Liverpool Most Disappointing XI

Starting my new series of articles for the Journal about Most Disappointing XI's - As a United. i'm gonna start with Liverpool  

I'm looking for your suggusts and reasons, why players should make the final XI - I'm not looking bad players with terms of ability, looking for the players that arrived for huge money and/or big expectations but didn't do it for the Red Men!

Will be quoting the best opinions in the Article

Thanx Lads!  

Abel Xavier.

Should never have cut the hair off

aqualini cost 25 million and was rubbish.

Igor Biscan, Bruno Cheyrou, Anthony le Tallec, El-Hadji Diouf..

-Robbie fowlers second coming?
-downing is a obvious one
-morientes came with a massive reputation and a fairly large transfer fee and never really made it
-dossena cost 7 mil!!
-charlie adam was also a expensive flop

and of course the 35 mil spent on a mr carroll, despite what some might tell you on here he is pants and never even worth half that

he's not worth 35p and im a west ham fan!

andy carroll is the biggest LOSERpool flop of them al. £35 mil and he is rubbish.

Going back to the 1980's, Liverpool bought a full back from Fulham by the name of Richard Money. He had shown great potential at the Cottage and it seemed at the time a move to Anfield would make a star of him. For some reason, having bought him, Liverpool hardly ever played him. A dozen or so appearances in two years, as I recall.

There was speculation at the time, that Liverpool only signed him to prevent Manchester United, who also wanted him, from getting him first. Whether that is true or not I can't say, but the mutterings certainly persisted.

Whether this qualifies him as a flop is debatable, but after leaving Liverpool, the only way from there was down.

Chris Kirkland - Showed plenty of potential at Coventry but hands made of glass.

El Hadji Diouf - Did Houllier really rate him higher than Anelka?

Robbie Keane - Payed way over the odds for services that the manger evidently didn't want.

Alberto Aquilani was/is pants.

Stuart Downing - Hasn't been consistently decent since his Boro days.

Joe Allen - He'll never be a top player and the club will do well to get back a third of what they payed for him.

Kolo Toure - Might have been a freebie but I imagine he's on a fair whack. Never rated him.

Jari Litmanen - Better than he showed and a real disappointment.

Going back a couple of decades then I'd have to say Nigel Clough. What was an exciting signing turned out be a proper flop.

During the years I've been following football, I'd say Djibril Cisse was Liverpool's biggest disappointment.
He was pretty much unstoppable in the French League before joining and often topped lists naming the future world stars in football.
I remember when Liverpool signed him, many thought they had potentially signed the next Henry.
However, he never turned out to be anything above decent.

The Fourth Lion wrote:Going back to the 1980's, Liverpool bought a full back from Fulham by the name of Richard Money.  He had shown great potential at the Cottage and it seemed at the time a move to Anfield would make a star of him.  For some reason, having bought him, Liverpool hardly ever played him.  A dozen or so appearances in two years, as I recall.  

There was speculation at the time, that Liverpool only signed him to prevent Manchester United, who also wanted him, from getting him first.  Whether that is true or not I can't say, but the mutterings certainly persisted.

Whether this qualifies him as a flop is debatable, but after leaving Liverpool, the only way from there was down.

Yes, I remember that. In one episode of the Minder television series from the early 1980s, the central character Terry McCann (played by Dennis Waterman) bemoans the sale of Richard Money to Liverpool and makes a comment along the lines that his team Fulham now have no chance of recapturing any past glories.

Around the start of the '80s, Liverpool also signed striker Frank McGarvey who had been impressing for St Mirren, managed by a young Alex Ferguson. During his year with Liverpool, McGarvey made a couple of international appearances for Scotland but never managed a game for his new club. He then returned north of the border and had a successful few years with Celtic before ending up once more with St Mirren.

One factor to bear in mind is that English teams were only allowed to pick one substitute for each domestic game during this era. That and the general absence then of anything akin to a rotation policy made it very difficult for young players and new signings to get a taste of first team football and break into the team at a hugely successful club like Liverpool. Another example is Roy Evans; having come up through the junior ranks, he played only a handful of games at Liverpool in just about as many years before switching to coaching and eventually becoming their manager.

Does the 12th man count? Those fans...

Is Djimi Traore really escaping this thread? Him, Morientes and the Keeper who laughed on the bench that time who I have completely forgotten. Brad Jones is god awful too.

 

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Does the 12th man count? Those fans...

Is Djimi Traore really escaping this thread? Him, Morientes and the Keeper who laughed on the bench that time who I have completely forgotten. Brad Jones is god awful too.

 

It would if it was the most disappointing XII.

Don't let the Carroll hate get to ya Christophe old fella. I was sad to see him go.

Djimi Traore's own goal at Burnley was something else.

Was Morientes really bad for Liverpool, I can't really remember. I guess it's another case of a target man, like Carroll, just not suiting Liverpool's style maybe. Yeah, Brad Jones is awful. Cisse was always on the decline after all those broken leg incidents. Christ, I remember watching that leg break at Blackburn I think it was, truly disgusting, make me sick those sights. Sinama-Pongolle was another, shocking.

Traore may well have been a disappointment but for a goal line clearance in the 05 CL final. Well for a Liverpool fan anyway.

Morientes would fall into the Litmanen bracket. More was expected.

Joe Cole. 

I was very excited when Cole was signed, expected him to be able to light up the Premier League again having not been given a chance over the past couple of years for Chelsea and England but was a shadow of his former self, slow, not inventive, poor technical ability and lack of motivation.

John wrote:Djimi Traore's own goal at Burnley was something else.

Was Morientes really bad for Liverpool, I can't really remember. I guess it's another case of a target man, like Carroll, just not suiting Liverpool's style maybe. Yeah, Brad Jones is awful. Cisse was always on the decline after all those broken leg incidents. Christ, I remember watching that leg break at Blackburn I think it was, truly disgusting, make me sick those sights. Sinama-Pongolle was another, shocking.

8 goals in 41 apperances for someone know as a goalscorer also only scored 3 goals whole of 04-05 season is hardly setting the world alight

Id say Cisse was about as good as Gerrard in that cup final we won that somehow shows as Liverpool in the record books.

Arguably, Cole, Carroll, Downing and the second coming of Dalglish (as the manager of this disappointment side) are all contenders.

Not sure Dicks or Ruddock ever lit up too many games either, whilst I know a lot hate Konchesky.

compelling and rich wrote:

John wrote:Djimi Traore's own goal at Burnley was something else.

Was Morientes really bad for Liverpool, I can't really remember. I guess it's another case of a target man, like Carroll, just not suiting Liverpool's style maybe. Yeah, Brad Jones is awful. Cisse was always on the decline after all those broken leg incidents. Christ, I remember watching that leg break at Blackburn I think it was, truly disgusting, make me sick those sights. Sinama-Pongolle was another, shocking.

8 goals in 41 apperances for someone know as a goalscorer also only scored 3 goals whole of 04-05 season is hardly setting the world alight

Funny how when he left Liverpool, Morientes basically was scoring for fun again in La Liga for Valencia & was the top goalscorer in the champions league for them that season. He formed a great little n large partnership with David Villa & shone. I just think he didn't suit the EPL or Liverpool's style. Same thing with Carroll as I said before.

i would also say and have always have done that la liga is pretty poor defensively, technically better than the prem but quite a distance away in defence, you only have too look at people like kanoute, forlan and morienties all flop in the prem but bagged for fun in la liga, cant think of any the other way round

totally agree, la liga is a joke defensively n just should never be used really for stats comparison with the EPL, especially for strikers. think guiseppe rossi was another striker, woeful in EPL went to Villarreal & was banging them in.

Well Torres best goal scoring season was 19 in Spain and he bagged 31 for Liverpool in his first season.

Not many strikers have gone from day barca or Madrid reserves to decent clubs in England, not really fair to use the likes of Rossi and forlan who couldn't really get a game for united to decide this. After all they've scored goals in Italy too and forlan was player of the tournament at the WC in 2010.

ignoring the earlier years of torres when he was a young kid breaking into the team his stats are not too much different. liverpool had him in his prime in four seasons he scored 82, for a.madrid where he probably wasn't the finished article most of the time the last four seasons (same time as Liverpool) he scored 69, only a difference of 13 comparing torres hottest form. the less i use Chelsea stats the better (for him at least)

there was a reason rossi didnt get into the team, we had plenty of better players. and its perfect fair to judge forlan. he got plenty of games for us. made over 60 appearances!!

guildfordbat wrote:

The Fourth Lion wrote:Going back to the 1980's, Liverpool bought a full back from Fulham by the name of Richard Money.  He had shown great potential at the Cottage and it seemed at the time a move to Anfield would make a star of him.  For some reason, having bought him, Liverpool hardly ever played him.  A dozen or so appearances in two years, as I recall.  

There was speculation at the time, that Liverpool only signed him to prevent Manchester United, who also wanted him, from getting him first.  Whether that is true or not I can't say, but the mutterings certainly persisted.

Whether this qualifies him as a flop is debatable, but after leaving Liverpool, the only way from there was down.

Yes, I remember that. In one episode of the Minder television series from the early 1980s, the central character Terry McCann (played by Dennis Waterman) bemoans the sale of Richard Money to Liverpool and makes a comment along the lines that his team Fulham now have no chance of recapturing any past glories.

Around the start of the '80s, Liverpool also signed striker Frank McGarvey who had been impressing for St Mirren, managed by a young Alex Ferguson. During his year with Liverpool, McGarvey made a couple of international appearances for Scotland but never managed a game for his new club. He then returned north of the border and had a successful few years with Celtic before ending up once more with St Mirren.

One factor to bear in mind is that English teams were only allowed to pick one substitute for each domestic game during this era. That and the general absence then of anything akin to a rotation policy made it very difficult for young players and new signings to get a taste of first team football and break into the team at a hugely successful club like Liverpool. Another example is Roy Evans; having come up through the junior ranks, he played only a handful of games at Liverpool in just about as many years before switching to coaching and eventually becoming their manager.

I know I'm going a little off topic for a moment... please indulge me.... but I had to have a little chuckle at the comment about Minder, Guildford. Down the years, there have been a number of TV shows based in London, centred around dodgy characters such as Budgie, Citizen Smith and Minder.... and they all supported Fulham.

What is it about Fulham that TV scriptwriters seem to associate rogues of one stripe or another with them..? Perhaps any Fulham fans reading this could explain it (on a dedicated thread, perhaps).

OK... back on topic now. Sorry for the digression. Good point about substitutions and rotation policies. Thanks for that.

Fourth Lion - don't worry about the digression. I always think a good thread is similar to a good dinner party. Conversation and booze flowing freely. Just a pity 606v2 doesn't supply the booze!

With regard to those tv programmes, I think the scriptwriters perceived a connection between the central characters and Fulham FC which might be labelled ''likeable loser''. Apologies to any of the club's supporters looking in. The tide anyway does at last appear to be turning with current cult hero, brain box and all round good guy Richard Osman of Pointless fame regularly voicing his support of The Cottagers.

Back to topic and back even further in the past. In 1932 Liverpool signed centre forward Les Bruton from Blackburn Rovers where he had scored 28 goals in 42 League and FA Cup games. Before that, he had been even more prolific north of the border with Raith Rovers and incredibly averaged a goal a game throughout the entire '28-'29 season - an achievement even more remarkable as they finished bottom of the top tier and were relegated. It was hoped by Liverpool that he would rival the legendary 'Dixie' Dean of Everton for goalscoring and bragging rights in the city and beyond. Alas, it was not to be. He never settled at his new club. A loss of form and confidence together with a persistent knee injury saw him moving on to non league Leamington after eighteen months, 9 first team games and just one goal. Nonetheless, I remain very proud of him, my great uncle.

Ryan Babel was another huge let down.
Lots of hype but failed to deliver.

Would be harsh to consider Cisse after the career threatening injury he suffered during his time with us, I doubt he ever got over that and it was horrible when it happened.

Some to consider;

Doni - played one game and got sent off during it
Degan
Dossena
Diomede
Diao
Diouf
Cheyrou
Carroll
Le Tallec
Cole
Morientes
Carroll

Also surprised Vorinin hasn't been mentioned.

hampo171 wrote:Also surprised Vorinin hasn't been mentioned.

An undoubted failure but nowt was expected of him really. He came with no hype and didn't disappoint.

Yeah if anything he did better than most expected. I certainly had very low expectations and he scored the odd goal. 

Diouf has got to be one surely, chosen over Anelka.

I would argue he still flopped, he would have been on a decent wage. Remember Taibi for United came with no expectation and is still considered a flop.

VDT wrote:I'm not looking bad players with terms of ability, looking for the players that arrived for huge money and/or big expectations but didn't do it for the Red Men!

I think there is definitely a difference between being a flop and a disappointment.

hampo171 wrote:Would be harsh to consider Cisse after the career threatening injury he suffered during his time with us, I doubt he ever got over that and it was horrible when it happened.

Some to consider;

Doni - played one game and got sent off during it
Degan
Dossena
Diomede
Diao
Diouf
Cheyrou
Carroll
Le Tallec
Cole
Morientes
Carroll

carroll that bad you had to name him twice?

Yup

Thanx Lads for your help - gonna start writing the article today!

I think paul konchesky is worth a mention, ridiculously bad in a liverpool shirt!

But nobody wanted the move anyway to be fair, he was a disappointing signing in the first place, he essentially lived up to his expectation, which was to be rubbish.

Michael Robinson?

Was quite a big buy back in 1983 (ish), but to be fair wasn't that good, and had no chance of ousting Rush.

Stella wrote:Michael Robinson?

Was quite a big buy back in 1983 (ish), but to be fair wasn't that good, and had no chance of ousting Rush.

Hi Stella - shortly after Robinson, Liverpool signed Paul Walsh for a fair bit of dosh and the usual hype. He had a similar time struggling to get into the team, initially behind Rush and Dalglish in the pecking order and later Aldridge.

lfc91 wrote:I think paul konchesky is worth a mention, ridiculously bad in a liverpool shirt!

I'd go with Christian Poulsen. Left the Club to star in his own tv show "Can't tackle...Won't tackle"

Was at Anfield to watch the Europa League game with Utrecht when LFC had already qualified and Utrecht couldn't so no-one was really interested. Sat in the Kop and basically it was a massive p!55take of Poulsen for 90 mins.

At the end, no-one wanted to swap shirts with him.

The game is most memorable for the criticism levelled at the Utrecht player feigning injury before being strecthered off. Got home and watched the match back on tv to discover the lad had either dislocated his shoulder or broken his collar bone.....ouch!

guildfordbat wrote:

Stella wrote:Michael Robinson?

Was quite a big buy back in 1983 (ish), but to be fair wasn't that good, and had no chance of ousting Rush.

Hi Stella - shortly after Robinson, Liverpool signed Paul Walsh for a fair bit of dosh and the usual hype. He had a similar time struggling to get into the team, initially behind Rush and Dalglish in the pecking order and later Aldridge.

Hi Guildford

Yes, bought from Spurs wasn't he??? Was never a Liverpool standard player. Would be now of course :-)

Could i have some of your full XI's and i'll add them to the end of the article.

Just something basic like this:
@ross_musk
Kirkland; Josemi, Wilson, Xavier, Dossena; Cole, Aquilani, Diao, Le Tallec; Keane, Voronin.

also if you'd like me to uses your real name rather than your V2 User Name - please PM them to me

Doni
Degan/Wilson/Xavier/Dossena
Aquilani/Diao/Cole/Diouf
Carroll/Morinetes

Is swap downing for cole (push aquilana into cm) as one was free transfer in which I didn't expect much anyway while downing was a hugely expensive flop

And charlie adam over diao who just wasnt any good rather than a flop

Other than that my team is very similar to hampos

-------------------Doni----------------------

Josemi---Pellegrino-----Wilson----Dossena

---------Poulsen------Adam-------------

Downing---------Cole-----------Babel

--------------Keane-----------------

just thought of another, wasn't coates about 7 mil?! awful defender, last game i saw he was absoultely bullied by matt smith in the oldham fa cup tie

dalgiesh wasnt there long but hell of a lot of his transfers making this list  

to think liverpool fans didnt want rodgers and would have prefered KK to stay! imagine what rodgers could have done with kennys money

compelling and rich wrote:dalgiesh wasnt there long but hell of a lot of his transfers making this list  

to think liverpool fans didnt want rodgers and would have prefered KK to stay! imagine what rodgers could have done with kennys money

I think Dagliesh had good intentions - build a team full of young and promising English players.
However, when he noticed that some of these players were ridiculously over-priced, he should have changed his plans.

£35 for Carroll. Good grief!

J.Benson II wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:dalgiesh wasnt there long but hell of a lot of his transfers making this list  

to think liverpool fans didnt want rodgers and would have prefered KK to stay! imagine what rodgers could have done with kennys money

I think Dagliesh had good intentions - build a team full of young and promising English players.
However, when he noticed that some of these players were ridiculously over-priced, he should have changed his plans.

£35 for Carroll. Good grief!

I know right! He wasn't even worth 35p, never mind £35.