Will Liverpool struggle like Tottenham Hotspur last season with a flurry of signings?

Adam Lallana – one of Liverpool’s big money signing ahead of the new season

“It’s always difficult when you bring so many players in to predict how well they’ll do. You have to integrate more, your squad is always a balance, and there’s a bit more risk.” – Arsene Wenger

When Arsene Wenger said this at the start of last season with reference to Tottenham Hotspur buying a lot of players after the sale of Gareth Bale, he was roundly criticized for being jealous of the amount of spending their cross-town rivals were able to do. However, he was proved correct in the end, with Spurs having a less than admirable season, which also included the sacking of their manager.

Apart from Christian Eriksen and Paulinho, the rest of the new players who came in didn’t make any impact, with Roberto Soldado receiving particularly harsh criticism from the press and rival fans. This was a season in which Spurs had to go through the Europa League once again, which in itself is very draining on the players with its hectic schedule. But it was expected that Spurs could kick on and do well in the league, and the optimism was high when the season started that they could very well move into the Top 4 once again.

Are Liverpool going the same way?

The signs are pretty much there that Liverpool are completely doing a Spurs this season. First, they sell their best player to a Spanish club for a bucket load of money, and then to compensate, they are buying players to negate the impact the player’s loss would have on the team.

Luis Suarez was by far the best player in the Premier League last season, without any doubt. He won the awards to go with his contribution, and it was unfortunate that Liverpool couldn’t win the league in the end. This, despite the fact that he was serving a ban at the start of the season, which just goes to show how much more damage he could have done if he had played those games too.

Now that Suarez has been sold to Barcelona, it is difficult not to see the parallel with Gareth Bale’s move to Real Madrid. Both are big money moves, both were extremely important for their teams. In fact, it wouldn’t be a big leap of logic if one even said neither team could have had such an impactful if it wasn’t for their respective talismans.

Can new players add value?

Spurs tried to negate the Bale factor by signing 6 players; Liverpool have already signed 4. Granted all of them are not in the role that was occupied by Suarez, but just like Spurs, Brendan Rodgers feels he would need to add significantly if he were to even maintain consistency with respect to the previous season.

While Liverpool fans would want to give credit to the entire team for being able to give tough competition to Manchester City in quest for the league title, it is undeniable that Suarez did a lot of the creating and scoring part. Sure, even Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling had a crucial role to play, but it is debatable if Lambert or Lallana would be able to replace the skill set of a Suarez on fire.

Liverpool have also signed Emre Can from Bayer Leverkusen and Lazar Markovic from Benfica. Emre Can is a central midfielder who predominantly played in a defensive position for Leverkusen but is adept at attacking as well. In fact, in Germany, he’s seen as being in the same mould as Michael Ballack and Bastian Schweinsteiger. With Steven Gerrard and Jordon Henderson occupying the defensive midfield roles, he will probably be deployed in a more attacking position.

Lazar Markovic, Liverpool’s most versatile signing?

Markovic is a versatile player who can play on both the wings and as a striker, so he can be deployed in either of the roles based on the team’s required. At an expense of 19 million, one can safely say that he is not there to be benched.

While the signings in themselves are excellent, one has to go back to Arsene Wenger’s quote once again and wonder how much it will affect the team dynamics. It will take a fair bit of time for all these players to get on the same wavelength as the rest of the team. One must remember that it has taken a fair bit of time for the signings made back in Kenny Dalglish’s brief time to bed in and become an integral part now. It will be the same with these new players, especially the ones coming from a different league.

More players to come?

Rumours are going around that Liverpool are looking to make a bid for Marco Reus as well as a couple of other players. If they do sign one or two more players, it will indeed be a successful summer for Liverpool, which it already is. But it will be a major headache for Brendan Rodgers to try and integrate the new players with the system and the team.

And Liverpool do not have the luxury of weekly breaks this season. With the Champions League fixtures upon them, games will come thick and fast, and there would be no time for proper training sessions between games to make players understand their roles in the team.

It will be interesting to see if Liverpool can avoid the quagmire that Spurs found themselves in last season, and if they can do that, then certainly they will have success to show for at the end of the campaign.

“When I said at the start of the season if you sign more than 3 players you take a technical risk, you laughed at me." – Arsene Wenger