Liverpool Director of Football Damien Comolli was asked whether the Reds would be signing anymore players after the sealing the signature of Stewart Downing:
“In terms of players coming in, it’s difficult to say. I think we are going to sit down, look at the situation, see where we are, see who might leave and then we will reassess later. But we have done most of what we wanted to do.”
Considering I feel the Reds are still in need of a left back, I hope this is just a bit of smoke and mirrors from Comolli. After spending over £40million this summer already, it wouldn’t unsurprising if the Reds had exhausted their resources, but I feel if the squad is left as it is at the moment, we would not be fully prepared for an assault on the top four next season.
I think one of the reasons behind Comolli’s hesitancy about any more new signings is because of the number of players that the Reds still need to offload. I would be in the wholehearted agreement with Comolli if the focus is now put on shipping out a number of players, as he intimates in his interview with Liverpoolfc.tv:
“I’m sure there will be players going out because some players would like to play more and have more minutes. We will probably have a few loans as well, players who we would like them to develop, into the Championship or the leagues abroad.”
Certainly, the squad as it stands looks pretty unbalanced and I have seen many comments on this site jokingly suggesting that we should play 1-8-1 next season because of the amount of midfielders we have at the club. I am hopeful that come 1st September, the squad will be on the more manageable side again.
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Our priorities remaining:
1. A Quality Left Back
2. A Quality Striker (another option not a back-up)
3. A Quality Centre Back with Pace
4. A Quality Right Winger
If we don’t get any quality players in then I will be disappointed with this window.
As for selling, quite why Kenny hasn’t told Poulsen, Degen, Insua and El Zhar to do one is beyond me!
Totally agree with No1 & No3, No2 is less important as we have options (Carroll, Suarez, Gerrard, Ngog, Kuyt and even Cole can do a pretty decent job up front), I cannot see why we need No4.
However more importantly, I think, we should not buy someone just for the sake of it. It’s all very well putting together a squad that looks good on paper, but I’d rather have someone like Flanagan, Coady, Pacheco, Wisdom or Robinson getting a crack than a potential mercenary. One things for sure, you wouldn’t have any worries about commitment or hunger.
Who is going to be the ‘quality striker’ who won’t mind warming the bench? Or do you expect Kenny to leave either Suarez or Carroll on the bench? And who is the ‘quality centre back with pace’?
You need buyers before you can sell. I think we can make top 4 without more buys although it would be nice to have the extra strength, Johnson will play left wing with downing (who can play either wing) on the right but moving over part of the time. Both Kelly and flannagan have shown they can get forward and being youthful can also get back. In some of our glory years our back four was almost redundant due to playing most of the game in the oppositions half and we certainly have enough bodies to do that.
The fact that Liverpool have yet to sign a C.B and chased Phil Jones tells me the chase will re start after a bit of selling.
I totally agree with Lee. Once the transfer window opened I thought we would be signing the highest quality players from across Europe. Aguero, Mata etc, but alas it has not turned out that way. Instead we have a highly overpriced young midfielder in Henderson and another overpriced winger in Downing. Neither has set the premiership alight. Yet we seem to be happy to keep Poulsen, Insua and Ngog. Bemused!!!!
Now I hear Blackburn are in for Honda and Bolton are looking likely to sign Jeffren!
wat d f.. do u see in Jeffren? The guys is not quality. just athletic. dats all
Liverpool currently have around 35 first-team players so Kenny should now focus on getting rid of the deadwood and loaning out a few promising youngsters. At the moment the squad is more than capable of coping with the 38 league games and the domestic cup games. No European competition means that we do not need such a large squad. A left back seems to be the missing puzzle but if Kenny is willing to take a chance with Insua then we might not need to bring in a left back as Kenny currently has more than enough options in this position with Insua, Aurelio and Robinson and even Johnson if required. The likes of Jones, Degen, Poulsen, Jovanovic and El Zhar look all set to leave while Gulacsi, Spearing, Shelvey and Pacheco are likely to be loaned out. But with the current squad, Kenny can still field 2 teams:
Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio, Maxi, Aquilani, Lucas, Adam, Downing, Carroll.
Doni, Kelly, Kyrgiakos, Agger, Insua, Kuyt, Henderson, Gerrard, Meireles, Cole, Suarez.
This still leaves us with Ngog, Flanagan, Robinson, Ayala and possibly Shelvey, Spearing and Pacheco.
I still expect Kenny and Comolli to bring in a left back but there is no need to bring in more players unless a key first team player leaves. The current squad is more than capable of launching an assault on the top four this season.
Getting fed up of this negativity! ‘improve the squad or we will never make the top four’ comments are ridiculous when kenny got us the kind of points per game last season to see us in 4th place and the squad has been drastically improved this summer already! Also for years we have had the ‘no strength in depth’ comments despite sometimes having a squad of 30 plus senior players and now we have less but of higher quality everybody is moaning we have too many options! Ridiculous! We still have a smaller squad than some but we do have some that lack quality and a few too many for the prems 25 senior player rule so we clearly need to offload before we can bring any more in but the squad as it stands is better than its been in years and if some of last years under performers have the kk magic sprinkled on them they might be decent squad players.
Here here!
I find it quite hilarious how people pass negative comment without an ounce of realism / knowledge ‘I was expecting augero, mata…’ haha, f**k it, why not get messi and ronaldo too eh? Without champs league and some hefty rules to adhere to (plus the king’s preference for british attitude) the squad is much better – no doubt, we have 3 quality PL players that bring years of experience, youth, hunger, resale value, quality and 2 left pegs! Sprinkle the KK magic dust on these new signings and continue the surge…I for one am a happy
kopite.
In Kenny we trust (not tabloids / NewsNow / FIFA)
how about u change the ‘we’ in ur last sentence to ‘I’.
we must have a good squad of 30 players to tackle the P.L nothing less or more
you guys are forgetting that Liverpool are not in europe this league, so signing players like Mata and Aguero will be hard as teams that can offer them champions league football will have more to offer and probably an even better salary, the only big name marquee signing we will make is one that loves Liverpool and is his dream destination
There are alot of opions out there, just to throw another one in, I do believe the squad is alot better than last year, we have 3 top class strikers: Caroll(good with his head and feet), Suarez good with everything and Kuyt great in box. Midfield is stacked, in defence I think he should give Insua a chance with Robinson as backup, CB: Carra, Skrtle, Agger and Soto, there is experience there as well as some youngsters to come up, right back has many options. So If anything I would like to see another winger brought in but otherwise I believe next yr when we are in better position (chmps Lg) we will bring in more players.
I agree with most of things that you have said, but I don’t think Carroll will be a good striker for us. I hope I am wrong.
I cannot believe you just said that Kuyt is a great striker. If I had my way, he would have been sold years ago simply because he is a poor striker. The fact that he is playing right midfield tells you that much.
Kuyt is all energy but no ability
Why do people keep bleating on about last season’s performance and about finishing 4th.
We did do well since Kenny took over but we also lacked quality at times. Couple that with the fact that United have spent better than us, Chelsea are looking likely to do the same and that’s without mentioning Spurs, City and Arsenal are all due to spend big and you see my point.
As for the other comment, I want to win not finish 4th. We have the chance to spend big and really make a push for much higher than 4th next season, given that we aren’t in Europe. Why are fans settling for much less.
Don’t get me wrong, the players we have brought in are decent, hard-working players but we have always be seen to be needing better quality. We have Suarez, who will be a star but not much else.
The youngsters did well but they have a long way to go and it’s much better to ease them in. They are far from the finished article and we need better quality now.
As I keep saying most games are won and lost in the middle of the pitch. having choice in the midfield and to be able to put out different types of players to turn around a game is essential. Yes we need to offload and I would get rid of Poulsen, Jova and Cole (if rumours are true he costs almost 5 mill per year). But I have a and feeling Aqua will be sold as there are rumours that Mancini is willing to put in an offer of 12 mill and apparently some other outfit is also after him from italy, there aren’t that many players that will fetch that sort of money that we can get rid off
Fo
Forgot to add loan out Shelvey and Spearing get some more experience and that doesn’t leave that many in the midfield
@eric– good 1 mate those r two strong squads…one left back n a centre half n get rid of poulsen cole kriakos n milan. n then we watch soccer….
LB is a must, and I would like one right winger.
Imagine, Downing injured and we basically have the same team from second half of the last season.
We can use another winger, I think N’Zgobia would be great.
But some selling needs to be done first.
I wouldn’t mind one more CB, but I think Liverpool could manage one more season with the same defenders + LB.