i dont know player, when asked i was told what he did against England, also he was a summer target, i am hoping this was on the assumption we would get top 4 and already be in cl, as if not what was the point, we need to set our standards higher if wasn't the case, so i am guessing he is what we are looking at anyway and has the quality we are looking for. i think the sterling going out on loan has well gone, i did hear whispers in jan it could of happened, but doubt that will happen now, he has made himself too valuable to first team and shown signs of growing up at last, also Chelsea in for studge, well if the player would go back there at the drop of a hat then the lack of love(well the fear of showing it) for him would be justified.
Even if we do get CL, I hope we don't deviate from our current strategy which is to identify young talent at good value. Sakho is a prime example of a potentially world class player joining us at a good price. Kono would be the same. We were targeting players like Mkhitaryan, Willian and Costa last summer. We are already identifying the right calibre of player without CL - problem is just closing the deal and making us a more attractive option.
See we're linked to Richards for £8m in the summer today. If he got back to his best he could well be a good option at RB or even at CB to partner Sakho long term. Would need to be fully over his injury problems though as if not would be a huge risk.
Definitely has the talent but injuries are a concern. We have far too many players who are injury prone, particularly in defence.
but wouldn't he be fighting for a place with johnson(assume gone?) Wisdom(not ready yet then?) flanno(would he be cover for lb as well?) and kelly(is he going to play more cb then?) that's 4 positions for the rb spot and i havent even included Mclaughlin.
We have plenty of numbers but no real quality. Flanno is a back up at best. Wisdom should be moved to CB in future but still a youngster. Johnson likely to leave. McLaughlin is one for the future. Kelly - can't see him getting back into the team.
Johnson will be gone if we can find any takers. The rest are all young an inexperienced so we need to strengthen that area with an established player anyway. Plus he's just as capable at playing CB than he is at RB
fair enough lads just curious everyone's opinion as we have a few for that position. personally i don't see a future for Johnson or Kelly, if we have wisdom and flanno as backup to Richards i would be happy with that to be honest.
Because I don't see both Agger & Skrtel being with us too much longer and they're both coming up to 30.
I hope not, or certainly not as first choice anyway. Yes he's been best CB this season, but his main competition has been Toure
Agreed. He's the only one who's not been injured so we see more of him. A lot of work needs to be done to the whole defensive set up to our team.
Game just shows we needed to strengthen in the Winter window. should have pulles out all the stops to sign Webb... he could be the difference between top 4 and not.
IMO the defence looks a lot worse than it is because of two things; injuries stopping us from having a consistent back four and the lack of cover from midfield. We have looked better defensively recent despite not actually keeping a clean sheet.
you can put Johnson and Enrique back in there and it still wouldn't make a difference. The defence also needs a real DM in front of them.
we just lack real quality like some sides. its not that bad but it is a matter of tightening up tactically on certain things. Yes if we had luiz and matic as to holding negative players we'd conceed less but we'd also not score as many. Henderson gerrard coutinho thats our best midfield 3 right now IMO. coutinho's played where i thought he might and he's done better deeper sterlings done ok wide but needs to deliver an end product more. good worker, positive but inconsistent in the real area he needs to deliver in. I believe that we need to yes put enrique and johnson back in simply as the two playing now are journeyman and average (giving flanagan the benefit) Our game will improve 20% with those two in if fit.
Under no circumstance do I want Johnson back in the team. Playing awful and didn't look like he cared. It's not even recent poor form, he's had maybe three good games in the last year. Enricky can play left, Flanno right.
