Liverpool FC Forum

Not sure if this should be a separate thread but there is loads of discussion on here about the performance of the team over the season and I've been thinking about how good the squad is and the makeup of it.

In Rafa's early days I remember him saying that he wanted at least two decent players competing for every position, which makes sense but what is an ideal makeup for a competitive squad and how would this current squad compare against an ideal squad ?

Two players for each position could be broken down into 2 goalies, 8 defenders, 4 CM, 4 wide players and 4 strikers, given the fact that we can now name up to 25 players in a squad, would that be 3 goalies, 8 DF, 5CM, 4 WP and 5 strikers/fw's ?

In our current squad we have 3 goalies, at least 8 or 9 defenders and 6 CM BUT only 2 WP's (Downing and Maxi) and 4 FW's (Suarez, Carroll, Kuyt and Bellamy) plus we have about 6 or 7 players out on loan including Aquillani and Joe Cole. I know Bellamy and Kuyt play wide or as fowards but they can't be in two places at once can they.

Given this imbalance in our squad, is it not a surprise that we are struggling for goals ? Look how many WP's and FW's the other top teams have.

Do you agree, is there an imbalance ?  Was it planned by Kenny and Comolli ? Will it be addressed in the summer or is it intentional ? Are we still trying to rebuild after the H&G era ? Do the owners want to get Aquilani and Joe Cole off the wage bill before they sanction reinforcements ? Would a few more top class forwards turn this squad around ?

I just wondered what other peoples thoughts were ?

goalies-we are sorted

defence-happy with that also.one of the best in the league.Carra is in the autumn of his career but i think Coates will be a good one and challenge Skrtel/Agger.full backs we have Johnson and Enrique with Kelly Flano and Robinson challenging.Enrique has to rediscover his early season from.

midfield-middle of the park we are good when Stevie is fit.not a massive fan of Spearing and unsure of Hendersons prime position.Lucas has been sorely missed.I think Charlie Adam can do a job against most teams.
we are crying out for real impact wide players.Downing hasn't had any real impact and Maxi seems to be a bit part player.Kuyt isn't really a wide man either.

forwards-do we persevere with Carroll? Suarez has suffered with his ban and Kenny should be telling him to calm the diving as it's now costing us 50/50 decisions from refs.Bellamy is a good backup and Kuyt scores important goals but doesnt seem to be the flavour of the month and rumours suggest he could be leaving in the summer.

solution?

Zaha from Palace.
Naismith from Rangers.(serious,the boy is a player and you could buy him for buttons).
Marquee Signing-Big cash for a goalscorer.(Cavani,Gomes andybody that can put the ball in the net)

Not sure how much to read into it but the stats will show our league form is pretty mediocre when Gerrard has started.

So, it seems we didn't buy any more players in January because the owners weren't entirely happy with the previous transfer dealings and wanted a change in the setup before continuing with the rebuilding process.

I was concerned that they'd run out of money or were losing interest but they still seem to have big plans for us which has filled me with optimism again.

Please get it right this time, I think we just need a few quality players and a bit of luck. If we'd had more luck with injuries and signed a couple of quality players in January we could have easily got into the top 4 this season.

I think we're weak in the middle personally, we need someone with that defence splitting pass who can unlock a defence and link the midfield with the strikers.

width is an obvious issue as is our goalscoring problem

We have seven players who are currently good enough to wear the shirt.

Reina
Enrique
Johnson
Agger
Skrtel
Lucas
XXXXXXXX
Gerrard
XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
Suarez
XXXXXXXX

Sterling could very well prove to be. Other than that we need an injection of real quality... a #9 to partner Suarez, a midfield playmaker to partner Lucas, and certainly a wide right player.

We are three first teamers away from challenging again.

What we have now is a long way short... that Chelsea team today looked devastating and they aint anywhere near the Manchester clubs.

jacdaniel » Thu Apr 12, 2012 2:23 pm wrote:Not sure how much to read into it but the stats will show our league form is pretty mediocre when Gerrard has started.

Good point (and its been worrying me somewhat), however i think its due to Steven playing out of position in central midfield. If we had a Javi Martinez in the middle Steven would never have to come back (as he has had to since Alonso left) and he would be free to play advanced where he does the damage. He doesnt have the discipline to play the Alonso role, nor the metronomic passing. Steven looks for the killer which is not what a midfield controller does.

We bring in a replacement for Alonso then we will see Gerrard back in his natural position, and close to back to his best.

D___C » Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:04 pm wrote:

jacdaniel » Thu Apr 12, 2012 2:23 pm wrote:Not sure how much to read into it but the stats will show our league form is pretty mediocre when Gerrard has started.

Good point (and its been worrying me somewhat), however i think its due to Steven playing out of position in central midfield. If we had a Javi Martinez in the middle Steven would never have to come back (as he has had to since Alonso left) and he would be free to play advanced where he does the damage. He doesnt have the discipline to play the Alonso role, nor the metronomic passing. Steven looks for the killer which is not what a midfield controller does.

We bring in a replacement for Alonso then we will see Gerrard back in his natural position, and close to back to his best.

We'll see what happens when Lucas comes back.

damjan193 » Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:12 pm wrote:

D___C » Sun Apr 15, 2012 9:04 pm wrote:

jacdaniel » Thu Apr 12, 2012 2:23 pm wrote:Not sure how much to read into it but the stats will show our league form is pretty mediocre when Gerrard has started.

Good point (and its been worrying me somewhat), however i think its due to Steven playing out of position in central midfield. If we had a Javi Martinez in the middle Steven would never have to come back (as he has had to since Alonso left) and he would be free to play advanced where he does the damage. He doesnt have the discipline to play the Alonso role, nor the metronomic passing. Steven looks for the killer which is not what a midfield controller does.

We bring in a replacement for Alonso then we will see Gerrard back in his natural position, and close to back to his best.

We'll see what happens when Lucas comes back.

Hes the holding mid...the Hamann, the Mascherano (tho not at the level of either)... we need a playmaker alongside him.. the Alonso (a Javi Martinez type). Thats the central two. Only then will Gerrard be able to play advanced in his natural position. Gerrard has looked nowhere near the same player since Alonso left... hes been forced to come back deep as there is no deep sitting playmaker in the middle.

D___C » Sun Apr 15, 2012 8:58 pm wrote:We have seven players who are currently good enough to wear the shirt.

Reina
Enrique
Johnson
Agger
Skrtel
Lucas
XXXXXXXX
Gerrard
XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
Suarez
XXXXXXXX

Sterling could very well prove to be. Other than that we need an injection of real quality... a #9 to partner Suarez, a midfield playmaker to partner Lucas, and certainly a wide right player.

We are three first teamers away from challenging again.

What we have now is a long way short... that Chelsea team today looked devastating and they aint anywhere near the Manchester clubs.

They were AWESOME!!!
Lets not turn up on the 5th

What a boring tit you are

We lack creativity in midfield and haven't scored anything like enough goals from there this season.

3 players are must have's for me:

right sided winger
striker
creative midfielder, capable of scoring goals and setting them up for others (Mata type)

Suarez has started to score more, which is great. FOr a bit I started feeling we should move him into the midfield, maybe as an attacking mid, but I'm not sure about that anymore.

Reina
Johnson  Skrtel  Agger  Enrique
Gerrard  Lucas  New LW
Suarez
Carroll  New striker


Or now,
New RW/Downing  Lucas  Gerrard  New LW/Downing
Suarez  Carroll

Or
Gerrard  Lucas  Downing/New LW
Suarez  Carroll  New striker.


I'd like to see any of those.  Gerrard has done well for us on the right as it gives him a bit more space, he frees himself up and puts some great balls into the box.  He's not got much time left tho, and I can't say I always expect him to be available next year considering he's always fighting injury.  Especially with euros this summer.

The squad is in good shape in terms of the number of players and options in each position, it’s the quality that is questionable. Where ever you think Gerrard, Bellamy, Maxi, Kuyt, etc, should play, we can put 2 balanced teams out.

GK = Reina, Doni, Jones
CB = Agger, Skrtel, Coates, Carragher
RB = Johnson, Kelly
LB = Enrique, Aurelio
CM = Lucas, Henderson, Spearing, Adam
RF/RM = Gerrard, Kuyt
LF/LM = Maxi, Downing
F = Suarez, Shelvey
ST= Bellamy, Carroll


                         Reina

Johnson     Skrtel     Agger     Enrique

                  Lucas     Henderson

        Gerrard     Suarez     Maxi

                        Bellamy

.......................................................................................................

                     Doni

Kelly     Coates     Carragher    Aurelio

          Spearing     Adam

        Kuyt     Shelvey     Downing

                    Carroll

to be fair the goalscoring has improved over the last couple of months, even though the results havent been great we have put 6 past brighton, 2 past stoke and 2 past everton in the cup and even in the league we put 3 past everton, 2 past QPR, 3 past blackburn and at least managed to score 1 against villa and wigan.
nothing to write home about yet but there are signs that our strike force may not be as bad as some think it is. a creative centre midfielder who can sit alongside lucas in the mould of alonso and a attacking midfielder that can go past a man and we may shock a few people next season.
with hindsight we tried to bring too many new players into the first team at the start of the season and other relatively new arrivals like carroll still werent 100% fit which didnt help either, next season i`d only bring in 2 new players into the starting 11 but i`d make them big money quality buys.

                                                      reina
johnson                       skrtel                       agger                   enrique

                                      lucas                  new signing

                            suarez           gerrard      new signing 

                                                carroll   

thats the team i`d start next season with, the fullbacks are as athletic as any in the league so they`ll give us width and gerrard can drop back into midfield if we are under the cosh at any time. pity sterling wasnt a couple of years older he may be the answer to that attacking midfielder role.
infact if you put alonso and sterling (even if it`s just for his electric pace alone at this point) in that side i think they`d give anyone in the league a run for their money. when everyone is fit we have the foundations of a very good side.