I'm bored, it's Tuesday morning, my boss isn't in 'til half 10 and I thought I'd jump over to Not606 and give an evaluation of teams based on the first third of the season. Here it goes: Arsenal - C-. What to improve: Central defence, Vermaelen is top drawer, yet the rest of their CB's are mid to lower half of the table standard. Aston Villa - C. What to improve: A strike partner for Bent or someone to help provide more ammo to him rather than just Agbonlahor. Blackburn - F. What to improve: A new manager, Steve Kean isn't doing the job, fact. Blackburn have a good squad when you look at their players, why they got rid of Allardyce I'll never know. Bolton - F. What to improve: New additions, a new "Sturridge" style player would suit them and I think a playmaker from the centre. Muamba and Reo Coker are too similar and Mark Davies is far too inconsistent. Chelsea - D+. What to improve: They need Modric... (They won't get him ) Also a new centre back (or two even), Luiz looks too irrational for this league and Terry is being found out as he hasn't got Essien protecting him all the time. Everton - C. What to improve: Their funds restrict them, but they need a target man striker to play alongside Saha. Velios looks a good buy for them but I don't think he's the man to get 15/ 20 goals. Someone to replace Arteta would be great but it's not a simple task. Fulham - E-. What to improve: A replacement for Murphy, he won't be a around much longer. I think an attacking right back would be ideal for them too. Liverpool - C-. What to improve: One, Suarez to cut out the diving, it's a disgrace and ruins play. Two, if they want Carroll to be a success, they need to play to his strengths. Man City - A. What to improve: Get rid of Tevez ASAP, though their league form hasn't really been affected by it, the negative press COULD have an adverse effect on players eventually. Man Utd - C. What to improve: A Scholes replacement, I like Cleverley but I don't think he'll fill the ginger maestro's boots. Jones needs to be first choice with Vidic too, Rio must know he's not the same. Newcastle - A. What to imrprove: Squad depth. Lose one of Taylor/ Colocini and who'll fill in? Lose Ba and who'll score? They've been playing great footy but an injury could cause serious problems. Norwich - B+. What to improve: A few Prem additions, their squad has done great stepping up but having a bit of competition from players who've been in the league for a while will make current players step up even more. QPR - B. What to improve: Fernandes has the cash so if they can add good/ top quality players then QPR's aim won't even be to beat the drop, they'll be looking at a top half finish. Stoke - D-. What to improve: Surprising to see them where they are after the players they bought, though an attacking midfielder of top quality to play alongside Palacios (when he's given more game time!) would create a very good midfield with Pennant and Etherington on the wings. Sunderland - F. What to improve: A new top drawer striker, they bought Wickham and Ji in the summer but neither, at least for now, are going to be a 10/15 goals a season striker, Bendtner isn't great which is why Arsenal happily loaned him. Letting Gyan go was a huge mistake. Swansea - B-. What to improve: Similar to Norwich, a few Prem quality players to add competition which would hopefully increase performances. Tottenham - A. What to improve: More really of what to keep. The squad is fine, the first team is brilliant but we need to keep that. Modric cannot be allowed to leave regardless for what amount and King needs a new deal. Though if we can't get Ade on a perm, then a new striker will be needed, hopefully we can sell Pav, Pienaar and Gomes in Jan to contribute towards that. West Brom - C. What to improve: A shore up of the defence. Midfield is good with Mulumbu a key player, Odemwingie and Long could be a deadly striker force when both are 100% fit, the defence let's them down. Wigan - F. What to improve: A squad overhaul, Martinez is the best manager Wigan could have, he likes football to be played the right way but he needs funds to get the right players to fit his system. The chairman needs to back him with capital or find investment somewhere to do so otherwise bye-bye Wigan. Wolves - E-. What to improve: A good centre back to partner Berra. A target man to work alongside Doyle. So there you have it, I've tried to rate as neutrally as possible, agree? Disagree? Bit of a chance for people to become a football pundit!
B+. Good article, agree with almost everything you've said. What to improve: Newcastle are probably running at an A*** at the moment.
Some....no,all good points there S or S. I couldn't understand why Whickam went to Sunderland in the first place. Blackburn ran us and Chelsea very close so yes they do have a better squad than their position indicates. Good article. But I'm not being sarcastic here,what are Carroll's strengths? Serious question.
Cheers Thor. Haha! From his Newcastle days, I thought he looked really good in the air and when he found space in the middle of the pitch, had a decent left peg on him. I can't deny in saying I actually wanted him at Spurs , (for no more than £15m though!). Liverpool have been trying to play neat and ground based footy from what I've seen, something a player like Carroll just won't adapt too.
Ok S O S,I never did want him at WHL and thought he would flop at Liverpool. So pump the ball up high to him is what your advocating for Liverpool? I've nothing to add,I'd have to wait and see. It's difficult to advise tactics for Liverpool I find because they are doing quite well at the moment and I think they ought to sell Carroll because he's doing a Torres. Bent is doing his normal job of starting well for a team and then losing form but sometimes does it on the big occasion so Man U on Saturday might be Villa's day. If I had to put money on it though I'd go for a draw.
I'm not being sarcastic here,what are Carroll's strengths? Serious question. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4 Big Mac's in a under a minute.
It's fair to say I definitely don't now. I'm just saying if Liverpool want him to be a success they need to play to his strengths and like you say their football has been good as of late which makes it worse for Carroll. They've wasted (which we could have told them really from the start) £35m on a player that doesn't fit their system. Problem for them is they won't recoup half the amount for him if they chose to place him on the transfer list.
Good article. Not much to disagree with. If they can possibly get one, the thing Spurs could really use is a backup for Ade. The truth, of course, is that they're likely to be better off playing Defoe, in other words, having a genuinely good player who's not at all like Ade, then, say, Pav, who's more of a like-for-like, but is completely useless. But if they could get a good backup, it might make all the difference. (Though I wonder who it would be. My first thought was Crouch.) I continue to think getting Bellamy was an excellent move for Liverpool--fast and technically good, as opposed to, well, Carroll. Carroll is a good striker if you want to play hoof ball, and since that won't get you fourth in the Prem, Liverpool never should have bought him. I've also started taking Newcastle very seriously--and agree completely about Gyan, a natural Prem striker.
It's interesting what you wrote about Norwich. The whole ethos under Paul Lambert has been to get 'young, hungry' players who want to prove themselves - he didn't want to go for a few big time charlies who would come in and lord it over the place (someone like Woodgate). This has shown to work so far, Pilks (Anthony Pilkington) has been courted by Liverpool (was playing League 1 with Huddersfield) and Morison (Non-league not too long ago) has come in and scored a few goals. I'm not trying to challenge you, I'm just trying to explain the ethos
Thanks mate. The idea of Damiao coming (a target striker like Ade I believe) was very appetising but the way Internacional have gone about things in terms of constantly talking to the media in the hope of bumping up his value, I feel he'll be out of our price range. Llorente would be another option in terms of getting a similar style forward to Ade. Yeah it's amazing, Bellamy cost them nothing (I think) and yet in the couple of months he's been there has looked far better than the £35m Carroll, for his sake more than any he should look for a move away, whether it be temp or perm, only problem is no one will pay half the price if he/ 'Pool wants perm which may force 'Pool into keeping him. Newcastle are a genuine threat, without a doubt. Just as I said their only problem is the squad strength, few additions in Jan as insurance so to speak for the CB's and Ba and they'll definitely be in the mix come May. Very true mate. For the record, providing Norwich maintain their form, Lambert should definitely be a favourite for manager of the year. Pilkington looks like he's been in the league for a while, I actually remember watching Morrison while he was at Stevenage, definitely looked far too good for the conference (where Boro were at the time). I just think in the latter stages, if some players are tired/ fatigued, then the option of having players who are used to a good ol' Prem scrap could be worth while. I'm sure Lambert knows what he's doing anyway, very impressive with what he's achieved in such a short space of time, he'll know if anything needs to be done in Jan or not.
Lambert has already come out and said he'll be dipping into the market in January, and I imagine he will replicate last season (signed 31 yr old Aaron Wilbraham ST) I.e. someone with experience in the league like you said
Well he's made some astute signings so far. Naughton from us on loan is paying dividends, if Corluka goes in the summer then a Walker vs Naughton battle will be interesting, he's impressed me so far. Pilkington as I said looks like a seasoned Prem player and Morrison has certainly not looked out of his depth. Will be interesting to see what he does in Jan.
I'm not being sarcastic here,what are Carroll's strengths? Serious question. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dunno...but its not penalties!
The thing that I don't get about Carroll at Liverpool is that they've got the perfect player to bring out the best in him, in my opinion. Downing should be trying to whip crosses in for him to get on the end of, but he seems to have been stifled somewhat and it's damaged his game, as well as Carroll's. With Johnson overlapping Kuyt down the right, allowing the Dutchman to move inside and either join attacks or add to the midfield, Suarez should have the space to play in behind the target man. The only thing that the whole package really misses is pace and a bit of depth, but it's just not quite working, at the moment.
If they played in a similar formation to us they could actually do quite well with Carroll, although i'd have Maxi over Kuyt as more of an out an out winger with a bit more pace. ---Lucas----Gerrard (Adam) Maxi--Suarez--Downing -------Carroll That's a good looking front 6...
Having said that I don't rate their defence as anywhere near as good as ours so they could get in trouble playing like that
Enrique and Reina are both very good and they've got plenty of decent physical centre-halves, but no real organizer, for me. Johnson's a liability at the back and they don't really have a finesse, sweeper-type player in the middle. Agger's good on the ball, but he's a bit erratic and fragile.
I think it might just be that none of their centre-halves complement each other, WY. I think that we've got three that are more cultured (King, Gallas and Bassong) who each work well with our two more physical and aerial defenders (Kaboul and Dawson). The organisational skills of the two senior players make them the better choices, but Bassong played a lot of games with Dawson when we finished 4th. Of course I'm sure that Kaboul would hate to see that description of him, as he can definitely play a bit, but I feel that his strengths lie in his destructive capabilities. It's nice to know that all of the outfield players in our current first XI are good footballers though, isn't it?
