Learning From Success, Not Mistakes.

[Hd123 5]

I'm still really shocked that we paid compensation to Ancelotti who was a far superior manager and then blew 13m on AVB. The only reason to sack him was if he was actually the culprit behind Torres buy

[Tomo 21,751]

I'm still really shocked that we paid compensation to Ancelotti who was a far superior manager and then blew 13m on AVB. The only reason to sack him was if he was actually the culprit behind Torres buy

If Carlo stayed this season and didn't do any better than this the whole forum would have been like "we should have got AVB when we we had the chance".

[TacticalBlues 2,817]

"Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has made 19-year-old Brazilian striker Neymar his number one transfer target." Just Sayin With AVB at the helm the players we are targeting, bar Pereira (who I can't judge because I haven't seen enough times) seem to be bang on the money. I may be mad for some, but AVB needs to collate the new squad he was effectively promised. Change requires time and money to be manifested. With the players he's promoted i.e. Sturridge and signed in : Davilla, Courtois and those whom are subsequently playing (Romeu, Mata) we're only at the birth stage. Fundamentally, to prove we have learned from our mistakes we must give AVB time.

[Kostas 1,468]

A bit late to the party as usual but I've been meaning to make a post regarding the Sheva-Torres analogy as it seems to be one of TX's central points/examples.

While there may appear to be many similarities between the players due to both coming for record sums, both flopping and both having suffered serious injuries in their careers, I think drawing conclusions from a comparison of their transfers is quite simplistic and lazy.

For starters, Torres was bought at a time the club was in serious danger of losing it's Top 4 spot, buying one of the league's best strikers to avoid such a disaster does make sense and it certainly didn't seem irrational back then. He did have a bad spell when Hoghson took over but that was Liverfool's worst start in decades and his goals/starts ratio was tremendous less than a season before we signed him.

One of the main reasons Shevchenko failed was believed to be his inability to adjust to the pace of the PL being 30 years old. In Torres we not only signed a -familiar with the PL- 26 year-old who competed with the likes of Rooney and Drogba while at Loserpool but also a replacement for our aging striker who had recently contacted malaria and did not IMHO have a good game until 14 months had passed.

Price-wise I don't think we'll see anyone praise the club for spending 50m but we should not ignore the role Mike Ashley playing in the forming of that figure. Had he not known that he was effectively getting the Carroll fee from Roman Abramovich himself he would have never negotiated the laughable price that he got. In simple terms, had Liverpool paid 25-30m for Carroll, Torres would have come here for the much more acceptable amount of 40-45m pounds. Moreover, unless you're trying to exploit the Bosman ruling, transfer fees in the January transfer window are always inflated.

To sum up, I believe that hindsight plays a great deal in us potentially slaughtering the club for the transfer of Torres, and from where I'm standing Torres deserves much more blame than the club for the way his transfer has worked-out.

[francozola 2,040]

^ I can see the point that you are trying to make. But basically, we bought Torres because Roman has (or had) this obsession with signing a "marquee striker". Yes, perhaps Torres was preferred to Aguero (who would have cost 20m less) and co. because he has proven he can play in the Prem. But once that 50m fee was brought up, someone should have said, no. If this was the Torres of 2009, then it's a different story.

Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing. But those running the club should have known better.

[Laylabelle 9,535]

If Carlo stayed this season and didn't do any better than this the whole forum would have been like "we should have got AVB when we we had the chance".

Exactly!

And it was odd about Steve Clarke because it did seem from what you saw anyway he was more the mind behind it..Grant has shown what he can do without so much support and it aint bloody good!Shame he never really got the reconsation and support he deserved and wasnt surprised when he went..sad but...couldnt blame him