After the bitter-sweet couple of hours yesterday as it was reported Ajax had accepted a bid for Suarez and then Liverpool reporting we'd rejected the transfer request of Torres, it got me thinking on what I would do to sort out this season and at the same time get us going in future seasons on the steady up. Firstly, the Suarez deal is definitely still unsure about. Nobody knows his desire to play for Liverpool football club, or his desire to play with Torres, so this news could make him rethink. Although I have a theory. Torres has been off form recently and judging by Suarez' performances last season both in the world cup and the dutch league Suarez looks the better player. Although of course the Dutch league is worse, Suarez has done it on the international scale too. Something Torres hasn't done for 2 years. My theory is that Torres saw that Suarez was coming in and immediately joined the dots together; that LFC are looking for his replacement. He feels Suarez will outplay him and he will start to lose his status as a talisman for us. He therefore throws in his transfer request for 2 reasons. Either 1; to make Suarez rethink joining, or 2; so he can jump ship before Suarez outshines. So... on to what I would do.... This is on the basis that we sign Suarez, and keep Torres. My immediate formation would be to play Suarez and Torres up front in a sort of 4-3-3. ----------------------------------Reina----------------------------------- --------Kelly----------Wilson------------Agger-----------Johnson---- --------------------------------------Lucas------------------------------- ----------------Gerrard-------------------------------Aurelio----------- ---------------------------------Meireles--------------------------------- ----------------------Suarez--------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------Torres---------------------------- Subs: Shelvey, Gulacsi, Pacheco, Kyrgiakos, J. cole, Kuyt, Ngog. The back 4 includes Wilson and Kelly bringing some new blood and passion into the side. I am a firm believer Wilson will do well in our side, Kelly is now an established Right back, and if we can find a new Right back he can move to CB. Johnson has played well recently in LB. Agger has impressed. Gerrard is in the RM position simply because it suits him well, he may not like playing there but he has always played well there. There is plenty more space for him to work with which is what he likes and he can slot them in straight for Suarez. Lucas is in the Holding mid position slightly to the left as I feel that will be our weaker area, and Gerrard needs more space to work. He can also keep his partnership with Meireles who is further upfield from him. Aurelio on LW in not something we see a lot, he isn't a natural LW he is a LB, but until we can find a proper LW or even a midfielder who can play on the Left (don't like Maxi very much) then I feel he is best utilised to thread balls into the box and through balls to Torres. Meireles has shown he plays well in this position as he did in the last few matches. Torres will continue to be the sole striker and if given the balls should continue to slot them in. Suarez plays well just behind the main striker as he sets goals up as well as putting them away. This would be my first team up until the summer. In the summer I would sell: Torres - Obvious he wants to go, we can get more for him in the summer and start a bidding war. Based on him playing well in the summer I would expect offers in the region of: 40m + Anelka, 60m straight swap, Personally I'd push for a straight swap with Atletico for Aguero. Glen Johnson - He is another marmite character. We have our first choice RB at the moment, and he isn't a natural LB who we need to make runs and not cut in. He should never have been brought in for the amount he was in the first place but I reckon we can get: 15m cash. Kuyt - Whilst I do not like the thought of him going as he is an integral part of this club and puts his all in, he's 30 and he is losing his pace at a rapid rate. His advantages always laid in his work rate, as he gets older his work rate is getting lower as he is finding it harder. Even though he is 30, there was lots of interest for him last summer we can still get a good price. 8-10m, or a swap deal for a promising youngster. Joe cole - Got him on a free, he was a flop. We've been paying his wages all year and he's done nothing for us of sorts so far. There is talk some clubs are willing to pay 5m for him, would be a nice bit of business if we sold him. 5m. Skrtel - He has faltered too much this season, and it is scary watching him play often expecting some sort of red card and penalty. We have enough CBs coming through and he just isn't good enough anymore. 7.5m Carragher - Retire him, put him as assistant manager. With Kenny as Manager, this will be the start of the new boot room. Maxi - This would be my lost choice to sell, if we look like we're wearing our squad thin then we shouldn't sell him, but he just doesn't seem good enough. He can get himself in good positions and has impressed with Argentina. But he hasn't reproduced his form, and he can't finish. 6m (We got on a free, so profit) Buy in: Ageuro (if we manage a straight swap, don't want to pay for him) - Torres FÃÆÃâÃâ ââ¬â¢ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâábio CoentrÃÆÃâÃâ ââ¬â¢ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâão (new LB) - 20m Arda Turan - 12m (bargain) Davide Santon - 11m Sold: 101.5m (if we sell Torres for 60m) Bought: 43m Pretty good business This would be my first 11 come september: ----------------------------------Reina----------------------------------- --------Santon----------Kelly----------Wilson---------CoentrÃÆÃâÃâ ââ¬â¢ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâão----- -----------Gerrard------------Meireles---------------Turan------------- ------------------------Pacheco----------Suso---------------------------- ----------------------------------Suarez--------------------------------- Subs: Aurelio, Gulacsi, Shelvey, Kyrgiakos, Ngog, Agger, Lucas. Anyway, that's what I would do this year. We'd be making a profit and I think we'd be taking a huge step forward.
Thanks for the well measured and reasoned response. I'm glad you took the time to read it and acknowledge my genius.
What I would do in Kenny's position- Ask for a Job as a cleaner at Old Trafford, big improvement for him
Thanks for the well measured and reasoned response. I'm glad you took the time to read it and acknowledge my genius. Now go and eat some custard.
Humm interesting. I agree Torres must go at the end of the season. I however do not think we could get 15 for Johnson, Skertle for 7 and Joe for five and Kuyt for 8-10. I reckon tops 12 for Johnson, 5 for Skertle, Cole for 4, Kuyt for 4. Don't think we can get Aguero. NESV wouldnt pay out all that for 1 player, plus I wouldnt want them to. Flog Torres and get Young, and a few others youngsters; this may be a blessing in disguise.
You may be right. I don't expect us to get Aguero of course, but it would be worth a try. The prices I put in were just estimates, and even if we knock a few mill off each of those we still end up making 50m profit for other signings.
firstly - suso not a striker, more of a CM, he wouldnt be able to play that role... and hell still be 17/18 then, maybe bench but not starting, still unproven ALso shelvey, hes been looking good, but i wouldnt play him in that role (which looks to me like DM). Its alright with the system we seem to be playing, alongside lucas wholl do more of the dirty work, but alone in that role i dont think hed cut it. Youve also got him on your bench btw... dont think he can play AND be on the bench at the same time Youve also got 3 young, inexperienced (in the PL, except for maybe kelly by the end of the season). Id at least keep Agger in for a while, to organise and dictate, probably take out Santon (although hes good) and shift kelly? Lastly you forgot about aquilani, can either add him to the sold list or do you think he might come back?
Suso scores goals, that's why I put him there. 17/18 is perfect for starting out in the prem, rooney and fabregas both started out at 17. Shelvey is in the CM role, that was just a mistake about the bench. Suarez is young and inexperienced in the prem league, are you saying he shouldn't be playing in the first 11 either? It is much less of a jump for defenders from other leagues to the prem because they're used to physicality wherever they go. Turan may take a little while to get used to it, but he's a winger he won't need too long to adapt. Agger has his moments, which is why he's on the bench. I did forget about Aquilani you're right, although I don't know the exact terms of his loan agreement. There are rumours Juventus could buy him for 13m at the end of the season, although not sure the truth involved I think 13m is too low for someone who has impressed Juventus immensely this season. An extra 13m would be nice, although if we hold all the cards I believe we could push for ~20m with the Italian clubs as he has impressed there.
Well i dont think Suso i built enough to play that role, especially alongside Suarez who isnt the most physical striker, might get bullied by big CB's. Regarding the youth, i think its fine to have a couple youngsters in there to let them develop, but not 5. Bit too much of an overhaul, though we are in transition - only 4 of the team are current starters (and suarez probably), with shelvey and wilson on the bench. None of the defense are really leaders yet, which could be a problem, hopefully Kelly will be able to step up into that role soon though. I still see him playing on the right for a bit longer though, i think Wilson might end up in the centre before him. CM for shelvey would be a lot better yeah, misunderstanding, although i doubt Gerrard would be happy (not doubting he would be effective), and he generally seems to get what he wants. With Aquilani, im afraid we set the asking price too low. From what ive heard of him in Juve, 13mil seems like a bargain. Its a bit confusing with all the youngsters really, we almost seem to have too many
I know what you mean - we have too many youngsters taking up specific roles, but we don't have enough impressive out and out strikers (we need 2 ideally, neither pacheco, suso etc are out and out strikers, Ngog isn't good enough really) and we don't have a good DM player (I'm hoping Lucas will step up his game some more for this). Gerrard probably wouldn't be very happy no - but with Kenny in charge he puts up with it or he can leave too. He is getting on a bit now, and he is nowhere near as good as he once was. Obviously he still a great player but with the state of the team surely he must put away his ego and take one for the team. I know what you mean about the striking role, but Torres and Ngog don't seem very physical and they've done fine. Torres turned out to be quite a physical player although he doesn't look it. If I thought Ngog could impress in future, I would make him bulk up a bit. The problem is: Our team just isn't good enough at the moment, most of them are getting on a bit... we have 4 30 year olds in our starting line up at the moment (including Carragher) and Torres, Meireles, Reina, Agger, skrtel, johnson are all in their late 20s. It's about time we injected a bit of youth into the team, and I'm not saying we should switch from one first 11 to the other drastically we would slowly edge them in, but we cannot let our team age like Chelsea have done.
Yeah we seem to have several good youngsters who are quite similar and would ideally occupy very similar positions, which would be difficult to fit into a team. I think Kelly now (starting line up), Wilson, Shelvey, Pacheco sometime next season (if they continue to improve), Suso and sterling are harder to say because theyre still younger, but i think suso should definitely be at least around the bench next season, wouldnt quite start him yet though (but tbh i havent seem much of him). What about Ayala? he also seems good, and impressed for Hull
I'm torn on Ayala; he shone with Hull but he only played 12 games and picked up a bad injury. I hope he isn't that injury prone in the prem league, because 1 nasty injury could ruin his footballing career this early on.
If I was Kenny I'd expect to be dealing with a complex issue based on what's known at the club, not at the sports desks. What's behind Fernando's request? Why does he want to leave just as things have turned? He had over a week under Hodgson when the window opened so why not then? Everybody would've understood that. It doesn't make a lot of sense now. That's what happens when you follow tabloid logic, though.
Here's what I'd do. Make some enquiries and see if we can get anyone in. If we can, then I say to Chelsea cough up the asking price by 5pm today, or it's not happening. I'd say to Torres, tell Chelsea if they want you they need to pay up, coz if they don't then this is what happens. Suarez takes your place, and if he isn't available then Ngog plays. You will be on the bench every game, but you won't get on the field. You will however, have to warm up in front of the fans. If they don't come up with the dosh, we tell Torres and Chelsea to **** themselves and we'll sell him in the summer when there'll be other clubs interested. We hold the cards here. If they come up with the dosh, we try and get people in but if we can't then we'll have to wait til the summer to get them. We're not going down, and we aren't gonna make top four, so it's not the end of the world if he goes. The big disappointment is the Europa League, as this hurts our chances of winning it.
Yea, you're right. It's just that we have about 6 threads about Torres now, so I didn't really know which one lead the discussion. I'll just pick one out, from now on.
