Kolo Toure, Iago Aspas, Luis Alberto and Simon Mignolet are all pretty good signings in my opinion, and should strengthen the squad for the new season. At the time of writing it is still unclear whether we will also sign Henrikh Mkhitaryan, but all in all its been a productive summer.
However, we need to look beyond the new faces. We need to look to get some of the unwanted players off the books quickly too. Since Gerard Houllier was at Liverpool back at the start of the century the club have always struggled to shed the deadwood.
Pre-season friendlies should be games that allow the manager to give the new signings a run out, practice new tactics and gradually try to decide upon a starting XI for the new season. Instead they have been used to put the unwanted players in the shop window in the hope of attracting the attention of other clubs.
From Bernard Diomede to Andrei Voronin, past managers have wasted chances to prepare for the new season and selected out-of-favour players for these games. Last season was no different, with Rodgers giving Jay Spearing, Alberto Aquilani, Charlie Adam and Joe Cole games ahead of transfers away from the club during the course of the season.
It is looking a little better this summer. Andy Carroll has left for West Ham and there are already rumours that Jonjo Shelvey is off to Swansea. My concern is that Stewart Downing will be the player to be put in the shop window this pre-season unless a serious bid for him is received in the next few weeks.
Let's use the pre-season wisely, let the new signings get used to Rodgers' style of play and let the manner work out his starting XI ahead of the Stoke game on 17th August.
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