If you have watched Liverpool for the past two or three seasons one of the main observations you would probably have made is that there is a distinct lack of width within the squad. The players that do play wide are played there fundamentally out of their preferred positions. These players all prefer to cut inside and with the exception of Ryan Babel all possess very little pace to beat a man. This is an area I’m sure the manager will look to address sooner or later.
The problem at this present time is that money is tight. If the majority of funds are made available from the Mascherano deal Roy will look down his list of priorities and find a winger probably comes fourth behind a replacement for Mascherano, a first choice left back and a capable striker. With players such as Shaun Wright-Phillips reportedly available on the cheap it is a real shame that events out of the managers control have meant that other positions take priority.
In my opinion, if you are going to challenge for top honours you need players who can beat a man get to the byeline and put a decent ball into the box. Over the past few years Liverpool have often found it incredibly hard to break down teams that set their stalls out to defend and protect from the first whistle. Because of the lack of width, the midfield becomes flooded with players and there is no space to find the killer ball that can split a defence open. With many teams now playing with three men across the middle of the park it is essential to have technically gifted wingers that can stretch the game and drag players out of position. As it stands Liverpool have none and due to the financial restrictions the fans are unlikely to see one any time soon, at least not before January.
January is a long way away and until the club are able to invest in some width it is going to prove incredibly difficult to get the club back to where it belongs. As fans all we can hope is that the players and the manager can see us through until then.
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@candide,
i agree about playing players to there strengths, but i cant see roy playing johnson at rm, would love to see it, but alas i doubt it.
if he suddenly springs for a top class right back in this window, then you know i was wrong and roys not as set in his ways as i think he is.
i cant really decide between the pace of babel and jova, i think they are both quick, which is why id like to see them on opposite flanks, 2 pacey guys trying to carve up the defence is just what torres needs either side of him. with gerrard and meireles bursting in behind him. perfect.
im sort of basing my views of jova on the fact that hes not yet 100% up to speed and settled so i expect more to come, and same from babel. both given the chance on the wings would be great for me.
owners out, kuyt out, carragher eased out gradually for agger and skyrtel and i think were ok, nothing major really needs to be done.
were all forgetting the only things that changed from 09 to 2010 were alonso leaving and the squad getting pissed at the waiter.
most of that squad is still here/been replaced like for like, and what is missing, will be filled by the masch money coming in now. i think we will be ok.
Essentially we have not been the same since alonso left. He was a deep lying playmaker who set the tempo and was the heartbeat. He was our scholes. Rafas biggest mistake was unsettling him. Mereiles is a similar style so let’s hope the rumours are true that he is signing. Very worried about lack of a striker coming in. Time is running out!
well im hoping that we will either get toivonen or wolfswinkel, there both young and good players who would complement torres nicely.
but failing that we have babel/kuyt/pacheco who could do a job there and also ngog (not top class but improving).
we made a profit on player sales so far, and we will have money left from the masch sale after we buy konchesky and possibly meireles so should be a good £10 mill for a striker, can get decent players for that money.
I totlly agree with you , but we need to give babel chace , he’s very talanted player all he needs is little confedance & he will shine , he needs to play More often
FAO Pete.
I’ll go along your wing comments though my point is that we don’t generally play as a three pronged attack. Our strikers-cumn-wingers are much deeper, hence my original comments. If Jova played up front more I think he would complement Torres more.
Totally agree with the Kuyt out comments. I’m actually at the point now that I hate him because he just never goes away in spite of his total lack of ability. Also agree wholeheartedly ref Carra. He was never a world class defender and with his lack of pace and age he’s slowly coming unstuck at the back. Our best defender is Agger – by a long chalk. Shame we’ve gone and added the championsip standard Konchesky to our back 4. No idea what Roy is thinking.
Disagree about Toivonen *s he’s just another Kuyt in the making who will be playing midfielder towards the season’s end. Let’s face it, him and Wolfscock are only being suggested by fans because some helmet linked us to them. Otherwise none of us would have never heard of them and would even suggesting that we sign them.
that toivonen is just pants, i have seem him play at least 14 times.
liverpool should go for the cheaper option of inler and turan, then your getting 3 players for two.
turan would cost 13 million and inler would set you back 10 mill, thats around 23- 24 mill outlay.
sell lucus and babael, babel would fetch you 8 mill, lucus would get you around 6 max.
thats 14 mill recoup and a spend of around 10 mill. thats that money left that the owners said would be given to Roy when he sogend. ” we are going to spend big in the summer” do you all remember words like thats!!! i do?
if we can not spend just 10 mill without having to raise it through sales!!! jesus christ….
REINA
JOHNO CARRRA AGGER KONCHESKY
INLER MEIRELES GERRARD
COLE
KUYT TORRES
like it or not i think babel should get “another” chance under new boss this time not as winger but alongside torres this could be really interesting and then try the 4-3-1-2 might be awesome!!!
Babel is a good player didn’t get a proper chance and got his spirit suck out of him under rafa so…