Comolli happy with quality in Liverpool's new squad

Damien Comolli, Liverpool's director of football, believes the current squad is so 'complete' there are no areas under review for improvement.

Regardless of what Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool's manager, above, may think, Damien Comolli, Liverpool’s director of football, believes the current squad is so “complete” there are no areas under review for improvement.
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Damien Comolli, Liverpool's director of football, believes the current squad is so "complete" there are no areas under review for improvement.

In a summer of change at Anfield Kenny Dalglish, the manager, brought in seven new players and off-loaded most of the deadwood which had accumulated over the last couple of years.

Owners Fenway Sports Group's net spend in the two transfer windows since assuming control last October is around £45 million (Dh261.4m).

It was felt such expenditure was required to give the club the best possible chance of quickly turning around their dip in fortunes after seventh and sixth-place league finishes and regaining Champions League status.

Certainly the recruitment of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll in January and Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing, Jose Enrique, Jordan Henderson, Sebastian Coates, Craig Bellamy and Doni over the summer has made Liverpool stronger in all areas.

And Comolli said now was the time to assess the new signings and see how the squad operates as a whole.

"We want to see how we're going to do," the Frenchman said.

"We are very pleased with what we've done during this window and the previous one as well.

"For me it's like a big window from January until August 31 and in total we brought in nine players, we changed the team and changed the squad, so it's the time to reflect.

"To be honest I would really struggle to say we need something there or something there because I think we have such a complete squad at the moment."

While there was a need to make significant changes to arrest the decline of the last two seasons Comolli pointed out the recruitment policy was part of a long-term strategy and not just a quick fix.

"It's not a work for one season, it's a work for two, three, four seasons, especially when you are investing in young players, as we've done," Comolli said.

Meanwhile also on Merseyside, David Moyes said he is encouraged by how the youngsters in his Everton squad are stepping up to the challenge of playing in the first team.

Having sold Mikel Arteta, Jermaine Beckford and Ayegbeni Yakubu in the transfer window and allowed Joseph Yobo to go out on loan, Moyes has been left to rely largely on youth to fill the gaps.

Teenagers Ross Barkley and Apostolos Vellios both impressed in Saturday's 2-2 draw with Aston Villa, and Moyes said: "I'm having to look to try to build a new side from what we've got, not necessarily with lots of new players.

"I need to get myself in the right position in the league but also need to see where we can take it on and try to find the new [Tim]Cahills.

"If people hadn't seen the Greek boy [Vellios] who came on they'd say 'Boy oh boy, you're not the worst are you? You've done OK and were unlucky not to get one or two goals'. And we have another couple who are similar to that."

Elsewhere, Jermain Defoe is confident he and Emmanuel Adebayor can become a strong partnership for Tottenham Hotspur.

Both Defoe and Adebayor, who is on loan from Manchester City, scored in Saturday's 2-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers, their first game together.

Defoe told Spurs TV Online: "He is brilliant. I was looking forward to it [playing with him] even before he came. There was a lot of speculation that he was coming and I just thought to myself 'please let it happen' because he's a great player. He can do everything. Him being there freed me up a bit because it allowed me to drop deep, get on the ball and beat players so it was good."