The Season Hasn't Started And I'm Already Tired

We're still two weeks away from the league season kicking off, and yet I'm sure I'm not the only one who's tired of waking up every morning and reading yet another story about who's leaving or who's being shopped around and who isn't coming to the club. While the signing of Fabio Borini was a brief respite, even though no one's completely sure what he'll provide, and the occasional linking to Joe Allen and Clint Dempsey are better than feeling terrible about who the club can't hold onto, it's still Joe Allen and Clint Dempsey. They're useful players, certainly could help. But they don't dissuade you from feeling that things are moving the wrong way and so far from where they should be.

-The first story to cross my eyes today is that Man City is preparing or has already made a 20-million pound bid for Daniel Agger. First, 20 mildo is a lot of cash, to be sure. And there's been enough swirling around Agger's name, including Barcelona, to make you think his head is completely turned and no matter what sweet nothings Brendan Rodgers has whispered into his ear hasn't made him blind to how far the club have fallen. But Agger is so vital to what Liverpool want to become, because is there a better defender to bring the ball out of defense? Isn't Rodgers's whole system based on that start? Because it's really going to be hard to play a short, clever passing game if we're treated to Carragher and Skrtel and their patented panicked hoofs into orbit (even though Carra in the preseason has really tried to adapt. But when the real games start, he'll go with what he knows best). And replacing Agger is next to impossible because anyone that can do what he does is going to be out of the budget, you feel. And if Agger goes, is Skrtel more encouraged to follow?

-The Andy Carroll saga appears over, or over for the time being, with the player determined to prove his usefulness at Liverpool. There is something heartening, I guess, about a player displaying a fuck-you attitude and wanting to show people he can make it at a club where so much has gone wrong for him. A lot of us have warmed up to Andy because of things that aren't on the pitch, all the things stacked against him that he had no control over. I want him to do well. I just wonder how that happens in this style of play Rodgers has in mind. Maybe he's young enough that he can adapt his game, and he can overcome his lack of pace with work rate that Rodgers will demand. Maybe he just makes for an excellent Plan B (if Rodgers ever gets concerned with a Plan B). But right now Liverpool have two strikers aside from Carroll, and they probably need him to just make up the numbers if nothing else right now.

-If the wage bill needs to be trimmed, surely Liverpool can trick some club other than Fulham into thinking that Charlie Adam has something to provide still, right?