by stmichael » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:54 pm
People get far to worked up on the need for new signings.
It gives you a sense that we're going forward, but it can also give you a false picture.
Wenger managed to win his first trophies at Arsenal by retaining his aging and alledgedly "over-the-hill" back four. Ferguson has managed to be successful despite the assertion every year since I can remember that certain members of his back four lack pace and mobility.
Firstly, bringing in new players isn't necessarily the way forward. Benitez is absolutely spot on in his assertion that new players should only be brought in if and when he has determined they are needed.
That's what happens when you change managers. He has his ideas and will play the team his own way, so it's wrong to demand the changes we would have expected under Houllier.
To an extent, the greatest issue that faced Houllier, was not the "lack of mobility" at the back, but the fact that he failed to mould the team in to an effective unit that could attack and defend together. We rarely dominated oppponents and too often relied on individual genius to keep us going.
Look closely at the team and you will find 2 very experienced solid centre backs, 2 international full backs, a forward line that has "goals" written all over it, 2 central midfielders who are first choice international choices for significant countries, a left sided midfielder who has been one of the most consistent, creative goalscorers in the Premiership in recent years. Added to all that we have numerous squad players who are experienced internationals or highly regarded youngsters.
The question has to be... what can Benitez make of the talent at his disposal.
If Benitez can tease out the form Riise showed a few years ago at LB, tease out the form Finnan showed at Fulhma at RB, tease out the coherent defensive abilities we klnow Hyppia & Henchoz are capable of, keep Gerrrad playing as he did last season, give Hamman a more progressive role, get more consistency from Smicer and Murphy, get Otsemebor, Welsh, Le Tallec & Pongolle to tranfer their potential in to actual performances, get Kewell to lift his game a tad and manage to coax a few goals out of Baros & Cisse to compliment the goals Owen will ineviatably score... then you have a team capable of mamking a serious challenge.
Houllier managed to put a team out on the park last season that for periods outplayed Arsenal, Man Ure & Chelsea without getting arguably justifiable rewards in many cases.
Yes we do have an issue at right midfield, because we don't really possess a natural wide-right player for that position.
There are other changes that Benitez could make to the team... but there is no need to suppose that Benitez can't solve those issues through the resourses already present.
On the one hand we talk about the importance of giving youth a chance, while simaltenously talking about the need to go out and sign new players.
Well... the two are at odds with each other.... youth can not flourish unless it is given a chance.. Le Tallec will be destined to become a distant memory unless he gets games... we'll never know anything about the ability of Diarra, Raven, Madjani, Otsemebor, Partridge & Welsh unless Benitez at least takes a look at them before deciding if replacements are needed.
If Benitez doesn't sign any new players this summer, it's because he's convinced he doesn't need to... and at this point he deserves our trust to make that judgement call... because that's why Parry employed him.
For me, the clues about what Benitez plans to do start to arrive tonight... when we play our first game under him.
Let's actually wait and see how we line up and how we play before we jump to the conclusion that it is impossible for Liverpool Football Club to progress with recourse to the transfer market.
Last edited by
stmichael on Wed Jul 21, 2004 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
