NP is summing up the options, for me Mckenna is the obvious choice, Koren & Hobbs are too quiet but I personally see Chester as future captain material. Plus if dawson is to be kept out by Dudgeon (likely) then Daws won't have it back either.
Not sure on that one, Johnson has some terrible games at right-back, Carragher is old now and Kyrgiakos?!
chester has the potential to be a great player but hes no way good enough to slot in a champions league contenders defence, and liverpool have money to burn, theyd go for gary cahill etc.
Liverpools defence is definitely their weak spot now, the potential is there with Chester I agree and I would never say that they wouldn't be good enough because of that.
One swallow doesn't make a summer .McShane had a reasonable game away at Anfield in the prem,but then played like a total headcase for most of the remainder of his first team appearances .Perhaps he was putting on the style to get an offer from elsewhere (I hope).Basically he is an accident waiting to happen ,with minimal talent who goes into a tackle like a headless chicken. He is more likely to get a red card than put in a telling cross . Keep him away from the starting eleven at all costs for gawds sake.
Chester and Hobbs will be more than good enough for us (although I'd prefer to put Ayala in there as well). I still think we shoudl have: .................Gulacsi ..........Ayala Hobbs Chester Rosenior .......................Dudgeon as our defence
I doubt we'll see Ayala sign, at least for the time been away. The defence seems pretty settled now so i don't see the need to bring him in just yet, but it's good to have options out there should you need any fresh blood during the season.
5 at the back, you sure? That wouldn't really let us play with wingers and there'd be no place for Brady or Koren.
Im sure when the real business starts , both Hobbs and Chester will be found out. Neither were a patch on Gerrard last season whom IMO will be greatly missed. So i would go for Ayala. Just my opinion.
I'm sorry steve but that is rubbish. I won't deny Gerrard was good last season, but his form tailed off in the last few weeks of the season (remember Boro at home?) and i wouldn't say he was streets ahead of Chester or Hobbs. There's plenty of games of which i can think of were Chester played a blinder at centre back and Hobbs seemed to come on a lot more as the season came on and did a good job at Leciester the season before. With Cooper going out on loan though it leaves a space available, but i can't see NP sticking either Chester or Hobbs on the bench. I also don't see how your argument works especially with Chester. He came up against on paper a decent attacking Liverpool team and did very well, and that Liverpool front line should be better than anything we'll face this season. You're entitled to your opinion, but i just don't see how you can write off Hobbs and Chester like you have done when all evidence points to them being perfectly capable of playing well in this division.
Hobbs finished the season as arguably our most consistent centre half. I see where Steve is coming from though, I think we'll miss Gerrard. He was very vocal, brave, not afraid to get a head/foot/anything on the ball. He's the sort of player every decent defence needs, and I don't think we have that so much this season. You can't use the Middlesbrough game, as frankly, nobody came out of that game with any credit.
Fair point on the Boro game. I agree we'll miss the qualities that Gerrard brought to the team/defence and it does leave us with a young centre back pairing, but one i feel is perfectly capable of standing up to the challenges ahead. Ayala wouldn't sort out this lack of an experienced centre half, and although i feel we don't really need him i would still be happy with him signing given what we saw of him last year.
I saw the game again last night too, did you also see how awkward McShane looked when clearing the ball? Seemed to nearly let the ball go and also took too many touches at times and in general never looked confident. Can't knock his spirit and fight yesterday but those weaknesses will be exposed again very quickly when we get back to Championship football with strikers bothering to close him down
To be honest I thought he looked more assured than I previously have seen, however I do agree he did look to take a lot of touches at the back when one or two would have done. However I think it was a much improved performance on Saturday and if he performs like that every week I would be more than happy to have him as our back up to Hobbs and Chester. Although one issue i do have is the way our wing backs in Rosie and Dudgeon both bombed on left us very exposed to the early counter over the top out wide. Liverpool numerous times nearly caught us this way.
I don't mind the full backs getting forward I think the likes of McKenna, Brady and Evans can cover the defence if they bomb on
