Just a thread to gauge fan's opinions on 1) our best starting XI from this season based on this seasons results/individual performances, 2) how our starting XI should look next season for a top 4 finish and where the replacements should be and 3)Kenny Dalglish For me, 1) This season's best XI --------------------Reina-------------------------- Johnson--------Skrtel---Agger--------Enrique------- ----------Spearing--------------Shelvey----------- --------------------Gerrard------------------------ Bellamy----------------Suarez----------------Maxi > GK: Reina - Despite his few blips this season I still think he is one of the best keepers in the league. Every keeper is prone to a few howlers now and again but overall Reina has been great for us. Having Brad flapping around in goal made me realise how much we take a confident and commanding keeper for granted. I expect most will agree and ask why I need to even justify this choice but a few months ago there was quite a bit of opinion around that we should get a new keeper! > CBs: Speaks for itself really, Skrtel and Agger gave us the second best defensive record (after Man City) in the league and that was the case up until Agger's injury. Skrtel has been great for us this season and has been like a new signing but having Agger next to him undoubtedly improves his game and improves our team by having someone who can play the ball out and kick-start our attacks. > LB/RB: I have heard quite a few times now that we should sell Johnson and I struggle to see why, we have little competition for RB/LB and Johnson can play both well. He can sometimes get caught out defensively but I find this is becoming less frequent. More importantly, he often can be our most attacking player on the pitch at times and his crosses/runs into the box always lead to chances. Enrique is a no brainer, he is both strong defensively - I have yet to see a player out-muscle him - and in attack - although I do think he suffers a bit of Downing's curse of making good runs forward only to pass back and not press-on and beat his man/make the killer pass. > CDM: Spearing, I think, is a great player and we are lucky to have him - He's humble and I think we are lucky to have such a good second choice CDM play second fiddle to Lucas (obviously the better player), he knows that you have to work to earn a place in the starting Xi and that nothing is taken for granted, and, more importantly, he plays for the badge - something our other players should learn to do. Technically I think he is solid and I feel a lot safer if he is in our team than Adam and at 23 (?) there is still room for improvement. > CM: Shelvey. Much like Henderson, Shelvey shows promise but still has a lot to learn. At 20, though, I think he will continue to improve. He's in this starting XI as I think he has had more to his game than Hendo at the moment and has been more of an attacking threat. > CAM: Gerrard - He's not past it. Anyone who says otherwise is just wrong. He is a fantastic player but I think his worth is halved when he is slapped in a disciplined role in the midfield. He needs to be unleashed upfront and get involved in the attacking play without the worry of having the responsibility of tracking back constantly to take the slack of players like Adam (earlier in the season). His hat-trick against Everton was a testament to his resilience and heart after so long sidelined with his injury. > RW/LW: Maxi - I know he will leave in the summer, partly thorugh lack of game time but also through just wanting to return home. Maxi has the nack of being in the right place at the right time, a trait some of our other players could do well to learn. None of his goals are fantastic but they are goals nonetheless and Maxi has the best goals to games record out of our entire team. As for LW, Bellamy needs no explanation. > ST: Suarez, nothing to say - a player that was supposed to take time to bed into a vastly better league as a secondary support striker has now become our star player and the sharp point of our spear - an essential player that gets fans and players alike revved up and shows desire and effort all the time. 2) For next season I see our team as being this with blank spaces for potential replacements --------------------Reina-------------------------- Johnson--------Skrtel---Agger--------Enrique------- ----------Lucas--------------[............]----------- --------------------Gerrard------------------------ ------------Suarez--------------[.........]---------- > CM: Still think CM needs improving and perhaps if Aquilani returns that will be enough, but we need a strong complete midfielder akin to Alonso. > Striker: There is also a need for another striker to compliment Suarez, someone who can just put the ball in the net without any fussing. Suarez would do the legwork so we need a poacher like Hernandez to seal the deals. > Wingers: With Maxi leaving, and Bellers playing fewer games I think the wings are an area needed for work. Downing's game is improving but he is neither a great winger nor inside forward and we need a player there who can do both well (Mata), the same can be said of Kuyt. So all in all I see us needing at least 3 QUALITY signings around the 20 million mark. I don't think any players need to be shipped out this season apart from Kuyt and Maxi if they want to leave - I think players like Downing, Henderson, Adam and Carroll are still important for us and give us much needed squad depth, something which is really important and something we rarely have. 3) The Manager I think we are all frustrated with how this season has panned out. Kenny has spent a lot of money on players that have not been worth it - that is the fact and my starting XI shows that (no Carroll, Downing or Adam) but what compounds this is the sums we paid for these players and that fault lies firmly at the feat of Mr Comoli and why I believe he was sacked. Furthermore, I think it is unfair to blame Kenny for a players lack of form, Adam was a SOLID player last season, his free kicks were accurate and his shots vicious, what has happened to him!? He is all over the place and it pains me to say him getting injured was the best thing he's done all season! Likewise Downing has gone from having the best crossing record in the league to being a hit and miss player. As for Carroll, well, time will tell, but at the moment he isn't good enough to be our main striker in a top 4 contending team. So I do think Kenny has got things wrong but if we can't give a legend like KK, after all he's done for us, more than one season to change our team around then we are going to become a revolving door like Chelsea and get nowhere. - It will take any manager time to get us going, and Kenny has got the ball rolling already and our play style and trophy/ies are testament to that. The one thing he needs to do is hammer into the players at the end of the season that if they don't make the effort, they're out. Anyway, sorry for the essay, I am bored at work and felt like sharing. What are everyone's views on ANY of these points? Would love to know where everyone stands and how everyone feels about this seasons and next
I agree with the 3 quality signings needed, but on top of that i think we need a couple more. If we lose 2 of the 3 of maxi, kuyt and bellamy we will need to bring in 1 class winger and a good one for cheapish (Afellay?) also we need cover in defence, when agger is injured we are a shambles
Good article! The players we brought in were the right players on paper, but they simply didn't deliver. Not too fussed about Henderson and Carroll as they are young and can improve, but I was expecting a lot more from Adam and Downing. Adam did look a lot better when playing alongside with Lucas and before Gerrard came back. However, I do disagree about Spearing and Gerrard. Spearing is simply not good enough and our midfield is a lot weaker. To be fair, it doesn't help when his fellow midfielders don't keep the ball or work as hard as he does. Spearing is only good for the odd match to give Lucas a rest but we can clearly see that Spearing cannot be played for large periods. Gerrard is awful and hinders the shape and balance of the team IF he is played as a CM. If he is played higher up the pitch, then I can see him making a good contribution but I believe we should use him as a super sub. I can count the number of good performances he has put in over the past 2 years on one hand. If he can show that desire and quality more consistently as he did in the Norwich game when he chased down the ball and fed Suarez through, then you would have an argument. With regards to the players we need, I feel midfield needs a lot of work. Central midfield is just not that strong. Bar Lucas, I don't rate any of the other CM's as world class incl Gerrard. Shelvey and Henderson will get better and are definately ones for the future but need to be rotated and eased. Another DM/CM is needed to play alongside Lucas who has energy and can take on the attacking burden. I'm using the Alonso/Mascherano partnership as the blueprint. Martinez (unlikely), Banega and Moussa Sissoko would be a top players to come in. One thing that is clear to see is the lack of pace in our team. Last night, we saw Maxi, Kuyt and Carroll who are amongst the slowest in the league. Sterling came on and made more of an impact in his little cameo than the other players did in the whole match. We are so slow to break which encourages the opposition to play a high line and attack us. Gaston Ramirez looks like a talented player with skill and pace and looks to attack players, and he can play any where along the line. Of course, we can't forget about the striker department. Carroll isn't the right striker to lead the line for Liverpool. He's a useful player but not good enough as he doesn't fit our style. I see him as an impact player. Addressing the issue of lack of pace, I would like a fast striker in the mould of Torres. We have been linked with Luke De Jong and whilst I wouldn't be too disappointed, I would prefer an explosive striker. Defenders prefer playing against strong, slow strikers as opposed to speedy ones. We have been linked with Jackson Martinez who fits the bill but it's obviously a big step up to the PL. Soldado is similar to Suarez in that he's not blistering quick but has a bit of pace and has very quick feet.
You can have one more player in next seasons team. I think a string, creative, but refined partner for Lucas will make a huge difference, as well as some quicker and more creative attackers. A striker is obviously needed, no one can deny that. I think our players also need to learn that they can take their time in attack. They dont have to put the ball in the box 30 times. Especially when you consider 25 of those balls in will be awful. We are incredibly sloppy in attack. A new striker would also struggle with the balls swung at him.
For this season I would include Lucas in there, even though he has been out for over half a season I think he is still one of our top tacklers.
