Brendan Rodgers: Friend or Foe?

With the Premier league season coming to a close, and with Liverpool fighting for the trophy, some of Rodgers tactics start to seem questionable. 

The fact that Rodgers did not trust any of his youth until the final third of the season is, quite honestly, pretty frightening. What would Liverpool's season have looked like if Gerrard, Suarez, Agger and Mignolet had not have had a completely healthy season? There would be mass panic for all of us Liverpool fans. Who would take their place. Well, we do have the former Barcelona man Luis Alberto who is a quality striker, but hasn't seemed to earn his spot onto the team sheet. Why that is, none of us know. But I, for one, am very upset about that. Youth is power and not using that power is a complete waste. Another talented youth player that hasn't played as much as he deserves to, is Jordan Ibe. A quick, technical attacking player that could bring loads of creativity to the Liverpool attack, but he hasn't seen the pitch at all this year. The even more frightening part is that Ibe was picked up this past summer. And for what? Did Rodgers spend that money with no intent to play Ibe? That's what it looks like to me. Rodgers did not want to be criticised like Wenger for not buying anyone so he spent money on players he had no intent on using. The one that infuriates me the most is Iago Aspas. Aspas is one of the most creative players on the Liverpool roster right now. And he has only seen the pitch a few times this year and for a very short amount of time. His creativity could've been used when Chelsea parked the bus, but Rodgers did not trust him. His lack of trust could be from the lack of playing time Aspas had gotten though. And whose fault would that be? 

Don't get me wrong, Rodgers is a great manager and I love what he has done with this Liverpool squad. However, some changes do need to be made in order for Liverpool to remain dominant in seasons to come and not have to rely on the goal scoring capabilities of Luis Suarez. 

Summer Transfers: My Top Transfers of the Summer Window

This transfer window has seen its fair share of drama and endless speculation about who is going where and for how much. I am going to share my limited knowledge on some of the big transfers and their effect on each team and the league.

First off, I want to say that Rooney to Chelsea is absolute rubbish. Moyes is not going to let Wayne Rooney go and make Chelsea even stronger.

By far the most talked about transfer is the new Blaugrana man, Neymar. The Brazilian wonder kid will take loads of pressure off of Lionel Messi and provide more speed and quickness to the already potent Barcelona attack. There is big talk about whether Neymar and Messi will get along, which is not even a real question given the humility of Messi. Messi and Neymar will be the better version of the Keane and Donovan relationship in LA. Pass and move, goal. Expect Barcelona to make a serious Champions League run after the disappointing 7-0 aggregate loss to Bayern Munich in last year's campaign.


My next big move is Aspas to Liverpool. With all the Suarez drama it is not hard to see how important of a buy this was for the Reds. Aspas is a replacement for the want-away striker and a good one at that. Iago always seems to show up in the right spots to lay off a pass or dribble and shoot. Vision is great also. The lad has a great future at Liverpool with Liverpool playing good football right now.

My last big transfer is Mario Gomez to Fiorentina. Gomez is a clinical finisher and with Fiorentina losing Stevan Jovetic to Manchester City; Gomez is the perfect replacement. Gomez is another striker who always seems to be in the right place at the right time which is a huge attribute for any team to have with a striker.

Although there have been many more big transfers, these are by far the most important (in my opinion) and with more big transfers waiting to happen in the dying embers of the window, my list could change. The big transfers I am talking about are David Luiz and Gareth Bale. Only time will tell where those two superstars end up and each will have huge effects on the teams they are leaving and especially the ones they are moving to.

Has Loyalty Disappeared From The Beautiful Game?

With the Luis Suarez fiasco comes this very big question, is there loyalty in the beautiful game anymore? Yes, but it is going quickly. While there still are many loyal players, money is changing that quicker than we might think.

Luis Suarez wants to leave the Anfield club because of the lack of premier league play, which is understandable, but with the young talent in Jordan Ibe and others, it might be worth sticking around. Suarez has done this to another club. A club called Groningen in Holland. Ajax sent a 3.5 million Euro offer for the striker and when Groningen rejected the offer, Suarez took them to court. Ridiculous, right? Suarez lost in court but Ajax then upped their offer to 7.5 million Euros which Groningen accepted.

Rodgers has a very opposite view then Suarez stating, "The Liverpool Way is all about a club with ambition, a club that strives to be the very best, a club that is about commitment. That means that everyone is committed to the cause of fighting for the shirt." That bold word is one that Suarez struggles with. Suarez, along with many others only want what is best for them at that moment.

One of the other people that comes to mind when I think about club jumping is Mario Balotelli. Mario has never been on my good side. My first experience with Balotelli was in the 2012 season. Mario was having a bad game and late in that game, Manchester City won a free-kick in a good area. City's manager told Mario to let someone else take the kick, and he did not take that well. He threw, for lack of a better explanation, a temper tantrum.

Balotelli has not only off the field problems but on field problems as well. His move to Milan was, in my opinion, a bad one for Milan. He cannot hold his temper in tense games which often sees him getting sent off for unnecessary reasons. His career was marred with drinking and a love for late nights, when that is the last thing you want from an athlete.

With all that being said, money definitely has changed the game we all know and love. The most important thing for clubs now is finding a loyal player with his priorities in tact. Which in this era, will be very difficult, be we do see it. Players like Messi, Gerrard, Terry and many more are still here and can be a good influence for the future generation of players.

Giroud: Superstar at the Emirates

Giroud's importance to the Gunners was once again brought up as Tomas Rosicky stated that he needed to up Arsenal's goal tally this coming season. With him netting 25 goals in 43 game last season, is that too much to ask? His former team mate Robin Van Persie was at the top of the table with 26 in only the Barclays Premier League.

Giroud brings quickness, clinical finishing and great runs to this motivated Arsenal team, but do the Gunners have anyone to set him up? Indeed he does! Arsenal has a midfield with a mix of experience and youth with Aaron Ramsey, Santi Corzola and Mikel Arteta all getting regular minutes in midfield.

If Arsenal can come out with a big midfielder or winger in this transfer window, you can expect to see a lot more of Oliver Giroud on the score sheet. If Giroud can score more than 20 goals in this next season you can expect to see the Gunners finish in a Champions Cup spot, but success lies heavy on Oliver Giroud just like Rosicky stated.

Competition for Howard at National and Club Level

Everton's manager Roberto Martinez has signed Joel Robles, a younger, fresher keeper from Athletico Madrid which leaves competition for the USA No.1, Tim Howard. 

Joel already has a long list of accomplishments that almost equal Tim Howard's, such as winning the FA Cup with Wigan, winning the U-21 World Cup this year with Spain and playing for Spain as every level U-23 and below. He has had great experience and great men teaching him, and he's only 23, Howard is the ripe age of 34. 

Howard did win an FA Cup and League Title with Manchester United in 2004 but was soon replaced by a new GK the next year. He also won the FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Glove in 2009 and had the best save in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2011. In that light Howard may seem like a better No.1 than Joel, but keep in mind that Howard is 10 years older. 

All USA fans will hope that this new challenge for Howard will only make him better in time for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where he will face all kinds of strikers who will test him in various ways. He has competition on the US Men's National Team as well with Rimando having a great showing between the sticks this CONCACAF Gold Cup. (The video below will show you his acrobatic double save). I would say that this competition for Howard can only mean good things for the USA as they look towards Brazil in 2014.