Liverpool FC Forum

[Cool Hand Luke]

Just imagine that we finish 5th this season and Houllier retires, and you are put in charge, the board give you 20M and say you have total control over who leaves and comes in.

Decide on your best team and the best tacticts, you decide who goes on loan and who plays in what position.

[greenred]

Id take the 20 million and tell them all to f##k off.they dont deserve me the ungrateful little ba#ta#ds.

[greenred]

sorry Has you probably meant that as a serious question and I just ruined it.Ill get my coat.

[Owzat]

£20m plus the proceeds of selling Houllier's cr@p signings wouldn't be much to work with. Honestly I reckon three quality signings would make us contenders. Yakin of Basle and Anelka of Man City would be my targets, not sure we'd get those particular players for £20m though. The defence could be sorted by shuffling the deck, we still have Dudek, Kirkland, Finnan, Henchoz, Hyypia, Riise, Traore and Carragher and ought to be able to make some kind of defence out of those players.

[gaz31]

I WOULD HAVE TO AGREE WITH "OWZAT" MOSTLY BUT I THINK WE NEED SOMEONE TO REALLY TAKE CONTROL OF A GAME I KNOW HYPPIA / GERRARD CAN DO IT BUT THEY GET TO EXITED AND GIVE AWAY FREE KICKS TOO MANY TIMES WE NEED SOMEONE A LITTLE LESS HOT HEADED LIKE MAYBE ZANETTI WHO HAS SKILL,LEADERSHIP AND TEMPERMENT.

[Owzat]

In central defence we could pursue the signatures of Upson at Birmingham or Terry at Chelski. Terry may become available once Ranieri starts spending more of Abrahamovic's money, they have to sell some players sooner or later. Both are quality central defenders, one or other would be a good buy

[simic_ie]

There isn't really many people Liverpool need to buy. It's just a matter of getting the best out of the players we have. For example, everyone is going on about Diouf and the lack of goals he's getting, but remember, he is a striker playing on the wing, he still has a lot to learn about positioning and stuff. Personally, after seeing what he could do against France in the World Cup I'd play him off Michael Owen up front. He is excellent with the ball at his feet and can beat players. If he could run at defences, it would make more room for Michael Owen to play into. Apart from that, I think Liverpool need a right midfielder, not a central midfielder playing on the right a la Danny Murphy, but a right midfielder, someone who will stay out there and give a bit of creativity and width. Also a central defender with pace so we could push up a bit more a have a more compact unit instead of defenders on the edge of the 18 yard box midfielders strung out somewhere between there and the strikers. On Sunday against Birmingham, this would be my starting line-up:

                               Kirkland

Diao          Hyypia                   Biscan                 Riise


Smicer       Hamman                 Gerrard                Kewell


                        Diouf
                                                   Pongolle


I know a lot of you may disagree on the Diouf thing, but at this moment in time I'd prefer to try this than go through another game watching Emil Heskey falling on his a#se.

[leothelion]

FORGET ABOUT WHO WERE GOING TO BRING IN FOR A SEC AND THINK ABOUT THE PLAYERS WERE GETTING RID OF THAT WE SHOULD'NT HAVE

[greenred]

looks like we have competition from inter milan for the signing of  boumsong of auxerre.

[Coley]

Personally i think it is the midfield that mainly needs to be sorted, we need a solid four that give us creativity, we also need quality players on the bench, something i don't think we have at the moment.  My rule would be that if you're not good enough to play in the first team you can't be on the bench.  We have too many 'squad' players.  What the hell is a squad player?  Someone not good enough for the first team, but not bad enough for the reserves? 

I agree that a reshuffling at the back is probably all that is required although some pacey cover at centre half would be ideal.  I would actually move Carragher in to centre half (when fit) and play him alongside Sami, Finnan and Riise.  One thing i would get the defence to do though is push up more.  We play too deep, which causes us problems further up the pitch.

I would play Kewall on the left Gerrard in the middle with Didi (cover required) and get a true right midfielder.  I really like Gronkjaer at Chelsea and think we could prise him away with the promise of more first team football.  I know his final ball sometimes lets him down, but his pace would cause so many problems for other teams.

Upfront i wouldn't bother with Cisse, i'd get some British talent in.  Alan Smith from Leeds would be good.

I think what our team is mainly lacking though is motivation and passion and this comes from the manager, so the most important signing we could make would be to get Martin O'Neill in!!!

[Owzat]

As I have mentioned before, Smith has more Premiership bookings than goals and scores a goal every 4 games - that is worse than Heskey.

[big al]

We don't need a lot of changes in buying new players but what we do need would cost a lot more than twenty million.

1.  Chris Kirkland is as good as any English goalkeeper in the premiership.  He is strong, committed and takes up excellent positions. His height is his main attribute however it do'sent seem to stop him getting down for low shots.  This makes him an exceptional talent.  When Chris gets a good run in the side people here will be comparing his goalkeeping to the goal scoring of Owen.

2.  Sami Hypia is and has proven his ability in the premiership, he needs to be playing along side someone of eaqual ability. therefore

3. Henchoz, These two central defenders have something telepathic going on and this made them the best paring in both British and European football.  That's not my opinion just looks at the stats.
4.  Marcus Babble in his prime was second only to Thuram.  He still has a lot to prove but I think that talent will always show given the right circumstances.

5. Carragher. 
Some people will find this strange but jamie has always been very good in this position let me explain why. 

Jamie is an excellent defensive player, his problem is he dosen't get forward enough. On the right when he reach'es the opposing defender he always turns inside, being right footed his only option is a backward pass. On the left when he do'es this his only option is a forward pass. This makes him more effective.  Additionally, when he's left he pushes wingers and forwards in field, onto his right side. Therefore he pushed opponents into the strength off liverpool Ie The two centre backs and the holding midfielder. He very rarely ley players get in behind him and therefore cut off the supply line to opposing teams.  This was if you all remember the weakness of liverpool Ie crosses.  Houlier stopped the cross'es therefore stopped the goals. (problem is he's either forgot this or has never been fully aware of the outcomes of his own team selection.( he's just choosen the right team out of luck)  If you don't believe me just look at the video tapes.  Houlier may have been well aware of this but because he wants to be more attacking he now opts for a left footed full back.
6. Didi Hamman
World class player, exceptional holding midfielder who is probably the most important player to Liverpool even above Owen.  When this guy plays we can compete with the best.  he allows everyone in the team more time and space.  He covers the full backs when the break forward, he sweeps in front of the centre backs. Breaks up the play of the other teams, allows Gerrard freedom to roam forward.  I don't think Liverpool fans truly know the importance of this guy.  I would be more worried if he left than any other player.  He may not be doing the glory things that everyone notices but even his positioning makes Liverpool a far better team.
7. Gerrard might not yet be Liverpool's best player yet but he's certainly many favourite.  This kid has everything Just give him three years and we will see a true super star.
8. Kewell, scoring vital goals recently but I'm not convinced that he's better than Duff.  I think he's a very lazy player and needs to work a bit harder, he is still the best of what on offer in that position at liverpool.
9. We're really struggling in this position Diouf is currently the only real option, unless Finnan comes in.
10. Owen, need I say anything at all!
11.  Again we're struggling for real talent a proven striker to partner Owen.  Heskey has it all but dosent know how to use it.  I'm not sure that theres a bit more to this than meets the eye.  I'd play Pongolle with owen But this would be short term solution.

Subs
Baros
Riise
Finnan
Dudek
Murphy

I'd be looking for
Ballack
Stam
Van Der Varrt
Rooney
Beattie
And a few others I can't remember there names
Fullhams left mid
Carlton centre mid Parker I think
Southampton centre halve

[leothelion]

SOUNDS VERY GOOD ON PAPER THEN AGAIN YOU COULD MIX THE TEAM AROUND ON PAPER AND IT WOULD STILL LOOK LIKE A TOP TEAM BUT THE PROBLEM IS THERE NOT PERFORMING ON THE PITCH ,EITHER THERES NO MOTIVATION OR THESE PLAYERS DONT PLAY WITH THE HEART TO WIN .UNFORTUNATLY A LOT OF PLAYERS THESE DAYS PLAY FOR MONEY RATHER THAN THE LOVE OF THE CLUP THEY PLAY FOR .

[luckybasek]

Get rid off some off houlliers cr#p like diao, cheyrou, traore and heskey. Bring in cisse (my brother downloaded goals and he has got the qualities og henry and outjumped a goali to put it in the back of the net. Ayala would be bought to put more quality at the back. Aimar or yakin would be brought in. A few reserves that we all rave about would play

[Coley]

Owzat,
Smith has been played in midfield too much at Leeds, hence the not good (but not too bad from midfield) scorig stats.  I still think he would do well at Liverpool and be a big hit with the fans because he's a trier, unlike Heskey.  He's English as well, which helps.