Stick or Twist?

Posted on 17. Jan, 2012 by Chris Martin in Blog, Debate

Many LFC fans have been left frustrated by the club’s current lack of activity in the January transfer window, with a growing number grumbling about a perceived lack of ambition. But with FSG and principal owner John W Henry laying out their stall early regarding transfer policy is this not what should have been expected?

The stance of Henry has remained consistent throughout his tenure at the club – he will commit to young players and fund a team that will fulfill long-term goals, rather than purchase stop-gap players at an inflated price to, as he put it, “plug holes”.

The club’s purchases over the summer further demonstrate their view, with the majority of players being at a relatively early stage of their career with plenty of time to grow and develop at Anfield. It is easy to identify that progress has been made already by some of these summer signings, particularly Jordan Henderson – who after a large amount of stick in the early part of the season, has shown a steady improvement in recent months and glimpses of the player he could become if nurtured and supported correctly.

The question that therefore needs to be asked in order to derive the amount of activity Liverpool are likely to have is whether these purchases are performing as expected and are on course with the current long term plan, or has the speed of development been slower than predicted and starting to hinder the clubs chances of remaining on course for whatever goal was set for this season (and beyond).

The opinion of a large number of fans is that some of the players are at the club to take the club forward to the next level, back into the top four and the Champions League – at which point the club will be able to attract a higher caliber of player and build again for title challenges and European success. Therefore, the squad must be assessed on its chances of achieving this goal and acted on accordingly.

Currently Liverpool have created the 2nd most chances of any team in the league (only Chelsea creating more) however, their chance conversion rate appears to tell the story of the season hovering just above 8% and currently the worst out of all teams in the league. Such evidence would indicate that a goalscorer would cure a great deal of problems and as such if the current crop of players cannot produce the required result to reach this intermediate goal then they should be assisted by the addition of a new player.

Ultimately, with the knowledge that the January window is notorious for being overpriced with clubs unwilling to let their best players go halfway through a season – it needs to be weighed up whether purchasing a player at this stage is required in order to keep progress on track, or if the risk to disrupting the momentum of progress is manageable.

One thing that may work in the favour of Liverpool is that being cup-tied from European is not an issue this season, and so if a player is available competition for his signature could be reduced. Who knows, a return to the much discussed old Liverpool way may be back…talks could be going on right now.