Speaking exclusively with BOYLE Sports, former Premier League manager Gordon Strachan has given his thoughts on Manchester United, Celtic, Leeds and more.
The Scotland icon has named Jean-Philippe Mateta as a potential January signing at Old Trafford and explained why Adam Wharton has similarities to Paul Scholes.
Strachan has also given his thoughts on Frank Lampard at Coventry City as well as the ongoing Scottish Premiership title race involving Hearts, Celtic and Rangers.
Liverpool's Form
What’s Going On With Liverpool?
There's a sense of: ‘What's happened here?’ It could be a lot of things. Have Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah overstayed their welcome? Everyone wanted them to stay, and it looked good, but I had reservations. I definitely had reservations, just at the time it took to sign their contracts and at the last minute. You've also got to consider that the guys like playing at Liverpool, they love playing at Liverpool. But particularly with Salah. I couldn't see how he was going to do any better.
So, anything below the magnificent level that he's been producing over the last five or six years, there's got to be negativity about it. I don't think anybody in football could have thought he's going to get better in the next couple of years. So there's always got to be a negativity about any performance under that magnificent level he's been at.
Sometimes you've got to be brutally honest, like Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, who knew when it was time for people to go. So I think that might be a little problem at Liverpool at the moment. That might be one of the problems because they haven't got a lot of good players. You've got to say that, don't you? You look at the players they've brought in, have they come up to scratch at the moment?
Maybe not. So there's a lot going on at that club. With all the signings, we all thought it could only get better, but it hasn’t been the case. The whole of the English football world thought: ‘Oh, they've signed somebody for 120 million, another one for 120 million, and spent 50 million for a left-back. It's not what we imagined was going to happen, that's for sure.
Have The New Contracts Backfired?
There was public pressure on Liverpool, and that probably was the easy way out, just to offer the contracts. I'm sure all contracts were done in good faith by the club, believing it would happen. But I did have reservations. I really did, because there's simply a time at a club where players have done as much as they can. I felt that myself at some clubs, where the success was great, but this is as much as I can do. There are all sorts of factors involved as well, you know, family-wise, do you want to move at whatever age you are, early thirties and things like that. There are all sorts of factors in football, but from a football point of view, and what a fan's point of view is, it's success. You have to have people at the top thinking: ‘How can we guarantee success?’ But you can't guarantee success.
I did have reservations, if anybody asked me, about Salah signing a new contract. I really did. I repeat what I said: I couldn't have seen him playing any better. So he put himself in a position that if he falls below it, like he has done this year, then people will ask the question. So that's what's happened. You may even say that because his standards fell so low, that's part of Liverpool's problem at the moment, because he was doing extraordinary things to win games of football. So you'll probably then go on to say: ‘Well, that goes to show that it's not all about a team - it's individuals that can win games of football.’
Similar to Jeremy Doku yesterday. Man City had a wonderful team, but just think about that huge performance by one person yesterday to destroy a team. Going back to what I was saying, there are systems and all the rest of it, but it's players that usually win games of football, whether they're making mistakes or doing brilliant things.
Were Liverpool Correct To Give New Contracts?
Marc Guehi
Is Guehi Doing What Isak Should Have Done?
First of all, Liverpool couldn't sign Marc Guehi because Crystal Palace wouldn't let him go. I have huge admiration for Guehi for doing what he's meant to do, being a good pro and getting on with it. That might have affected Alexander Isak. He's come along; he's been great at Newcastle. But when you start to do things that he was doing, it's hard to shake off that negativity around your move and what you've done. When you've had no training and your mind hasn't been on football for months, it's hard to just pick it back up.
Remember Alexis Sanchez? He pushed to leave Arsenal. He went to Manchester United and bombed. It's very hard to get that mindset because you know, at that point, once you do what you're doing in desperation, and the whole football world thinks you’re a bad pro and it's hard to shake that off. I think he's still suffering from the way the transfer was handled. So I don't think that's helped Liverpool either.
Marc Guehi just went: ‘Right, this is what I'm doing. I've got six months probably before I sign a contract with Liverpool or Real Madrid.’ And he's done it. He looked at his teammates and went: ‘Yeah, I better do it for them.’ He knows he can get his move at some point, somewhere along the line. That makes him more attractive. Absolutely, we’ve seen his real character, and the new teams will know we're signing a real character.
When he leaves Crystal Palace, everybody will thank him for the service, but especially his team-mates, because that's the one thing I think that whatever happens in your career, you want people to remember you as a good team-mate. That’s all I was after.
New Signings
Is Isak to Liverpool what Torres was to Chelsea?
His talent is unquestionable, but I believe he's still grappling with the aftermath of that transfer. I think he's in a position where, like when you do something stupid, people look at you differently. Every time you meet people, they're looking at you, and you're thinking: ‘They're thinking I'm the guy who messed up with the transfer. I'm the guy who did this. So, there's this constant burden that's hard to shake. When he steps on the pitch, he's thinking: ‘People are thinking I was the guy who did this.
The pundits are saying, ‘Well, he did this with the transfer.’ It's hard to shake that off. I think you have to be mentally strong, like an Eric Cantona or a Cristiano Ronaldo, who can live in their own bubble. For the rest of us working humans, we have feelings.
Can Wirtz Impact The Premier League?
I think he's just finding the right system for him. It's taking time. When I went to Aberdeen, everyone thought we'd just win trophies, but my first year was useless. I was the whipping boy for the crowd, starting as a number seven striker, and there was mumbling. We're not robots. At the moment, it's not working for Liverpool. I think Florian Wirtz is a 6 out of 10 now, but he'll go up to a 9 out of 10 when he gets used to it, when he knows what to do and where to be.
It's not so much the physical side, because there are big boys in Germany, but it's the non-stop intensity of English football. There's no breathing room. I don't think there's anything wrong with his work rate or attitude. It's just difficult for him to perform at his best when Liverpool aren’t firing on all cylinders.
The Decision To Sell Diaz?
Luis Diaz was a good player for them, but we don't know the background of it. I think the background is that he wanted to leave. If a player wants to go, we've seen it before. Do you want them to go, or do you keep them and have the Alexander Isak problem? Which then you could ask, how much did that Isak problem affect Newcastle as well? If Luis Diaz wants to go, do you keep him? Do you make him stay? Does he subconsciously switch off? That's the decision you have to make. You cannot make a player stay now if they feel like they want to leave. But then you go back to Marc Guehi, who has actually restored his reputation in football.
When people like him say: ‘Right, okay, I was going to go to Liverpool or whatever it is, but I can't do it, the club won't keep me, I've got six months and that's fine. That's been refreshing. But as you've seen from some other situations, at Newcastle, constantly, Eddie Howe was asked about Isak, so he gets bored with it, the players at Newcastle get bored with it, and I suppose the players at Liverpool get bored with it. It's amazing what the actions of some players and the consequences are.
England v Serbia Match Result –World Cup Qualifying
The Benchmark: Sir Alex Ferguson
Liverpool Learning From Ferguson’s Success
You've got to remember Fergie made some mistakes himself, by the way. We've all done it as managers. Every manager. That's what happens when you just look at the golden side of anything. You can look back at some stinkers, look back at mine. You go: ‘Oh, what was I thinking about there?’
I genuinely thought that was the right thing to do. And that would be the same with Liverpool. You cannot guarantee this world where you spend 120 million for every player you've got, which is some amount of money that is guaranteeing you top players. It cannot guarantee you top ability, physical attributes, but everybody's affected at times with the mental side of it.
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