We should have signed Dusan Tadic, not Lallana

With the announcement of our signing Adam Lallana forthcoming, I have not held back on my disappoint of his transfer.  He is just not good enough and brings nothing to our side that we don't already have a better version.  We need to bring players that offer a special dynamic, not one who actually created less chances and had less assists last season than his 29-year-old unheralded teammate, Steven Davis.  Here are last season stats for Dusan Tadic and Quincy Promes, who play for FC Twente in the Eredivisie, Lucas Piaźon, a Chelsea player who played for Vitesse, and Lallana, Sterling, and Coutinho:

	Tadic	Promes	Piaźon	Lallana	Sterling	Coutinho
age	25	22	20	26	19	22
app (sub)	33	31	24(5)	37(1)	24(9)	28(5)
mins	2970	2724	2106	3082	2220	2323
goals	16	11	11	9	9	5
assists	14	8	8	6	5	7
chances	133	84	78	68	51	64
npg90	0.27	0.36	0.34	0.26	0.36	0.19
gcp90	0.9	0.63	0.81	0.41	0.57	0.47
ccp90	4	2.8	3.3	1.9	2.1	2.5
pass %	79.3	82.3	81.7	84.6	81.7	80.6
bp %	45.4	52.2	52.3	50.3	46.8	36.7
sacc %	37.4	34	39.1	41.4	48.9	28.7
shot %	17.6	11	15.9	18	20	7
TTI90	16.1	12.7	14	13.9	12.1	11

Tadic's 133 chances created is beyond impressive, it is phenomenal.  He had 40 more than Antonio Cassano in Serie A, who finished second in all of Europe with 93, and 49 more than teammate Quincy Promes, who finished second in the Eredivisie with 84.

An interesting stat that I've been toying with is chance created efficiency, the percentage of chances created that actually results in goals.  A player can create chances all day, but if it doesn't result in goals, it usually produces a loss of possession.  Tadic has a 22.6% cce while Lallana has a 20.6%, which doesn't seem much of a difference, but when you consider the amount of key passes it's why Tadic has created twice as many goals while playing in a full less match.  Sterling, by the way, has the best of the above group at a very impressive 27.1% cce.

The bottom line is we could have bought a playmaker with Fabregas ability for £12-15m, but instead we paid £23-26m for a player with Kevin Mirallas skills.  Mirallas isn't bad, but he's far from great, and when his days at Anfield are over, I hope Lallana gets at least that much respect.

Luke Shaw for £27m? No thanks, we got Flanagan

Rumor has it Luke Shaw is headed to Man U for £27m.  That's a preposterous amount for a player who will definitely not become the next Gareth Bale.  In fact, he'll be lucky if he can become the next Leighton Baines or Aleksandar Kolarov.  Here's a look at stats from last season for Shaw, Flanagan, and a few other top left backs:

	Shaw	Flanagan	Baines	Azpilicueta	Kolarov
age	19*	21	29	24	28
app(subs)	35	23	32	26(3)	21(9)
mins	2990	1890	2838	2325	1977
goals	0	1	5	0	1
assist	1	1	4	0	7
chances	33	13	48	12	34
npgp90	0	0.05	0.06	0	0.05
gcp90	0.03	0.1	0.29	0	0.36
ccp90	0.99	0.62	1.5	0.47	1.6
pass%	79	83.7	85.8	80.6	81.2
bp%	41.6	42.6	41.4	37.1	43.5
sacc%	41.7	42.9	23.8	40	24.5
shot%	0	14.3	23.8	0	1.9
tp90	2.2	3.8	3	3.8	2.3
tack %	58.7	45.7	60.3	52.9	56.2
intp90	1.1	1.9	1.1	1.9	1.4
clrp90	3.7	3.6	2.5	5.3	2.8
dribpp90	0.7	1.9	0.6	1.1	0.8
bsp90	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.1
adwp90	1.8	1.4	0.4	1.3	1.7
adwon%	56.5	46.8	41.2	58.6	71.7
TTI90	11.6	9.2	9.1	10.1	10.9

* Shaw will turn 19 next month.

Compared to Flanagan, Shaw is the better chance creator, more efficient tackler, and significantly superior in the air, but our number 38 has a higher pass rate, nearly doubles his counterpart's tackles and clearances, and holds onto the ball better.  If Southampton were to offer Shaw for Flanagan, Rodgers would be an idiot not to take them up on it, but that would never happen.  It's not that Shaw is that much better than our 'Red Cafu' and the distance between their productivity may never be much, but Shaw has more potential.

Comparing Shaw to the others above, he is probably most similar to Kolarov.  The Serbian is a great attacking left back, but is not an exceptional defender like Azpilicueta.  Would I have paid £27m for Kolarov at (soon-to-be) 19, if I had known then what I do now? Probably, but with Shaw there's no such luxury.  It's still a crap shoot with all that can happen in his young career.

The one thing that will improve at a bigger club is the quality of his teammates.  No offense to Southampton, but Adam Lallana is no Steven Gerrard and Rickie Lambert is not even a poor man's Rooney.  Having players around him who are quicker and more talented overall should improve his numbers.  It certainly helps Kolarov.

If I've said it once, I've said 'til your eyes bleed, if we are going to splash that kind of cash for a left back or really any player, it should be Ricardo Rodriguez. He is the real deal and can provide coverage on the wing as well.  Shaw is just not worth the risk when we have fully capable coverage in Flanagan.

Adam Lallana is not even worth £15m

Again, like Lambert,  I like Lallana, but not for £15m... maybe £8m.  Apparently Southampton now want upwards of £25m, that's just laughable.  There are many other players out there that are just as good, if not better, that we can get for that much or less and honestly, do we really need another midfielder right now?  We have Suso back, who is only 20, and I think Jordon Ibe at least deserves a chance.

If they are going to spend £20m+ for an attacking midfielder, it should be for a young, talented, and somewhat proven player like Xherdan Shaqiri, Lazar Markovic, or even a forward/winger like Cristian Tello (who won't cost as much btw).  Lallana is 26 and he'll need to improve as much next season as he did the last, if he's even worth £15m.  I just don't see that happening, especially with all the competition at Anfield.

An interesting read: Xherdan Shaqiri vs Adam Lallana

Southampton's loss may be Adam Hammill's gain

Word out of Southampton is that the Saints might have to sell some top players in January due to financial difficulties. Southampton Leisure Holdings PLC, the parent company that owns the club in principal, released a statement that hinted at such moves. Apparently the board has decided to reject the proposal from Sisu Capital to purchase the club at 20% of the stock value.

Though that may be detrimental to the club's goal of reaching the Premiership, for Adam Hammill, the 19-year-old on-loan winger from LFC, it may mean more pitch time. Hammill joined the Saints on a year-long loan in July, but injuries have limited him to just five appearances and only one start. Unfortunately Southampton failed to win any of those matches as well, losing four and drawing one.

It goes without saying that it's been a disappointing season so far for the Liverpool-born lad. Not getting a lot of playing time on top of being on a squad that sits mid-table in the Championship is probably doing little for his confidence.

Hammill began attending the Academy at the age of eight and was an integral part of the 2006 FA Youth Cup-winning side. Last year he was sent on-loan to Scottish side Dunfermline, where he helped lead what was an eventually-relegated Scottish Premiership side to the final of the Scottish Cup. He also scored a cracker of a goal against Celtic FC and became such a fan favorite, that a song praising his play was posted on YouTube.

Though it may be selfish to want your own player to play more at the expense of the club, who knows? Maybe Southampton's loss will eventually be their own gain. In the past, Adam Hammill has shown he is able to raise his level of play and be a driving force on the pitch. I fully expect him to be a first-team regular at Liverpool in a couple of years.

Some more Adam Hammill videos for you to watch:
The goal versus Celtic
Match against Kilmarnock
Match versus Hearts
The 6 million dollar Adam Hammill