LFC adding steel to their style

Too often last season Liverpool were somewhat of a soft touch. Looking bad it’s hardly surprising. For the first half of the season the club had to play a lot of young players far more often than they would have liked and there was a shortage of experience. When the going got tough, Liverpool often seemed to wilt a little mentally.

Brendan Rodgers acknowledged as much and was quoted as saying he needed to add more ‘men’ to the squad. In a recent interview he also said 'last season we played with style but not enough steel' You could interpret that as Liverpool needing more experience (no doubting that they did require that) but you can just as easily make the case that the manager wanted more players who would stand up and be counted. Aside for Gerrard, Suarez, Carragher and Reina, Liverpool were a little thin on the ground when it came to leaders last term. As two of those players have now left the club it is little wonder that Rodgers has fixed his eye on players with a certain type of mentality this summer.

Suso and Sterling: Plenty of talent, little in the way of experiemce

Kolo Toure has come on and as well as his vast knowledge of the Premier League, he adds vocal presence to a defence that often seemed mute last season. He is undoubtedly a leader of men and his transfer makes a lot of sense.

Iago Aspas has drawn many comparisons with Luis Suarez already and not just for his busy style of play. By all accounts he was a little pest in Spain. He has a little bit of swagger and a temper too. That sort of thing can occasionally be a team’s downfall (his red card for head butting an opponent last season didn’t go down well at Celta Vigo as his suspension nearly facilitated their relegation) but it again shows that, like Suarez, he is a player who won’t shy away from a tough situation. In short, he’s a narky little fighter.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos has been a target all summer long for the Reds and it only takes ten seconds of YouTube viewing to see that he is no shrinking violet either. Personally I haven’t seen enough of the player to say whether he would be a good signing or not but you can see that his character appeals to Rodgers. He seems loud, in your face and aggressive. He doesn’t seem like the kind of lad who would accept being bullied by Christian Benteke and Kenwyne Jones in the way that Martin Skrtel did last term.

You wouldn't mess, would you?

Diego Costa is the latest player heavily linked to Liverpool and he could be on Merseyside pretty soon if reports are to be believed. Anyone who knows about Costa seems to jump to his temperament when describing him rather than talking about his actual ability. That’s because he’s, how shall I phrase this, a little controversial.              

You kind find footage of some very unsavoury things when you Google the Brazilian’s name and it is to be hoped that he can curb the wilder side of his character if he makes his way through the Shankly gates. Seek out opinions from people who have watched him regularly though and again it becomes clear that his mental toughness would appeal to Rodgers.

He’s a loud mouth, more than a little dirty, he works himself into the ground and he won’t back away from anyone. Go and look at his run-ins with Pepe and Ramos in the Madrid derby of last season and you will see some startling images. He has quality, naturally, but I would bet that his attitude impressed Liverpool’s scouts as much as his ability. 

'The most hated man in La Liga'

Described as ‘The most hated man in La Liga’ you can bet that Costa’s arrival would see Luis Suarez with a real rival for his current status as public enemy number one in this country. Some may feel that Liverpool could do without more bad publicity but there can be little doubt that Liverpool lack steel at the moment and it is encouraging that their scouting department have set about rectifying that.

And who wants a team full of angels anyway? As the saying goes: Nice guys finish last.