One former Liverpool ace has some regrets about his short stint in Merseyside
Andrea Dossena previously admitted that the failure of his Liverpool career lies solely at his feet. The former footballer signed for the Premier League giants in 2008 in a £7million deal.
Joining as the replacement for John Arne Riise, who left that same summer for Roma, the Italian’s stint in Merseyside ended quicker than many expected as he left just 18 months after inking his Reds contract.
Despite making just 31 appearances in the entirety of his Liverpool career, he certainly had a moment, or two, to remember at the club. Dossena, 44, was the unlikely scorer in wins against Real Madrid and Manchester United in the space of just a week.
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However, he was never able to build on those moments, later revealing his lack of success at Anfield was because of the lack of work he did to prepare himself for just how strenuous English football is.
Speaking to the ECHO last year, he said: “For a young boy having his first experience abroad, it was certainly not easy. The Premier League is very different from the Serie A and, unfortunately for us Italians, much more beautiful!
“In Italy we have a culture of work that is much more based on quantity, while you (in England) are very good at having an optimal quantity/quality ratio. In my opinion we lack this in order to adapt to your football because when we no longer work, as the quantity contains, the quality decreases accordingly.
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“At least this was my problem in my case. I came from a culture of a lot of weekly work and in Liverpool we played every three days and we never trained. I would have had to train in my personal time so that at the time of my employment, I could have been at my 100%.”
It was Rafa Benitez who brought Dossena to Anfield and the former defender absolved the ex-Reds boss for his own failure, admitting he regretted his behaviour after earning his transfer to Liverpool. “I spoke to Benitez, I wasn’t physically well. It wasn’t his fault but I understood that I had to work on my own,” Dossena added.
“But being inexperienced I didn’t do it. My fault! If I went back instead of passively accepting it, I would behave differently. Now with the experience I certainly have in terms of daily work, I would make other choices.
“When I left, I wanted to return to Italy because, from speaking with Marcello Lippi (Italy manager), the best way to take my chances of earning a place in Italy’s squad for South Africa (2010 World Cup) was to return to Italy.
“I certainly regret not being able to give my best due to my inexperience. No regrets about joining the club though, because in any case, Liverpool helped me grow both as a man, a footballer at the time, and as a coach today.”
After retiring from football in 2017, Dossena made the move into management two years later with Crema. He’s since managed exclusively in Italy at Ravenna, Renate, Pro Vercelli and most recently at SPAL.
