A Nightmare on Anfield Road

Those of you who follow my Twitter feed will be fully aware that I am a big Liverpool supporter and as such feel now is the time to come forward and explain my fan feeling towards the year ahead. I know this is an irregular experience for a video game blog but I need to get a few things off my chest.

This season has been very unfamiliar territory for us as a team following a tragic opening few games and a calamitous final 24 hours of the transfer window. Our new manager Brendan Rodgers must be contemplating the recruitment of some ageing free transfers or loan opportunities to bolster a wafer-thin forward line that features Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini as the only recognised senior strikers.

Andy Carroll left Anfield to join West Ham on loan, despite the lack of a replacement, leaving Rodgers and the team woefully short of attacking options. Liverpool then failed with a bid to sign Clint Dempsey from Fulham on the last day of the open transfer window which has since prompted our principle owner John W. Henry into writing an open letter to the club’s fans in an attempt to stamp out a ream of hostile criticism.

It’s a dire situation when you loan out a £35 million striker to a league rival especially as he was finally starting to show his true worth at the club. Andy had a great end to last season, grabbing goals in consecutive games – and changing the dynamic of the FA Cup final – as well as string of dominating displays at the Euros. It’s great to see that Rogers is sticking by is morals, about how he wants the team to operate, but you’d be hard pressed to argue that Andy isn’t a fantastic plan B from the bench. Big and strong with a very good ground game the young striker hasn’t been given enough opportunity to shine at Liverpool and the loan move could give him the playing time he needs to get back into the squad when he (hopefully) returns.

Clint Dempsey on the other hand is a loss we will have to deal with. A bid of £4 million was rejected on transfer day – if the press can be believed – only for Tottenham to snap him up for £6 million later in the day. The press had widely suggested that Clint would make his way over to the Anfield faithful but as the end of the window came to pass he was wearing white. The most disappointing thing from my perspective is that we had raised £6 million earlier in the day when offloading Charlie Adam’s to Stoke and that we still wouldn’t increase our offer for the prolific American.'

John W. Henry said, alongside Rodgers, that they would not pay over the odds for talent in their search to improve the squad. There is a massive change in ability and options between 2 and 3 strikers and this could be the difference between playing European football and not next season especially is one of these guys doesn’t perform or finds themselves out for a long period of time.

Whatever the reasons Liverpool have consigned themselves to scouring the Free Agent market or introduce some youngsters to their senior team.

There are free agents out there but from my opinion most of them are either aged, require a large pay-packet or have already proven that the Premier League did not really suite them. Eidur Gudjohnsen and Florent Sinama-Pongolle are among the list of the available as well as the possibility of Didier Drogba needing a new club – although Liverpool are certainly a long shot with his love of Chelsea.

It looks like Liverpool and Rodgers will be building from within and a youth strikers are certainly looking better than ever before. The summer set the platform for some of our young stars and the acquisition of Samed Yesil was very interesting, The 18-year-old, who has represented his country at under-16, 17 and 18 level, scored 23 goals in 20 games for Bayer Leverkusen’s Under-19 squad last season and has also found the net 19 times in 20 games for his country. Although he is of German heritage he is of quite small stature and may find the physical demands of the senior team too much in the short term. However his speed, appetite for goals and incredibly driven attitude can only mean he’ll get his chance at some point.

There are also Michael Ngoo and Dani Pacheco filling out the ranks; both of which had tremendous records in the reserves last season. Ngoo is a big guys so his chances might be fleeting – especially since Carroll didn’t fit in with the team plan – but that again doesn’t mean Rodgers wouldn’t give him the opportunity if he was needed. Pacheco on the other hand is small, quick and versatile but has never quite lived up to the hype given to him when he graduated from Barcelona’s famed La Masia talent school.

Perhaps the most likely candidate is the young, home-grown Adam Morgan. At 18 the young man is furthest up the pecking order at Anfield and was given a chance to shine against Hearts in the Europa League games a few weeks ago. He impressed a lot of the management and the fans during per-season as his willingness to learn and his tireless work-rate has proven that he is looking to build on his skills for the future. The local boy has been at Anfield

Time will tell which approach Rodgers goes for but with so many bright young stars creeping into the first team now he will certainly have some options available – even if they aren’t necessarily what the fans originally expected. It’s looking like the next 6 months may be a damage limitation plan but I still believe we can deliver European football next year and hopefully some sort of silverware along the way.