agreed about Adam being a decent squad player to have. He is a bit inconsistant at the moment and has limited qualities, but nevertheless he is a good player to have. I'm still holding my judgment on Henderson and Carroll. They are still young and might turn out to be good eventually.

Agreed also that Suarez, Bellamy and Enrique have been our best buys

[redtrader74]

Henderson will come good

Adam is a squad player only

Downing will only ever be average, if he can get back to his best, then we have another expensive squad player

Enrique, top quality, with a fantastic temperament, strong and confident.

Carroll will never be prolific, about 15 goals a season is the best we can expect over the long term, if he can cause enough havoc and set up another 15 then he may just be a first teamer, but otherwise just an expensive squad player

Bellamy has impressed, I never liked him first time round, plain dumb, even while looking across the line he would manage to get offside. He's really matured now and manages his game well, lost a bit of pace, found some brains. Sadly with his knees and age only a squd member for another 18 months

Suarez is top class, but needs to take the easy option sometimes, which I'm convinced will reap him and others more goals. Needs a sharp goalscorer to play with.

[LFC2007]

Signings usually are a mixed bag so anybody expecting them all to be equally successful from the word go was bound to be disappointed. It simply never happens. Some players settle into the side straight away and maintain a high standard of performance, but for others, most even, progress is slower and not nearly as smooth. There are also those who never come good and various shades in between. Many will continue to divide opinion even after they have left the club.
Players like Alonso, Mascherano and Reina fall into the first category, while the likes of Crouch, Lucas and Glen Johnson fall into the latter. There is a similar divide in the signings made during the period in question.
So far, Suarez, Bellamy and Enrique have been the unequivocal successes, while the remaining signings of note i.e. Carroll, Downing, Henderson and Adam have for the most part found it tough going. Each of them will face different challenges to either maintain their existing levels of performance or to establish a level that hasn't yet been reached that is commensurate with our ambitions as a club. So, for Suarez much will depend on his ability to deal with the aftermath of the Evra situation, while Bellamy may have to be used sparingly given his age and his history of knee problems. Enrique is just a beastly f'uck of a talent so he'll be fine.
The performances of the remaining signings have largely been disappointing, with the exception of Adam who until recently (or since Lucas was injured) was pulling the creative strings in our midfield. I've never seen the world class potential in Carroll that others saw or perhaps still see, and though he has looked average-to-sh!t in most games he's played, he may yet become a useful option to have in the squad much like Crouch was. Downing flatters to deceive all too often, despite his 'natural' abilities with the ball at his feet. Signed in large part to provide goals and assists, he has so far provided zero of each despite having Carroll to aim at. Henderson is really a long-term prospect who's been thrown in at the deep-end. He's shown glimpses of real ability (Benny highlights a few), but really doesn't get involved in the game enough. A bit of a drifter for me.
I see nobody has mentioned the Brazilian goalie. 

[Fowler_E7]

The thing that is most disappointing for me is that 3 most disapointing players IMO Carrol, Downing and Henderson cost the most money! i mean thats over £70mil right there. I know where not in the champions league any more but i refuse to beleive that the money couldnt have been spent more wisely, not a single one those guys is or will be world class but they cost world class prices. For us and Kenny/Commoli's sake at least one of the them has to become a superstar.

[Penguins]

But that is the whole issue though. We are 1 pt from 7th even after spending a freaking fortune on players that didn't improve the team.

70 million on 3 players that have gotten chance after chance to produce even when they didn't deserve it.
And the result?
No goals, no assist, nothing.
But let's all get 11 Lucas so all players can play nice 2 yars sideway passes....

And Rafa got killed when he  made a few poor buys like Keane and Aqualiani. And they still produced miles better than the dross Kenny has brought.

But hey, since it is Kenny it is everyone elses fault but his if we finsih 7th....

[7_Kewell]

I have never, in my 25 years as a red, seen us waste so much money on such dross.

And now the rumour is we're going to spend 20 million on Darren Bent...

[crazyhorse]

yawn...

Half a season these lads have had and already they are getting slaughtered.

All of the new signings have shown bits of really good stuff. I still feel we will get good value out of all of them. With Hendo it will take a few more seasons but that was made loud and clear when we bought him. Adam is no veteran either.