I would like to see Kenny have more time at the club - we've all seen what he is capable at the start of his 2nd term at Liverpool when we were scoring for fun, racking up points and the feel good factor was back. But how do we get out of this rut and how do we go about improving next season without changing the manager? Type Of Player The type of player we require are born winners with strong mentality. We have brought in a lot of smaller club players in Downing, Adam, Henderson, Enrique, Carroll who don't have much experience of winning trophies at any professional level. There is nothing wrong with bringing in this type of player in drips and drabs but they make up a large chunk of our first team so the mentality and dynamics have changed. Whilst I'm not saying that they are born losers, others players like Kuyt, Maxi, Meireles, Torres etc have played for big clubs, Champions Leagues, International football, won trophies (at other clubs) so they have higher expectations and a higher standard. If we were to have bought Carroll, Downing etc one at a time over a few seasons, would they performed better when there are more winners around them? The most obvious example is Luis Suarez who looks like a born winner with huge desire to get the ball - could this stem from his achievements at the Copa America where he led his team to the win? Or winning the league in his Native country? Or playing for a top club like Ajax? Strengthen The Defence I think a lot of people will think that the defence is the last place we need to look at but I beg to differ as our poor form has coincided with the loss of Agger and Johnson. Fair enough if these two were out every once in a while but they are constantly out (as well as Kelly) which disrupts our defence. It's evident that we struggle to cope without them so I believe we need more quality. The worrying thing is that Skrtel looks poor without a composed defender like Agger next to him and the two definately have a good connection with one another. Carragher surely has to retire, whilst Coates should be eased into the first team but not just yet. A top quality CB is required and I would like to see a RB but that will mean we have Johnson, Kelly, Flanagan (youngster) which is quite a lot but they are always injured. Midfield Again, a lot of people would be more concerned with the attack and the attacking midfield but central midfield is a weak spot for us. We have struggled without Lucas who has been a massive loss and unfortunately Spearing hasn't done well enough. He has improved personally but it's not enough and we need a better DM to either act as cover for Lucas or play along side him. Lucas needs an Alonso type player next to him to carry the attacking burden from deep midfield. We were hoping for Adam to do this and I believe the two had a good partnership going until Lucas was injured. I see Adam as cover for a more abled CM. We seem to be losing a lot of midfield battles and the opposition have more time on the ball which isn't good enough. The midfield looks so lazy at the minute with Gerrard being the main culprit. Use Gerrard As Super Sub I think a lot of people probably know that I don't like Gerrard and I don't want him in the first team. The reason being is because he stifles our attacks, I can't explain why but he just does and the teams performances have suffered since his introduction at the start of the year. Some will point to his performances against Newcastle where he changed the game and his hattrick against Everton, but 2 performances in the past 2 years is not enough. We were playing excellent football in 2011 when Kenny first came at the 2nd half of last season, and the 1st half of this season. Gerrard is very lazy and doesn't have the energy IMO. Our central midfield just looks lazy in general (bar Spearing). I remember when we would hound the opposition and hunt in packs to win the ball, not giving any time or space. We now allow the opposition to play in front of our defence. Attack - Striker No doubt that Carroll is improving, his touch and control is so much better. However, he is not the right man to lead our line. He does not fit our system and style of play. We need a fast, intelligent striker who plays off the last defender. And someone who chases the the defender and tries to win the ball high up the pitch. I don't doubt Carroll's ability and he will come good but not at Liverpool. Attack - Wings Bellamy, Kuyt and Maxi aren't getting older or any better for that matter. Henderson is not a natural winger whilst Downing has struggled. We lack the pace to really hurt the opposition on the counter and it feels as if we have the slowest attack in the world. Are we using the wings too much? We seem to put in a lot of pointless crosses and no one to aim for. We need the players like Maxi, Kuyt, Bellamy who cut inside and LOOK for a player and play them in. We are more suited to the intelligent movement style.
Is it just me that finds these two comments amusing? A born winner is someone that has won trophies at big clubs? Are they born with medals around their neck...?
love kenny to bits but a top manager he is not and never has been, with your million pound players you should beat teams like swansea at home and qpr and most of the others in the premiership. im not saying sack the legend but to make him a director of football at liverpool and bring in a better class of manager, i feel sorry for him as he is a nice guy and one of the best no7 i have seen, he dont need to see his reputation go down hill because he is not up there with the best and its time to hand over the responsibility when the season has finished....
Unfortunately, in today's world, that reputation as already been tarnished unless he stays and turns it around
The OP starts his thread by saying maybe we brought in too many players in one go and if we had brought players in over time it may have been better. The rest of the thread is about wholesale changes in every position of the team. Last season KK had 6 months to work out what to keep and what was deadwood. He got rid of the deadwood then spent a fortune on replacements who have not improved the team. The OP now wants the same manager to replace the replacements. At what cost? Which team in their right mind would give your club anything like what you payed for your players brought in last summer after watching them perform this season? As far as i can see you either stick with the same manager and his purchases and hope they come good next season, or get a new manager make more Wholesale changes, take a hit in the pocket, and pray to god that this time it`s right.
End of the season had goals because was little pressure. It was a feel good factor of losing the terrible owners and Roy. What has happened since is under his true management.
kenny has plenty to give liverpool and the club is fortunate to have him at the club but i honestly believe he is not a brilliant manager who can take the club forward, i know that he was brought in with the right intentions and i said at the time that it was a big mistake to make him the no1. i dont know if it would hurt his pride to bring in someone else and make kenny the no2 as he still has plenty to offer but sadly not as the main man. i would love to see him turn things around but a win here and there is not good enough for a team full of high profile players and that stems from the manager who tells the players how to play. i hope the board makes the right choice in the summer and dont go down the road of sentimental claptrap....i have been to anfield loads of times as i enjoy watching liverpool ever since we had a massive bond when tosh took us to div 1 back in 1982 and shanks came to our matches to offer tosh moral support and advice, i want to see liverpool be serious contenders for the title next season where they should be....
Sorry mate; thought you were joking about everyone dishing out the manager speak. You are right. Telling the players to just do the simple things well might not be a bad idea! This has maybe grown into this huge thing in their heads although Who knows they might just be dreaming about KFC though....
I actually said that maybe we brought in too many small club players who have little experience of playing for a big club with high expectations. I had no problems with the actual number of changes we made.
Many things have affected our performance this season. The two biggest being injury and suspensions. We have never been able to field what might be considered as our strongest 11 nearly all season. At the same time it appears that all of the imports have struggled to come to terms with their new situation. However, and despite all of that, we have played some very good football with one very glaring fault - putting the ball in the net! If we consider the number of times we have hit the woodwork and the number of penalties we have missed, it is not difficult to see why there did not appear to be an imperative to buy a striker in the January window - if even a third of those had been converted then we wouldn't even be having this conversation!
I would agree with most of this! I think bar the last few games most of the defeats this season and a lot of the draws were undeserved, its for this reason that I would give Kenny one more season; however there is huge pressure and expectation now on whatever signings he makes! Some of last years signings just do not make sense, forgetting the price and reputations etc... but even more worrying for me is some of them just do not fit in the system we play, fair enough you end up with some existing players who have to adapt but to buy players that just don't fit the system is just bizarre!
Must be just you! You can pull any two sentences from within an article that seem contradictory because you have taken them out of the context that was meant. Are you seriously suggesting that some players don't have a mentality that is more likely to be successful? I hate Rooney with a passion but his mentality is possibly the only thing I respect about him, he just oozes determination to succeed and win as do others. He then goes on to mention in a different sentence some of the players who have experience at the highest level and who have been replaced or are being phased out as opposed to our new signings who thus far seem to be lacking a little in that cutting edge mentality and certainly in experience. Seems fairly clear to me!
Good thread! I would disagree with needing another CB; I think we need to start blooding Kelly as first choice replacement for Agger or Skrtel, ok if we have money to burn but the priorities lie elsewhere for me. The defence is quite flexible, with Johnson able to play LB and Kelly at RB if needed, then there is Wilson if we get really desperate. We need a play-maker and a quality striker as a priority, if we have any money left then perhaps a right sided attacking forward.
Cheers mate! I see where you're coming from and I would normally agree but I'm just looking at our last 7 league games and we've conceded quite a few with the likes of Flannagan, Carragher and Coates being used. The only back 4 that seems to work is Johnson, Skrtel, Agger and Enrique. Any disruptions seems to have a big impact. Of course, Lucas in front of them would make things a lot better ...
