Phil Thompson has today been giving his assessment of Liverpool’s 2014 crop of summer signings. The 61-year-old Sky Sports pundit, who won 22 major honours during his time as a Red, pulled no punches in his scathing analysis.
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In the list below we count down his marks – out of ten – and his comments on each player. We also give our view on the nine Liverpool stars in question and consider whether we either agree or disagree…
Mario Balotelli – 5/10
THOMMO SAYS: “It’s a poor five out of 10 for Balotelli. There isn’t a lot you can say about his season – it’s obvious – he’s underachieved greatly. I would be surprised if he’s at Anfield next season. I know his agent has been saying he will be, but I just can’t see it working out.”
WE SAY: He’s dead right when he calls him ‘poor’ and frankly it’s quite miraculous that the Italian has earned so much as a five. We all know he’s had fitness problems and we all cling to the hope that he might one day rediscover his best form, but the honest truth of the matter is that he simply hasn’t been good enough. His meagre tally of four goals, only one of which came in the Premier League, is incredibly poor from a £16m player.
Emre Can – 8/10
THOMMO SAYS: “If it wasn’t for the last six games or so I might have given him a nine – he’s certainly been the best of the lot in my opinion. But I’d probably give him an eight – he’s done well, he’s had to play numerous positions and he just got on with it and adapted. I think people forget how young he is too, and that maybe contributed to his bad end to the season, but he’s done really well overall.”
WE SAY: This is probably a fair assessment. There was a point in the season – around the conclusion of our 13 game unbeaten Premier League run – where Can would have had every right to expect a mark of nine. However, his form, like that of so many of his teammates, has fallen away towards the end of the season. Nonetheless, he’s had a good year all in all and will feel optimistic about his prospects of improving again during our next campaign.
Adam Lallana – 7/10
THOMMO SAYS: “I’m a great liker of Adam Lallana, so I’ll give him a seven. The problem Adam has was that every time he got a good run in the side he went and picked up an injury, so he’s been unfortunate in that sense. But he’s got great ability and hopefully next year he can stay free of injury and get himself a solid run in the first team.”
WE SAY: A bit generous this – bar the last month of the season he’s had a difficult time of it on Merseyside. For the most part, his performances paled in comparison to those he put in for Southampton – where he scored ten goals last year, four more than this season. He only managed 27 Premier League appearances due to a succession of minor injuries and as a result he’s going to be under a lot of pressure to produce from the off next season.
Rickie Lambert – 6/10
THOMMO SAYS: “Rickie hasn’t had enough chances to actually shine, so you can’t really say he was good or bad. I think he only had six or seven starts in the Premier League – that’s not enough to get going – but I’ll give him a six for his efforts when he was on the field.”
WE SAY: Again, perhaps a mark more than we’d have given him – but we can appreciate Thommo’s loyalty. Lambert has only made a handful of starts and has mostly been restricted to coming on as an impact substitute. It would have been interesting to see how his performance levels would have differed if he’d been given a more prominent role, while he also appeared to miss the presence of long-time teammate Adam Lallana alongside him.
Dejan Lovren – 6/10
THOMMO SAYS: “Dejan Lovren never seemed to get to grips with what was expected of him, particularly when Liverpool were changing from a back four to a back three, he just didn’t seem to understand his role. He had a good period in the side in the second half of the season and for that I’ll give him a six, but he hasn’t been anywhere near consistent enough.”
WE SAY: This seems very kind from Thommo. The Croatian was nothing short of a walking disaster during the first-half of the season. While his performances have improved since Christmas he still looks incredibly unsure. You have to think that he’ll start the season behind Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho as a third choice centre-back and he’ll have to go some if he’s going to win over the Liverpool fans next year.
Lazar Markovic – 5/10
THOMMO SAYS: “I’d probably give Markovic a five – he’s just not really done it for me. He had a decent spell when he was playing as a wing-back, when Brendan Rodgers started using that formation, but he’s certainly not done anywhere near enough to justify the hype he had when he first came in. We’ve not seen enough of that blistering pace that he’s supposedly blessed with, so I’m expecting a lot more from him next season.”
WE SAY: About right, it’s been a difficult season for the Serbian who has been struggling to adapt to life in English football. The quality is in there – we’ve seen flashes of it – but he’s been far too wasteful for the most part. His confidence looked to be at an all-time low towards the end of the season, after being subbed in a number of games at half-time. He was left out all together for the last few games and it’ll be interesting to see how he responds.
Alberto Moreno – 6/10
THOMMO SAYS: “I’d give Moreno a six out of 10. He showed early promise and hopefully he’ll be better off with the experience of one full Premier League season under his belt. He’s another who has had to play in a couple of different positions – left midfield and left-back, where he looks much more comfortable – but I think he’s got the potential to kick on, so long as he learns from his first season.”
WE SAY: Probably fair. The Spaniard showed flashes of being a seven or an eight but he also had moments where he was a four or a five. A couple of high-profile errors aside and it was a decent first season from the youngster who will now hope to kick on and fully establish himself as a Liverpool regular. He was utilised as both a wing-back and as a midfielder so he’s probably going to be after some consistency next season, much like Emre Can.
Divock Origi & Javier Manquillo
THOMMO SAYS: Nothing
WE SAY: These two didn’t even make Thommo’s assessment. Manquillo has barely featured since Christmas and for what it’s worth we’d probably give him a five – when he has played he’s done okay but it’s been nothing to get too excited about. Let’s hope he can do better in his second season on loan. Origi has had a decent year in Lille but didn’t do enough to suggest that he’s going to be the answer to all of our problems in attack.
