I agree we do not need overhaul, but we do need to trim the fat and progress the squad at the same time. The mind boggles at how much wages are being wasted at the moment ! I feel we need to replace 4 Fringe members of the squad, those players and in turn the positions they would take up are: Carragher CB, Aurelio DM, Kuyt RM, Aqualani Striker I feel this would genuinely add to the squad as your not necessarily bedding in a first teamer other than Kuyts position and potentially the striking position. I feel that is a good enough transition for next season, personally i feel we need more extensive work in Centre midfield and an extra winger but I think we could get by on the aforementioned replacements as well as losing Aurelio, Joe Cole, Pancheco from the wage bill.
I also agree that we don't need overhaul, i believe cole, kuyt (as much as i love him), maxi and aurelio will go. With the emergence of shelvey and hopefully sterling next season i would honestly be happy with bringing in just a striker and winger ... With Carragher i think he should continue playing for at least another season, especially with us being in the europa league next season (meaning four competitions and more games/travelling). His experience and just his presence alone will still be important next season. Even if he doesn't play much in the league, which i don't think he should, he'll still get at least 15 games next season just because of the demands for rotation and fresh legs.
As poor as the likes of Downing and Adam have been - we need them for squad players. I wouldn't want to bin too many untill we get better players in.
I don't want to see Downing or Carroll go for sure. Why sell the two players that are starting to find some sort of form? Shelvey will have a big impact next season, similar to what Cleverly had at United at the start of the season. Lucas returning from injury will be like a new signing (Cliche I know). Aqualani, J.Cole, Pacheco, Maxi and Kuyt will all probably leave this summer. and without going in to football manager mode we need to replace them with quality. The most needed positions we need to strength are probably. RM. Striker. CM. RM is a priority. If Kuyt, Maxi and Cole were all to go it would leave us very short. It seems as if every season we're crying out for a natural winger. Carroll and Suarez are both good strikers and I think both could be key next season. But I wouldn't mind seeing a cheap proven goalscorer join us, I honestly don't think we need to spend big on a striker (though I wouldn't mind seeing Llorrente join us naw what I mean?). Look at the effect Raul has had at Schalke? A similar piece of business would do the trick. Apart from Gerrard, what other class attacking Midfielder do we have? Arguably Adam is our best playmaker, is he good enough to take us forward? Debatable. Not saying he wouldn't be a decent squad player, but is he consistent enough over the course of a season? Probably not. Like I mentioned earlier Shelvey could have a big impact, but that's something we can't just rely on, I think we seriously need some strength in midfield and a decent player to play alongside Lucas. Any other signings would be luxury signings, a back up Left back would be good. But I echo what's already been said on this thread, we're only a few players off and there is certainly players out there.
Do you not think an additional central midfielder would hamper the progress of shelvey though?? I believe if we do buy another central midfielder shelvey will have another season like he did this one. My theory is with shelvey is that he's a lot different to any of our midfielders, he is the closest player to gerrard we have, unlike spearing, lucas, adam and henderson whenever he gets the ball almost all the time he will look for a forward pass and if there isn't one on he will then go back to keep possession. This isn't a dig at the other four as i'm a massive fan of lucas' and i like henderson and spearing but it just gives us something that i think we have been massively lacking this season which is creativity at a high tempo! ... In addition to this when shelvey gets the ball, suarez, gerrard, maxi, bellamy etc know how he plays so will know that they can get into a position where they will get the ball off him and that makes us an overall more of an attacking threat ... If you remember his performance when we played villa at villa i thought he was outstanding! And in every game i have seen him in this season i don't think he has put in a poor performance, against Blackburn he was also exceptional and i also saw parts of his game i'd never seen before as we were down to 10 men, for example work rate! I remember one pre-season game he got dispossessed in the middle of the pitch and was very lazy in getting up and tracking back which resulted in a major bollocking from Carra, so i was pleased to see him put in the effort against rovers ... Basically all i'm saying is give the lad a proper chance!
I don't think it would, competition for places is very healthy at top clubs. If he's good enough to start he should, but what if Shelvey gets injured? I mean look how bad we've suffered without Lucas, Spearing has done a great job but we need to take in to account that players can get injured, and if we gamble on Shelvey and he gets injured where's the back up? This season we seem to be playing 3 in the middle, so the new signing could be next to Lucas with Shelvey more advanced, he comes across as a very versatile player and let's not forget the lad is still very young, we should ease him in to the starting eleven
yeah good point but we do have, adam, spearing, lucas, gerrard, hendo, shelvey and if necessary suarez can fall back into the 'gerrard role' ... i see your point with quality though, i just see adam, spearing and hendo as squad players at the moment anyway and obviously shelvey as an emerging player, so that leaves lucas, gerrard and suarez as the only quality midfielders ... the big problem at the moment is we have quantity instead of quality ... It is a tough one i just hope shelvey does get given the chances cos i feel when he has played he has proven he's good enough...
We need to replace Maxi & Kuyt, who will probably leave next year, with a goalscoring winger who will get 10+ goals + 10+ assists next season. And regardless of Carroll's recent improvement we still need a striker that can get us 15 goals a season IMO because I can't ever seeing him being as good as Van Persie, Aguero, Ba, Adebayor, Rooney etc who have set the level for top 4 strikers this season. We also need a CM that can dictate the tempo of the play IMO, because we are sorely lacking someone with the ability and intelligence to do that. Newcastle's success is a lot due to the fact they have Cabaye, Spurs are succesful because they have Modric, Arsenal with Arteta, Man Utd have improved since Scholes came back etc. We can never change the pace of a game, we are sometimes playing too furiously and missing too much chances and need someone to add some composure on the ball and slow things down, other times we lack the pace in our attack and we need someone to inject that pace like Alonso used to.
I agree with bozz on names but not fees. we will be lucky to get anything for maxi, 6mil for aquilani, MAYBE... etc. I can see those guys going but the main benefit if they do go is freed wages. I think kuyt may well go as a top manager would have to look at his age and contribution and wonder if offloading is not the right thing... oh he may give another year but for waht wage and how muc would the fee drop. I do think we we can put together the cup prize monies thus far, europa likley 6-7mil extra tv revenue, about 10mil in transfers in and also a hopefully kitty provided by FSG well i think we can go get 4-5 20mil players..... if they are willing to work for 90-100k per week. Thats ambitous though.... but possible in theory. the pressure would be on HUGELY to deliver not only 4th (please remember that the press will beat us with any stick) but to challenge for the title. Anyhting less than a genuine title push haivng won a cup and reached a final then spent 100mil net = a title push. I do think we need at least 4-5 guys but they don't need to be 20mil fees they must be the RIGHT player.... eg enrique, coates, risse, arbeloa, hyppia and the list goes on. Some can be like that. I'd prefer if they were cos their wages would be less and hunger more..... All in all I think buying two really top guys to play upfront and in the middle/wing and bringing in some real hungry players like newkie did for example would be great business. BUT!!!!! I do not see us having a title push next year, not next year I think we can complete with arsenal in their current state and spurs too and yes newcastle if they stay performing but the spend i see chelsea and city making and the non destruction of utd will mean anything above 4th is a big bonus. 4th must be delivered next year allied to just perhaps a european cup run past the quarters? Would you lot accept that???? I think not... and this is why patience must be exhibited. Exhibit patience and the year after, just maybe we'll compete for the holy grail.... maybe... can you wait that long?
One of the requirements that we do have for this summer must be to find a replacement for Gerrard. Now that is going to be very hard but we don't have anybody to take over this role.
agree with fordeck... the key to a rebuild is replacing players faster than they fall off the cliff/leave for whatever reason. Arsenal are a prime example of a side gradually getting weaker and weaker cos they have either replaced badly or just lost too many guys at once. any side losing clichy fabregas and nasri has it tough but you can add more to that list as you go back. We need to strip out dead wood and get better but we must also replace the top guys like carragher was, gerrard was and kuyt was..... we didn't replace torres really did we? we finally replaired some damage done by G&H by getting shut of n'dog and getting in suarez if a like for like could even be made but we need to improve again before someone else leaves. In hsort to build the jigsaw completely takes time but its like someone is sneaking peices away and back in the box... or that awful maths problem with two taps filling a bath wit hthe plug out. is the water filling or emptying?
Agreed with Dave and MITO, the problem is it's hard to find the Gerrards out there. As time goes on it's getting harder and harder to incorporate youth players. The demand for instant success is making it harder and harder for managers to mold their own teams, Chelsea are a prime example of this, whens the last time a youth player has been bought through the ranks? And the top teams like Barcelona, City, Madric etc have first say on most talent, so it's a case of educated risks or second choice players.
I really hope Shelvey can go some of the way to softening Gerrard's inevitable decline, i think he can be a really special player
who knows. we need to back a panel of 25 men to win us something. We don't have those 25 IMO now. If 5 kids are the answer and we cna get shut of maxi etc fine, if not whats plan b... cos retaining maxi cos he gets a few goals here and there when he does come on is not a long term plan is it? neither is sticking him in for 10 games cos by game 3 he's done. bellamy is same, gerrard truthfully looks the same and carragher is past it. We did some work last year, its time to go an awful lot more and as i said next year 4th is a requirement. end of.... provided the moeny is invested.
I generally believe we are fairly good with our youth anyway, i mean Kelly is looking a great player, Sterling is obvious and will get given a chance or there is something wrong, flanagan is getting game time too, and look at Spearing the past 18 months ... With Chelsea i can only think of Bertrand coming through and McEachran on loan at swansea ...I believe with us the youth are promising its just getting the big signings right! Like some of you say we have to spend big on a player to either replace/compliment Gerrard, when we get the big signings right we can safely say we will be in the hunt for champs league and beyond!
With Gerrards replacement, you firstly have to decide which Gerrard it is you want to replace. Is it the Young Gerrard who ran with power and tackled anything that moved in front of him? Is it the later Gerrard who made box to box midfield play his own preserve? Or, is it what we hoped to see this season the mature player who sat behind 2 strikers who can play threaded killer balls, whip in crosses and has a lethal shot? All of them are very different. In today's game the Young Gerrard would spend more time suspended than he did on the pitch. If it is the later Gerrard then Shelvey has shown some indications that he may develop in this way. If it is the mature Gerrard then I don't have a proposal.
kelly might be good if he can put the injuries aside. i worry about how many he gets. Reminds me of gerrard at his age. Sterling is being gentled in. I am just hoping he gets more than to ist as an unpicked man from a match days squad and makes more benches and geins more experience this season. Flanagan is just decnet right now but i think will improve with experience, he is not as good a ball player as robinson at all but has heart and will i think be a good player. Spearing is now an average prem player which is a step up from championship layer so lets see where he goes with it. Is he a gibson needing to move as we buy better guys or can he stake a real claim. there's still a list of 30+ and dead wood to cull though... lets see how we do this summer. I am hoping a few do go and we draw a firm line under the flops.
