Damien Comolli And Some Interesting Points About Liverpool

 Ahead of our recent match against West Brom, Steve Clarke made some comments about KD’s signings beginning to settle and coming good.  There was some truth in what he was saying, but more than anything it reminded me of an interview I heard with Damien Comolli just before Christmas on TalkSport.  

 Often, newspapers and media outlets use the same sources of information to saturation point, but this is one that might have gone under the radar at the time so I thought I’d flag it up as there was some interesting points.

 Of course, as you’d expect for an unemployed man who’s looking to get back into the game Comolli was generally talking up his successes and spoke a lot about patience in football.  On other subjects he spoke more candidly though.

 The transfer window may seem a long time ago now, but there wasn’t a day at the time when Tom Ince’s name wasn’t being linked with us.  Although he certainly fits the Rodgers profile and the type of player we need – someone who can beat a man with pace and trickery and find the back of the net (a la Suarez, Sturridge and hopefully Countinho), many of us expressed reservations about the deal.  Why take someone back when they’ve left.  Or indeed why let him go in the first place?

 Comolli said:  “When I arrived at the club Tom was at the end of his contract (in 2011). I met him and his Dad. One of the first things I did.  And Roy was still in charge. Paul was concerned that the standard of play at the club and the way the team was playing was not suited to Tom.  Roy went.  From then on I think we made 4 or 5 contract offers to Tom that he kept turning down. He didn’t feel it was the right place for him to stay and to play his football. I think the last offer, we would have made him the highest paid player underneath the first team, and to be fair to him I don’t think it was a money issue”.  Comolli went on to explain that the deal reduced the fee for Charlie Adam, which was attractive given that they didn’t have a choice – Ince wanted to leave and states “to keep our interest there was a big sell-on”.

 He then goes on to talk about the issue of over-playing young players.  Last month Jay flagged up his surprise that Sterling was getting so much game time right here on this blog.  Perhaps Rodgers is a reader because soon after Sterling was given a bit of a break from the action.  How we’ve treated our young players over the years is a concern.  Is it a coincidence that Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler were both practically finished by the age of 25?  Or was it our fault?  Owen seems to think so, pointing accusations recently, although he wasn’t begging to be dropped for Erik Meijer at the time.

 The fitness issue reminded me of another good feature which may have been missed by some of our fans a while back – a piece in the Daily Express about the backroom staff at Melwood.

 If accurate, one of the most concerning suggestions made in the article was that Rodgers was told on arrival that it would be highly unlikely he’d ever be able to play Johnson three times in a week, or that Agger and Gerrard could handle back to back matches.

 But instead of accepting this, LFC’s Head of Performance Glen Driscoll has been charged with a new approach.  Resting players is now deemed to be ‘old hat’.  If they’ve been rested it implies that we’ve failed to look after them in the first place.  The emphasis now is on tweaking the training to keep players in the best possible condition.  Even down to a personal level if required.  And that doesn’t mean giving players time off, or dodging sessions, it means a whole planned approach to training based on latest fitness and performance data.  Recovery from games is now given just as much attention as training for games.

 The stats are certainly impressive, especially for those more ‘fragile’ players.  Gerrard has already made far more league appearances this season than in either of the past two seasons (26, versus 18 and 21 respectively).  Without trying to curse him, should Agger make three more league appearances this season it will be his highest league total ever for us.  The full article can be read here. 

 I’m going  to leave you with a thought from the Comolli interview which is completely unrelated to the rest of the post, but interesting nonetheless.  He predicts a new golden era for two leagues in Europe: England and Germany.  He sights the new Premier League TV deal which will come into effect next season, and points out that on paper the team finishing 17^th in the EPL will have a higher turnover than the teams finishing  5^th in France, Italy or Spain.

Written by 3s