Liverpool FC : Signing Christian Poulsen & Other Fears Under Roy Hodgson

For once it seems the Yanks were not lying back in April 2010. After putting the club for sale Tom Hicks said there are some very rich bidders who seriously want to own Liverpool FC, a rare exhibition of common sense I guess.

However, any of the possible takeovers would take time to realize and it may not be much earlier before the transfer window closes that the club really has a new and hopefully more passionate owner. 

Being an experienced campaigner, Roy Hodgson may well be able to forsee that the club would run short of time to research and negotiate for most players. 

All these fears may have led the newly appointed Liverpool FC manager to consider a proven path. Witnessing the imminent departure of Javier Mascherano, who wishes to unite with his former boss, Rafael Benitez, at Inter Milan, Roy Hodgson has also chosen to follow the same route to reunite with one of his better finds throughout his managerial career, Christian Poulsen.

Poulsen's agent has confirmed today that Poulsen could sign for the Merseyside outfit as early as the beginning of next week. If Mascherano departs for the said amount of 25m GBP, the buy of Poulsen should hand a decent enough budget to Hodgson, who had earlier claimed that any money from player sale would be allotted to him for strengthening the squad.

Roy Hodgson would still have to manage a striker and possibly a left back and a winger. With some additional funds from the club, all of which should be possible in a decent manner but not with utter flamboyance.

However, the signing of Poulsen, which could be really considered as Liverpool's second buy under the Hodgson era (as Jovanovic and Wilson were in the talks with Liverpool FC right from the Benitez regime) would add experience, but is it something that Liverpool FC desperately needed if one considers the underlying fears?

The club already had Gerrard, Torres, Carragher, Maxi, and Kyrgiakos who are all experienced.

Although Hodgson has rarely put a foot wrong in his short spell and has already snapped up the local hero in Joe Cole, a few fears still linger around the club's plight this season.

Too much emphasis on aged players who could be potential trouble makers     

Within a day or two of his appointment as the manager, Hodgson had said that the club needs more experienced players and signing Poulsen for Mascherano would really be a step in that direction.

However let's have a look at Poulsen's career after his initial rise to glory. Although one of the most ornamented Danes, Christian Poulsen never had the pace to burn. Not that he requires it too much being a defensive midfielder.

Poulsen's arrival mainly adds to a Liverpool squad a like-for-like replacement to Mascherano.

Now the worrying part would be that Poulsen is 30 and has had a reputation of some really unsportsmanlike behavior on the pitch. Especially the spit on Kaka or the kick on Gattuso are prime of that. Any of that, and Liverpool may well become a little tooth-less behind the attacking midfield.

Injury Saga

In another big signing, Roy Hodgson won over a lot of hearts when he was able to snap up the highly wanted and rated player Joe Cole.

Joe Cole may be especially talented, but the guy has been prone to injury many a time whilst at his former club.

The recently rejuvenated Liverpool outfit could be highly demoralized if such a thing were to occur this time.

Moreover, even though Fernando Torres stays on, he too is recovering from a recent injury and it would be foolish to consider him an option for all the senior games the Reds are to play. No proper replacement has yet been talked about in that regard; the Remy affair came close only for Hodgson to ridiculously claim that he hadn't even seen the boy play!

Now in such circumstances either Kuyt or Jovanovic could be given the job to play upfront with N'gog as a cover. The prospect doesn't really look good as Jovanovic has has declared the left midfield as his favorite and Kuyt has not really played a lone striker convincingly enough.

Add to that the fact that all of Gerrard, Skrtel, Aurelio, and Agger are also coming back from injuries and although they should still not really be bothered now, a little bad luck and the team may well look no different than the one which disappointed so highly last season.

There a few positives this time though.

A Better Bench

I know Liverpool have not really added too much to their squad, but I say better bench strength because players like N'gog and Pacheco are ready to play for the first team after having played for the team already. Thus, they are better players now than maybe what they were a year or so ago.

Players like Jonjo Shelvey and Danny Wilson have been regulars at their club levels at Charlton and Rangers respectively, so they are also better alternatives than what we had last year.

Peter Brukner

Arguably the best buy for the club in the calender year, Peter Brukner and his team of medical men from Australia are considered as amongst the best in the world when it comes to sports medicine.

Liverpool FC have been able to hire them for their services and therefore the club should be much better of tackling with injuries to players as compared to the times gone by.

A Positive Atmosphere

The additions of Joe Cole especially and Jovanovic have given the team a different dimension and the selection of Roy Hodgson has so far had a good effect all around the club. All of a sudden there are talks of challenging for the title as well.

Be it realistic or not, Liverpool FC have been affected in a positive way so far as can be made out from the buzz.

However, as is evident, the club still has more negatives to look to correct and an active exploration of the transfer market is extremely necessary and fast, so that the players brought in can settle down in time. 

Thus the immediate sale of the club or Mascherano at least must be done quickly so as to strengthen the current squad to the requisite level to compete for some silverware and the coveted top four spots.