Liverpool FC Forum

[leep33]

We need a decent winger, a left back and a striker as priorities anything after that would be a bonus. If we play Agger at left back then a CB would be needed.

[tonyeh]

Above all else, Benitez (if he's still here) needs to learn from his mistakes and be more flexible with what he's got. He needs to know that even if you bash a square peg (Lucas) into a round hole, it's still going to be the wrong decision. Play Benayoon, who is ten times the player Lucas is.

We have a very good team. They just aren't being used correctly. Benitez' approach is one of extreme ridgedness. He's far too conservative and generally unwilling to let the team go, which has resulted in such medicore performances that they are painful to watch. Liverpool have been a generally boring team under Benitez, bar a couple of months last season.

That being said, we abslutely need another striker. However, as I've said many times before, few good strikers will be wiling to come to Anfield and sit on the bench waiting for Torres to be out, because Benitez won't move from his "one striker" crap and even more so, after the disgraceful way Robbie Keane was treated when he was there.

Things like that don't go un-noticed.

Gerrard needs to stay in midfield, Agger can go on the left and Kyrgiakos can partner Carragher in the centre postion. To be honest, I'd look into getting a RB too and move Johnson onto the wing.

[stmichael]

Above all else, Benitez (if he's still here) needs to learn from his mistakes and be more flexible with what he's got. He needs to know that even if you bash a square peg (Lucas) into a round hole, it's still going to be the wrong decision. Play Benayoon, who is ten times the player Lucas is.

We have a very good team. They just aren't being used correctly. Benitez' approach is one of extreme ridgedness. He's far too conservative and generally unwilling to let the team go, which has resulted in such medicore performances that they are painful to watch. Liverpool have been a generally boring team under Benitez, bar a couple of months last season.

That being said, we abslutely need another striker. However, as I've said many times before, few good strikers will be wiling to come to Anfield and sit on the bench waiting for Torres to be out, because Benitez won't move from his "one striker" crap and even more so, after the disgraceful way Robbie Keane was treated when he was there.

Things like that don't go un-noticed.

Gerrard needs to stay in midfield, Agger can go on the left and Kyrgiakos can partner Carragher in the centre postion. To be honest, I'd look into getting a RB too and move Johnson onto the wing.

I know I've slated you in the past for being ultra negative but I actually agree with a lot of your post here, especially about playing one upfront at home. We need to be a lot more flexible in our formation, especially against teams we should be beating. Yesterday was just one of those days for me. If there's one area in which we have improved this season it's been the ability to break down the lesser sides at home. The game yesterday was just one of those days when we played some decent stuff at times but just couldn't finish.

Anyway going back to the question, we need a left back and possibly a left sided midfielder (I'm not sure if this Jovanovic will be the answer) as well as another striker to support Torres. A ball playing centre half would also be ideal. Our spine is very strong and we are not necessarily that far from challenging. We just need a bit more quality in the wider areas.

Unfortunately we'd have to sell to be able to buy these players such is the financial state of the club at the moment. Aurelio, Riera, Ngog, Skrtel, Degen, Babel and Benayoun are all possible saleable assets but that's down to the manager's personal choice.

[andy_g]

maybe a little change of tack here. seeing as we won't be competing in the champions league this coming season, and that we don't really expect to be challenging for the premier league title either maybe we need to look at strengthening or tweaking the squad in a different way. maybe we don't need a bunch of 20 million pound players to get us back into the top four, which really has to be our serious target for next season.

praying that none of our current star players leave us - torres, gerrard, mascherano, reina (who won't anyway as he just re-signed), agger, johnson - we need just a few additions in crucial areas.

first off i would get a right back as cover for kelly, who would be my first choice right back. johnson would then be told 'forget you were ever a right back, mate. you are now a winger, go do your thang'. this frees up kuyt to re-reinvent himself as a striker and hang around in the box waiting for the quality supply coming in from the right.

i would also have to have a look at the left back situation. i really rate aurelio and hope that he can overcome his injuries and play more consistently, but maybe it would be prudent to have yet another go at finding someone who will make the position their own.

we already have another striker coming in, so with torres, jovanovic (sp), ngog, kuyt, pacheco and babel we should have enough options, especially if we bring back nemeth as well.

the best option for the left wing is for benitez to swallow his pride, look at the bigger picture, and tell riera that he will play enough games.

a set of midfield options of gerrard, aquilani, lucas and mascherano should see us through. and players like banayoun and maxi who can play two or three different roles will be useful when changes are necessary.

so for me its £15 million on a couple of full backs and a bit of reshuffling and good man management. spend the summer training the fúck out of insua, ngog and babel (who i must say is rapidly improving), use and set up the rest of the first team squad sensibly and we'll be strong enough to be in the champions league for the season 2011/2012.

i know we have been disappointed by the continuous purchase of fullbacks who never seem to make it so its weird to suggest that its what we need to do again. but i think we have enough resources everywhere else if we rethink these two positions. the important thing is that the manager (whoever it might be) uses the rest of the players available properly.

[tonyeh]

Well, you can slate away all you want Michael, but if I come across as "negative", it's because I genuinely see a lot to be critical about. I genuinely don't like the way the team is handled by the current manager and I believe Liverpool could be put to much better use than it is at the moment, with the resources that are at hand.

Changes could have been made yesterday that could have won the game. At the very least, take a chance and put Kuyt, Pacheco AND N'Gog up front. Surely SOMETHING would have gone in? In a game where our mere survival in the 4th spot race depended on a win? Against a team that couldn't (wouldn't) get out of their own half?

I really hate saying this, but if Ferguson was our manager, we would have won that game yesterday.

[Scottbot]

Interesting takes guys. But let's not try to turn this thread into a moaning thread on rafa and the owners. We have plenty of other threads to do that. This thread is about what our squad ( ie playing staff) needs. If the manager (rafa or whoever) has a few millions to spend, around 15 millions which is the area we should prioritize is the question.

Mate, I think you're asking too much if you want a thread to steer clear of Rafa bashing from here on in. It will find it's way into every thread for the next 2-3 months I should imagine. It's hard to discuss personnel for next season because it always depends ont he system/style of play we're going to play. It seems most on here are hoping we have a new manager in charge by then which makes it more difficult to speculate about what we need e.g. if Rafa stays we need a credible back-up for Torres, if he goes then maybe we need a strike partner for Torres.

For me we need:

- A new Left Back
- A Target man striker who can give us a Plan B
- Back-up at RB
- A new RM
- A dominant CB

[maguskwt]

maybe a little change of tack here. seeing as we won't be competing in the champions league this coming season, and that we don't really expect to be challenging for the premier league title either maybe we need to look at strengthening or tweaking the squad in a different way. maybe we don't need a bunch of 20 million pound players to get us back into the top four, which really has to be our serious target for next season.

praying that none of our current star players leave us - torres, gerrard, mascherano, reina (who won't anyway as he just re-signed), agger, johnson - we need just a few additions in crucial areas.

first off i would get a right back as cover for kelly, who would be my first choice right back. johnson would then be told 'forget you were ever a right back, mate. you are now a winger, go do your thang'. this frees up kuyt to re-reinvent himself as a striker and hang around in the box waiting for the quality supply coming in from the right.

i would also have to have a look at the left back situation. i really rate aurelio and hope that he can overcome his injuries and play more consistently, but maybe it would be prudent to have yet another go at finding someone who will make the position their own.

we already have another striker coming in, so with torres, jovanovic (sp), ngog, kuyt, pacheco and babel we should have enough options, especially if we bring back nemeth as well.

the best option for the left wing is for benitez to swallow his pride, look at the bigger picture, and tell riera that he will play enough games.

a set of midfield options of gerrard, aquilani, lucas and mascherano should see us through. and players like banayoun and maxi who can play two or three different roles will be useful when changes are necessary.

so for me its £15 million on a couple of full backs and a bit of reshuffling and good man management. spend the summer training the fúck out of insua, ngog and babel (who i must say is rapidly improving), use and set up the rest of the first team squad sensibly and we'll be strong enough to be in the champions league for the season 2011/2012.

i know we have been disappointed by the continuous purchase of fullbacks who never seem to make it so its weird to suggest that its what we need to do again. but i think we have enough resources everywhere else if we rethink these two positions. the important thing is that the manager (whoever it might be) uses the rest of the players available properly.

Very interesting post Andy and maybe you might just be right. I am all for reshuffling the midfield, especially after the lost of Alonso. Send Gerrard back to CM, and reinvent Kuyt as a striker. Give Kuyt and Torres some continuous run as partners. Also introduce Pacheco as a second strike partner for Torres. IE let Kuyt and Pacheco compete for the same place. But I'm not too sure about Johnson as a winger. He seems to be running into defenders lately when he tries to dribble pass them. And I'm also not sure about this Jovanovic guy...

My priority would be to get a decent striker with 15 million... someone like Huntelaar. It needs to be a good value buy, meaning the scouts need to try very hard and Rafa needs to be very persuasive. If failing that your plan sounds like the right thing to do. I would also like to recall Nemeth and see whether he could break into the first team...

[Maickito]

I think we need to move out one of our centre halves; Martin Skrytel would be the guy Id sell,
Need to bring in a defender who offers a genuine threat from set pieces and corners......... Lucio has doesnt seem to lose his concentration as much anymore, he def offers a goal scoring threat too......He is 31 and might want the challenge of the EPL

Luis Fabiano is another player in his late 20's who might not break the bank - he has a presence and could form a parthnership with torres..............

[tubby]

To be honest a new striker would be the first on my list. However before any of that we need to assess where the club is at financially and what our aim is. If it's top 4 next season then you can check every one of those options, if not then probably a striker and a new centre half.

[Liverpool442]

I think the core of are squad is in decent shape and f added to in the right area's we would look pretty strong:
Reina
Johnson
Agger
Carragher
Skirtel
Mascherano
Aquialani (Still a lot to prove but worth being patient with)
Lucas (As a squad player good enough also young and improving)
Gerrard
Kuyt
Torres
Anybody outside this list in my opinion could be sold to raise funds either because they are not uo to it or expendable (obviously not saying all of them)
Required and in this order:
1) Striker to back up for Torres or hopefully play alongside in some fixtures (Proven striker only please)
2) Quality creative winger (I am assuming Babel, Riera and possibly Benayoun may go)
3) 1st Choice left back, Insua to remain as cover but in my opinion has struggled this season which was possibly a bit soon for him.

[baldricks_cunning_plan]

We can only strengthen the squad with money, we will only have money with new owners because the current pair of t***s aren't prepared to back Rafa in the transfer market.

Once they're gone, we can start anticipating strengthening the squad but until then, we can only dream of that happening.

[tubby]

I know he isn't 100% but id get rid of Aquilani. He is too lightweight. How often does Rafa play him? The premier league is physical and if Rafa is hesitant to play him for him getting injured. What's the point in that? Even if we get 13Mil for him its 13Mil to spend rather than 20mil completely wasted.

Babel should really be played as a striker but never is so id hope he has a good world cup and sell him. Hopefully we can at least get back what we paid. We already have that Jovanovich coming in so im not sure if Rafa will assume the strikers position filled. I couldn't imagine him going for yet another striker on top of that.

[Liverpool442]

We can strengthen the squad even without major funds being available:
Babel 7 - 9 million
Reira 7 million
Benayoun 7 million
assuming the above were sold even if our useless owners could only stump up 10 -15 million we could bring in 2 quality players which in my opinion where a striker and winger would improve us greatly. Remember players like Arshaven, Walcott and Nasri were found for only 10 million a piece, it can be done. Sometimes there is too much doom and gloom, there are still good players in the squad and with a couple of good signings in attacking areas we can move forward.

[Fauxy]

A reliable striker is what we need most next season but we shouldnt go overboard on spending because we have Nemeth coming back from greece, Pacheco coming of age and Jovanovic coming in.

If Arda Turan is going fairly cheapish then we should get him with what money we can get from Riera.

Raul on a free would be ideal. Then we would have enough money to buy Kjear and we are sorted.

[Penguins]

I know he isn't 100% but id get rid of Aquilani. He is too lightweight. How often does Rafa play him? The premier league is physical and if Rafa is hesitant to play him for him getting injured. What's the point in that? Even if we get 13Mil for him its 13Mil to spend rather than 20mil completely wasted.

Babel should really be played as a striker but never is so id hope he has a good world cup and sell him. Hopefully we can at least get back what we paid. We already have that Jovanovich coming in so im not sure if Rafa will assume the strikers position filled. I couldn't imagine him going for yet another striker on top of that.

Now would not be a good time to try and flog him as we'd be looking at 10 million tops.
Has been too injury riddled this season for anyone to fancy him.