Manager Brendan Rodgers painfully admitted that Liverpool made the worst move as regards the loan move of Andy Carroll over the summer transfer window.
According to the loan deal, the striker will be spending the rest of the season on loan at West Ham after it appeared he didn’t fit into the former Swansea manager’s new scheme and tactics at the Merseyside club.
With three Premier League matches in his kitty this season, Rodgers has already conceded that loaning Carroll was a mistake, and one that the club could regret throughout the 2012/13 season.
Rodgers’ admissions about the star striker’s departure from the club could not have come at a more interesting time for the Reds, with owner John Henry penning an open letter to the club’s supporters as to the reasons behind their lack of summer transfer activity—particularly on the transfer deadline day, when it was revealed they would not be able to sign Clint Dempsey from Fulham.
Henry stated that the club would not be drawn into “expensive, short-term quick fixes that will only contribute for a couple of years and went out to state they would not be making similar transfer mistakes to those made in the past few seasons.
On one level, not so much—the real mistake is the fact that they did not manage to sign another striker to add to their team this summer. The exit of Carroll on loan this season to try and regain some Premier League form is okay, as long as the Reds aren’t left a striker short for the remainder of the season—which it appears they have been.
Luis Suarez cannot be expected to shoulder all the attacking responsibilities, and Joe Allen simply will not be as effective as he could be at Anfield following the departure of Carroll—the same could also be said for Raheem Sterling.
Liverpool’s mistake was not ridding themselves of the £35 million signing; their mistake was not adequately replacing him with another striker and leaving themselves a man down for the remainder of the 2012/13 English Premier League season.
