Liverpool FC Forum

[ivor_the_injun]

Now December's here, posts are popping up speculating on what sort of a budget we'll end up with for January, with some posters hoping Rafa has £30m+ to play with.

My question is this: where exactly are we lacking personnel? If you ignore the results we've had, particularly away from home, and just look at the squad, I must admit I'm struggling to see where we're weak.

Goalkeepers:
Reina, Dudek, Carson out on loan, and Martin as back up. Recent speculation leads me to believe we're going to have a one-out, one-in situation lower down the pecking order (Dudek's my guess), but it's certainly not a problem position.

Right back:
Finnan's probably even more guaranteed a start than Reina is these days, due to the absence of competition. Since Kromkamp left, there's a gulf between Finnan and the reserve back-ups, so there's definitely a strong case for a signing here.

Centre back:
Carra, Hyypia, Agger, Paletta. 3 excellent options and one for a couple of seasons down the line. Can't see money being thrown here.

Left back:
Riise, Aurelio, Warnock. Riise's having a good season, and from the little I've seen of Aurelio, I don't think we're looking too bad for depth there. Warnock wouldn't be missed too badly if he went, so a young signing wouldn't be too controversial.

Right midfield:
Pennant, Gerrard, Garcia, Anderson and arguably even Bellamy if injuries really hit. Anyone other than Pennant out there looks like they're playing out of position, although Gerrard is undoubtedly capable of great things there. The argument's being made that we need another winger on the right, but when you think that Pennant was £6.7m and people want someone better than him, you struggle for names that are affordable that you could realistically see coming to the club.

Central midfield:
Gerrard, Alonso, Sissoko, Zenden. No problems there whatsoever. Carragher showed he can step up with aplomb too if we ever find ourselves plagues with injuries again.

Left midfield:
Kewell, Gonzalez, Aurelio, Garcia, Riise - on paper a strong area, although in Kewell's absence nobody's stepped up and made the position their own. Can't see a signing being made here, as in six months both Gonzo and Aurelio should be more acclimatised.

Strikers:
Kuyt, Crouch, Bellamy, Fowler - a strong-looking four that are maybe suffering while our wingers flounder. I certainly don't think we need to bring another in.

So basically I think we need a right back. More than signings, we need players we already have to show their class, particularly on both sides of midfield. Once our injury problems clear up, we're in good shape.

To be honest, in the window I'd be happy if no-one else came in other than whatever youngsters Rafa's scouts have been eyeing up for future years.

[Espionage]

It is really hard to pick a position that we really need a big signing in.  Obviously the right-back would be a good idea but maybe we should take the Wenger approach and play Paletta now and give him experience.  Of our midfield and strikers it is difficult to say who we should be signing as it depends entirely on what kind of system Rafa wants to play.  This is what I think might happen:

Reina
(Dukek)

Finnan            Carragher          Agger            Riise
(Palleta)          (Palleta)          (Hypia)           (Aurilio)

                                Alonso

              X                    X                 X         

                         Kuyt     Crouch/Bellamy

The three across the middle will obviously include Gerrard, probably on the slightly wide area but essentially a attacking midfielder.  Momo, Garcia, Pennant, Gonzalez could all fit into it.  So actually I would say that if we were to sign any big name player it would be an attacking midfielder.  Similar role to Garcia, someone that could play any of the 3 positions in front of Alonso but had more pace.  Someone like SWP i guess wouldnt be bad but I dont think that we should go for him. 

Thats my take on it really.  We dont really need anything in the back line apart from maybe a right back.  Other then that maybe an attacking midfielder

[The Manhattan Project]

What we need is our players to get a kick up the and be reminded which club they are playing for. With the amount of money they get and the amount of talent they possess, we should not be suffering from "confidence" problems, which I believe is the reason we've dropped so many points this season.

[kop11]

we simply need time as a squad, confidance and backing from the fans to the players and the manager!

[HacksawJimDuggin]

What we need is our players to get a kick up the and be reminded which club they are playing for. With the amount of money they get and the amount of talent they possess, we should not be suffering from "confidence" problems, which I believe is the reason we've dropped so many points this season.

Great post!

We have a squad that, at present, is underachieving massively.

I hope (now that he is up for sale) we go for SWP. I don't dislike Pennant but SWP is class and would add real quality to our team.

[BOODIDDY]

a striker that can get beyond the oppositions defence ie owen in his pomp. Watching wed night and not once did one of our strikers give the option for the ball over the top. campbell and primus were happy with our style all night. Rafa must address this soon cos the pace has gone from our team.

Another main problem for us is that we still in five years haven't learnt to play well without gerrard. Other players must come to the fore and help stevie out. utd, chelsea etc have lots of players who create and take the game to opposition.

Money thrown at players isn't the opton unless you pay big money for proven talent. Lets see if some of our kids can be as good as utd's and stevie, carra and owen are.

[metalhead]

Our main priority in the transfer window is getting a Right back to provide some backup to Finann. Lets face it Lee Peltier is decent, but he still needs experience, so basically we can buy a short term right back to provide competition and add more depth into the squad.

Also, I think a full-esatblished right winger is another option (just in case if pennant keeps playing like my @rse).

[Bad Bob]

a striker that can get beyond the oppositions defence ie owen in his pomp. Watching wed night and not once did one of our strikers give the option for the ball over the top. campbell and primus were happy with our style all night. Rafa must address this soon cos the pace has gone from our team.

Well, it's hard to get behind the defence with balls over the top when the opposition's backline is parked on the edge of their own 18 yard box, like Portsmouth were midweek.  I don't care how quick your strikers are in those situations, there is simply not the space to exploit when teams sit deep on us with 2 banks of 4.

Compare that to today's game, where Wigan pushed up and left a lot of space in behind.  What happened?  We hit them fast on the counter with intelligent balls in behind their defence.  And, we had  a pacey striker--Bellamy--to latch onto them and put the chances away.

Don't get me wrong, Owen was a great player for us but he's not what we need now for several reasons:

1) Most teams play a lot deeper against us--especially at Anfield--and deny the space that a striker like Owen needs (this, incidentally, is because we are a lot more formidable than we were in Houllier's day, when teams could reasonably expect to come to Anfield and turn us over)

2) We are a team that tends to build up more slowly on attack rather than playing early balls over the top for our strikers to run onto

3) When teams do leave space at the back and when we do want to play a quick, counter-attacking game (like at Wigan today), we already have the type of striker you describe: Bellamy.

[peterc1992]

i dont think we need another right back,as we have youth player peltier hu is  good and finnan has 3 years maybe  as a liverpool player,in that time,peltier will gain a bit of experience,over a few games and will eventually knock finnan out of that [;ace,


i hope so anyway......

i dont want peltier to by forgot about and to be sold off in a year or too like alot of younger players

if finnan  gets injured or anything i think we can put jc in there as he was a right back before benitez came,and move agger and hyypia in the centre back positions

not really a problem