Henry, Comolli, Transfer Policy

[Flight]

Terrible spend in the transfer market is obviously one of the biggest factors in our demise. But what have Comolli and Henry had to say about it ? I had a quick look back.

 

 

Comolli - Spetember 2011

 

  Quote

“Most of the players we got were our priorities or were in our top two priorities. We’ve done what we wanted to do and strengthened the positions we had to strengthen.

 

“We are very pleased with what we’ve done during this window and the previous one as well. For me it’s like a big window from January until August 31 and in total we brought in nine players. We changed the team and changed the squad.

 

“At the moment I would really struggle to say we need something there or something there because I think we have such a complete squad.

 

 

 

Comolli - This month (March 2012)

 

  Quote

Liverpool's director of football Damien Comolli has warned Kenny Dalglish he won't be able to spend big in the transfer market this summer.

 

Dalglish brought in seven players last summer to add to the two, Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez, who were signed the previous January.

 

About £120million was invested in the squad, although almost £60million was recouped from departures, but Comolli does not anticipate there being major changes this time around.

 

It is early days. We will probably make some adjustments in the summer but nothing that we've done before,' he said.

 

'We signed nine players since Kenny came back so there will be a few adjustments but nothing massive.

 

'Kenny has said it several times that we have a very competitive squad and all positions are covered by two or three players, quality players, and we have a lot of young players coming through as well.'

 

 

 

Now is it just me or does the subtle change in Comolli hint at passing the buck to Kenny ?

 

Henry himself has underlined it's Kenny that has the final say on players :

 

 

  Quote

Dalglish has gone on record several times about how cordial his relationship with Comolli is and Henry – who has stressed that the manager always has the final decision on new signings – says the two men have proven to be an ideal foil.

 

‘I was speaking with Kenny about it this week and he doesn't see that much difference between our model and the model of Liverpool when he was managing before,’ Henry said.

 

‘It's up to Damien and his staff to identify, study and acquire the right players, but Kenny always has the ultimate say. The two of them work very, very well with each other.’

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2059552/John-Henry-praises-Damien-Comolli-Liverpool.html

 

 

But that's not the full picture. What advice is Kenny getting and, for that matter, is he asking the right questions ?

 

One thing is for sure, Comolli was spot on in the following last summer :

 

 

  Quote

“We are very happy but what we do during the season will decide how well we did in the transfer window,” he said.

[Earl Hafler]

Nice post but i have one question :

 

How the f*** does anyone look at Downing's stats and consider him a £20m investment in his peak years ? That to me sounds more like DC than Kenny.

 

During this season DC should have been earning his coin and hopefully a couple of nice surprises this summer

[Cooldude]

Both Kenny and Comolli has to take responsibility for pouring all the cash down the f***ing dumpster, Comolli in particular would have a f*** load to answer for

[Epic Swindle]

I don't think Kenny will be actively scouting players or have anything to do with the fees. I think he'll be saying yay or nay, simple as that.

[dl2009]

Damien probably doing the same thing he did with Spurs; spunking money up the wall and then blaming the manager.

[Epic Swindle]

If he can get us a Modric and Berbatov before he leaves that would be great.

[Flight]

I have to wonder if the 'Moneyball' approach has just been underlined to not work in football.

 

Mainly that there is far more to winning games in football than in American sports, which can be analyzed more easily using statistical analysis. Key passes and possession in the final third does not necessarily equate to winning matches, not can motivation and confidence - even installing them - be judged on paper

[Epic Swindle]

I'd also like to see us introducing a few kids regardless of how much we have to spend.

[Flight]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:21, Epic Swindle said:

I don't think Kenny will be actively scouting players or have anything to do with the fees. I think he'll be saying yay or nay, simple as that.

 

 

I find that hard to believe when each player bought will affect remaining funds for other players.

[dl2009]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:23, Epic Swindle said:

If he can get us a Modric and Berbatov before he leaves that would be great.

 

Apparently, he had very little (if anything) to do with those transfers.

[Epic Swindle]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:25, Flight said:

I find that hard to believe when each player bought will affect remaining funds for other players.

 

What input do you think he'll have where fees and wages are concerned? DC is the DOF, it's a big part of his his job. Kenny even says in his book that he was offered AC on the last day of the window and there was no fee mentioned. In that scenario which manager isn't going to say yes please?

 

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:25, dl2009 said:

Apparently, he had very little (if anything) to do with those transfers.

 

Who said that? I find that hard to believe, certainly in the case of Berbatov.

Edited March 25, 2012 by Epic Swindle

[Flight]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:27, Epic Swindle said:

Kenny even says in his book that he was offered AC on the last day of the fee and there was no fee mentioned. In that scenario which manager isn't going to say yes please?

 

 

Didn't know that. If that's true sack Comolli. Simple as.

 

And he can take his buck passing with him and his copy of Moneyball.

Edited March 25, 2012 by Flight

[Benzo-13]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:24, Flight said:

I have to wonder if the 'Moneyball' approach has just been underlined to not work in football.

 

Mainly that there is far more to winning games in football than in American sports, which can be analyzed more easily using statistical analysis. Key passes and possession in the final third does not necessarily equate to winning matches, not can motivation and confidence - even installing them - be judged on paper

I don't think we've even implemented it at all.

We just bought flavours of the month and parochial players of the year.

Edited March 25, 2012 by Benzo-13

[Rimbeux]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:24, Flight said:

I have to wonder if the 'Moneyball' approach has just been underlined to not work in football.

 

Mainly that there is far more to winning games in football than in American sports, which can be analyzed more easily using statistical analysis. Key passes and possession in the final third does not necessarily equate to winning matches, not can motivation and confidence - even installing them - be judged on paper

 

If anything it wasn't used well enough. If you add up the goals around the squad over player's history it's not that surprising we have struggled in front of goal. Dont think there is anything particularly Moneyball about the way we've gone about things.

[Epic Swindle]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:29, Flight said:

Didn't know that. If that's true sack Comolli. Simple as.

 

And he can take his buck passing with him and his copy of Moneyball.

 

Don't think anyone needs sacking, they just all need to improve. And this moneyball thing was more of a inspiration than a real strategy, though stats are pretty much used in every transfer these days. I think they'll know you can't always guarantee signings based solely on data, hence the signing of Bellers.

[Rocheteau]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:23, dl2009 said:

Damien probably doing the same thing he did with Spurs; spunking money up the wall and then blaming the manager.

 

 

He is there to define transfer strategy, oversee the scouting network and provide support and advice to the manager in the selection of targets. It should be a team approach but at Spurs there was always the suspicion that he interfered a lot more than he should - Jol is not a fan its safe to say

 

 

[Epic Swindle]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:32, Rimbeux said:

If anything it wasn't used well enough. If you add up the goals around the squad over player's history it's not that surprising we have struggled in front of goal. Dont think there is anything particularly Moneyball about the way we've gone about things.

 

Is the ethos any different to say us picking up the likes of Clemence, Hughes, etc and moving players on as soon as they get past their peak? At the end of the day it's about good players with the right mentality.

 

No signing will ever be 100 % guaranteed but it's about minimising the failures. Which is why I'd like to see us really trusting the youth set up from now on.

[dl2009]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:27, Epic Swindle said:

Who said that? I find that hard to believe, certainly in the case of Berbatov.

 

No great source by any means, just a mate of mine who is familiar with the Spurs set up. Interestingly, when we appointed Damien, he said, "Now see how much money you lot will waste on average British players".

 

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:35, ChaoticPrimate said:

He is there to define transfer strategy, oversee the scouting network and provide support and advice to the manager in the selection of targets. It should be a team approach but at Spurs there was always the suspicion that he interfered a lot more than he should - Jol is not a fan its safe to say

 

There was outright civil war at Spurs during that period. According to my mate (yeah, I know!) Comolli had been speaking with Juande Ramos for maybe months before he was appointed.

[Epic Swindle]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:37, dl2009 said:

No great source by any means, just a mate of mine who is familiar with the Spurs set up. Interestingly, when we appointed Damien, he said, "Now see how much money you lot will waste on average British players".

 

From what I can remember there was initially a huge drive to hoover up the best british players and there was some odd ones in there, Danny Murphy?

 

Didn't they then start signing more foreign lads? I suppose it's a strategy that can only be judged in the longer term.

[Rimbeux]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:35, Epic Swindle said:

Is the ethos any different to say us picking up the likes of Clemence, Hughes, etc and moving players on as soon as they get past their peak? At the end of the day it's about good players with the right mentality.

 

No signing will ever be 100 % guaranteed but it's about minimising the failures. Which is why I'd like to see us really trusting the youth set up from now on.

 

What you're describing is just good common sense transfer policy. The Moneyball ethos is in essence finding value where others fail to see it. It's about paradox, it requires a lot of analysis and then the ability to spot the advantages. In terms of football, The Big Sam is the standout Moneyball exponent.

[épieur]

Why does the thread title omit Kenny?

 

Commoli may well have major responsibility for our transfer failings. But let's not turn it into a scapegoat exercise to try and exonerate Kenny from his responsibilities either.

[Epic Swindle]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:43, epieur said:

Why does the thread title omit Kenny?

 

Commoli may well have major responsibility for our transfer failings. But let's not turn it into a scapegoat exercise to try and exonerate Kenny from his responsibilities either.

 

God forbid.

[Maldini]

It's pretty obvious at this stage that they work together on transfers, there are no "Kenny signings" and no "Comolli signings". They are collectively responsible for the signings good and bad.

[Epic Swindle]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:41, Rimbeux said:

What you're describing is just good common sense transfer policy. The Moneyball ethos is in essence finding value where others fail to see it.

 

But isn't that the same in essence just with more data and less human judgement?

[épieur]

  On 25/03/2012 at 14:41, Rimbeux said:

What you're describing is just good common sense transfer policy. The Moneyball ethos is in essence finding value where others fail to see it. It's about paradox, it requires a lot of analysis and then the ability to spot the advantages. In terms of football, The Big Sam is the standout Moneyball exponent.

 

That's a good call. He is very focused on data when it comes to player profiling too. The team he built at Bolton on a shoestring I think showed how many opportunities there are in the transfer market if you are willing to pursue them.