EddieC wrote:Apologies if some of this has already been mentioned, I haven't had time to read the whole thread.
The key for me this summer, is not going overboard in the transfer market. One of the main reasons I believe Man Utd have been so successful this season is the fact that they had a settled squad with only one major signing in the summer, Carrick. On the other hand we brought in Bellamy, Kuyt, Pennant, Gonzales, Aurelio & Paletta. This was unavoidable, as Rafa still didn't have all the players he needed, but he's had 6 transfer windows now, and seems to have the bulk of the squad that he needs.
These major changes in personnel are for me the reason we had such a bad start this season & last. Remember the summer before we also signed Crouch, Zenden, Reina & Sissoko, with Cisse basically being like a new player having come back from injury. Whenever you bring new players in it is going to take them time to gel, and unfortunately you won't get the best out of them until they have. In our first 10 league games of the season we dropped 16 points. Ok 6 of them were against Manure & Sh!tski, but the other 10 were against Sheff Utd, Blackburn, Bolton & Everton, all teams we should have been beating, but due to an unsettled squad we didn't. Add these points back on to our tally, and assume we would've actually tried & won in the last two games if there was somethng riding on it, and it would leave us only 5 points behind Utd, and currently 3 points ahead of Chelsea. These dropped points at the start of the season are definately what cost us, as it did at the start of last season.
However this summer I don't see us needing to make wholesale changes, just two wingers and a striker to come, with Voronin who we've already signed. I expect to see Dudek, Zenden, Cisse, Bellamy, Fowler & Le Tallec leave in the summer, probably raising about £15m between them. Added to the £40m that is being mentioned a lot (although neither Gillett or Hicks has mentioned a figure) would give us £55m, enough to get three world class players for those positions. The rest of our squad is fine, we are defensively sound, and probably have the best central midfield options in the world at the moment, all we need is a couple of players who can produce a bit of magic out of nothing. Our major problem this season has been unlocking teams when they put 10 men behind the ball, we need our own Ronaldo or Kaka who can do this with one moment of skill. That is the difference between league and cup, in cups teams have to beat you, in the league you will always get some teams playing for a draw. At the moment we don't have the right tools in our box to break down teams when they do this, Luis Garcia is probably our best at doing it, but we could still do with someone better, and one player isn't enough anyway.
Going back to this season, I feel we haven't really moved forward from last season in terms of end product, but in terms of the squad we've put together I feel we are a lot stronger. Pepe, despite a couple of slip ups at the start of the season, has been immense for us, and has had a superb back four in front of him. Agger this season has really come of age, and proved himself to be more than worthy of replacing Hyypia. The only thing that concerns me for the future in defence is where our aerial prescence will come from when Hyypia leaves? Hopefully when he goes (probably at the end of next season) we'll buy someone equally as good in the air. Arbeloa, whilst it's still early days, seems to have settled into the squad immediately, following a baptism of fire marking Messi & dealing with it like a seasoned pro. He was coached by Rafa in Real Madrid's youth team though, so probably had a good idea what was expected before he came. The major thing that has impressed me with our defence this season is the level of communication amongst all the players, not just the ones playing regularly. Last season our first choice defence was amazing, but take one player out of it and it all went to pot. Yesterday we had a defence of Insua, Hyypia, Paletta & Arbeloa, and whilst they weren't all individually great, the way they worked as a unit was spot on.
In midfield, we now have the best options in the centre out of any club in the world IMO. Alonso started off the season very slowly, a lot of it I think was down to complacency. It was always either Gerrard & Alonso in the middle, or Gerrard on the right, which meant Alonso played with Sissoko. He was pretty much guaranteed his place in the starting 11, apart from the odd times Rafa thought Zenden in the middle was a good idea, and it showed. However since the arrival of Mascherano he seems to have had a bit of a rocket up his @rse, and is playing a lot better. Sissoko hasn't lived up to the hype of last year, but remember he is still a young lad who, from what I've heard from Spanish friends, had the best season of his career and possibly set the bar too high to be able to live up to expectations. He is still a very promising player, I think people just need to accept him for what he is and stop expecting more of him. He is a destroying midfielder, very handy for playing against teams who like to pass the ball as he doesn't give you any time on the ball. However that's pretty much where his talents end, he can't pass well & he can't dribble. He is a useful player to have when the gameplan is to stop the other team playing, but not so useful when the plan is to play round the opposition, for this reason quite strangely he's a player for the big games, but not the less challenging ones. There's not really much I need to say about Gerrard, we all know what he can do. Had a relatively quiet season by his standards, but still been our best midfielder. Mascherano has been a great acquisition since arriving, Hayden Mullins & Nigel Reo-Coker must be great players to keep this lad out of the West Ham side. A slightly different option to Alonso, ideal for when the opposition has a Sissoko type player. Hasn't got the same range of passing as Alonso, but doesn't need as much time on the ball, and can handle being pressured more. On the wings, all I'm going to say is we don't have enough class. Pennant is good enough to give our first choice a rest, but for me hasn't shown enough consistency to warrant being a first choice winger, especially considering he's played more games than any other outfield player this season. On the left, Kewell is our best option, but will he ever be fit? Luis Garcia can play a role, but isn't an out & out winger, he'll cut inside more than he'll beat a man & get a cross in. Definate strengthening needed on both wings in the summer.
Up front, We definately need a world class finisher, for me either Villa or Eto'o. I feel our current crop though, have suffered from the lack of decent wingers. From what I can see, tactically Rafa has managed to pull the wool over the fans eyes. He came here using 4-2-3-1 and we didn't like it, and cried out for 4-4-2. Rather than doing this, I feel Rafa has essentially stuck with the principles of a 4-2-3-1, but used Kuyt in the 'attacking midfielder' role but slightly further forward, giving the impression of two strikers & therefore a 4-4-2 formation. Personally I don't have a problem with this, but for the 4-2-3-1 to work you have to have quality wingers. The formation involves the Central midfield being very defensive so your midfield creativity needs to come from your wide men. Unfortunately there's been no real service from our wide men for most of the season, and a shocking lack of goals. As a result of the lack of goals from the team in general, the strikers have been the ones taking the flack. I personally feel Crouch & Kuyt have not done a bad job this season, Kuyt has worked his socks off without really having anyone there to benefit from the work, and don't forget he's still scored more than Drogba did in his first season. Crouch has been a solid performer this season, I don't care what anyone says. Anyone still knocking him by now has to be doing it purely because of his appearance. He has the best goals per minutes played ratio at the club this season, whilst still providing essential hold up play too. Given better service next season, and a world class strike partner, I feel both Kuyt & Crouch will benefit and become even better players. Bellamy for me has not done enough, as a pace player I think Cisse is a better option. For the sort of player he is, playing on the shoulder of the last defender, he gets caught offside far too much. Personally with Eto'o or Villa hopefully arriving, neither of whom's short of pace, there will be no space for him, or Cisse, in our squad.
All in all, as I said at the start of the post, I feel the key is essential changes only in the summer. Just because we have the money now, we don't need to start spending it just for the sake of it. A bit of attacking flair is all we're really missing, the rest of the team is solid & settled, so for me it has to be just the two wingers and a striker. This is exactly what I said our first team needed last summer, however last summer we also needed a few more squad players, which we have now so I'd say we've made a slight bit of progress this season. With Mourinho quite possibly going in the summer, and Manure seeming to be pinning their hopes on Torres for the next season, who mark my words will not turn out to be a good signing, the Premiership will be there for the taking. Financially we will be in a position to take it, I don't think he will but Rafa will have no excuses if he does get it wrong.
around with the first team - no wholesale changes of personnel. And preferably not too many different formations.
