There have been a number of newspaper reports in past weeks and on gossip sites that Liverpool’s new full-time manager, Kenny Dalglish, will shed some 10-12 first team players in the summer, in a bid to mould the squad into something more resembling a top four side in time for next season.
I noticed an article a couple of days ago, regarding which players Liverpool should keep and which they should lose so in the same spirit I’m going to name those Liverpool players that should be kept and those that have no future at the club.
Jones – Not much to be said here; he’s played once or twice and hasn’t looked up to it. With Gulacsi being favoured on the bench in the past 2 months, the Aussie doesn’t have a future here. Get Rid.
Johnson – Seemingly reinvented at left back in the past 2 months; he’s not quite been the revelation some have believed but he’s certainly shown more defensive solidity and awareness. For the amount he cost us and his attacking prowess, Johnson must be kept and given at least one full season under a truly competent manager. Keep.
Konchesky – I have to ask – has a footballer’s career ever been ruined by their mother before? Well, that’s certainly what happened to Paul Konchesky. A last chance at a ‘big club’ wasn’t going well as it was but Konchesky’s mum put paid to any chance that he might’ve had of redeeming himself. Loaned out to the lower reaches, he will almost certainly be playing their or back at Fulham in 2011-12. Get Rid.
Meireles – A solid first season from the Portuguese – if he’s drifted in-and-out of matches lately – but he’s shown a great amount of promise. Should be a certainty for the first 11 next season when there’ll be more pressure for him to shine more. Keep.
Agger – Easily our most gifted defensive player (though, not best defender), Agger raises a bit of a dilemma. If he can be kept fit, he is one of the first names on the team sheet. If not, he is a huge drain on the wage-bill. Keep (but only if he can prove his fitness).
Aurelio – This may be a controversial one but, when fit, Aurelio is a fine left back and he must be kept hold of. At least for the time being. Unless we can sign a top-class (and this should be our main summer target) left-back in the summer, we’ll need Aurelio next year. Keep.
Suarez – The strongest performing Liverpool player in the past 3 months. Along with Carroll, the Uruguayan will form the spearhead of our attack next season. Obvious Keep.
Gerrard – His legs are starting to go, as is his body. The engine may no longer quite be as highly tuned as it once was and should no longer be the point through which all Liverpool attacks go. But Gerrard is a superb player; a top-level match winner on his day. Keep.
Carroll – As above, he will be one of the first choices every week next season and is likely to be England’s top striker for years to come. The summer months must be spent getting Carroll fully fit for next season and pre-season should be used to round off some of those rough edges. Keep.
Cole – Of all my friends and family that are devout Reds, I was perhaps the most (only?) one excited about the signing of Cole. I could not have been any more wrong. Given the level of expectation surrounding out summer signings, Cole must be seen as the biggest flop, as he has achieved much less than was expected of him while nothing was expected of the likes of Poulsen and Konchesky in the first place. Get Rid.
Pacheco – Having just spent a few months on loan, Pacheco has had his first real taste of first-team action in England. He has had a fairly good spell with Norwich and it was good to see him enjoying his football. For me, Pacheco must be given a chance next season. I’m not deluded enough to say he should be a first choice but he must at least be given 10-15 games and see some real action, or we risk losing a very talented youngster back to his homeland. Keep.
Jovanovic – Not much to be said about the Serb. He’s a decent player but he has no future at Liverpool. Get Rid.
Kyrgiakos – Just like my mum, I’m a huge fan of the big Greek pirate. He may not be to all tastes, and he is a bit of a ‘hands on’ defender but he currently has something that all but one of our current back line has: the ability to competently deal with tall players. If for no other reason but as back up, Soto must be here next season. The funds may not be as limited as we’re used to but there are areas which are in more dire need of strengthening and centre back is too far down that list to let a good centre back go. Keep.
Maxi – The wily Argie has certainly proven how good he can be in recent weeks but on Sunday, we saw the other side of his game: anonymity. In all fairness, it was a tactical decision beforehand that lead to such an out of character performance on Sunday and he was not in the same role he’s excelled in recently. Simply because he’s a good squad player and has proven that he’s good for goals, Maxi has earned another season. Keep.
Kuyt – Like Maxi, Dirk has shown that he is more than just running and work. He can score goals too. He is also incredibly adept at adapting to different roles and filling gaps left by other players. Unless we sign a World-Class right winger in the summer, Dirk will continue to play 40+ games a season in 2011-12. Keep.
Lucas – The revelation of the season, by a mile and the Premier League’s most improved player of 2010-11. I have run out of superlatives to describe Lucas but I see captaincy in his future. Should be the second name on the team sheet next season (after Reina). Keep.
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Just like to point out, Brad Jones hasn’t been playing due to his kid being ridiculously ill from luekemia. I’d amend this blog if i were you, seems pretty heartless to say ‘get rid’ when he’s not been playing for pretty serious family reasons.
Funny that Joe – Brad Jones is on loan to Derby until the end of the season. Saw him on telly playing for them last week!
If you knew anything about Brad Jones and Liverpool, you’d know that the guy’s been out on loan to Derby where he’s been their first choice. The fact that his son’s suffering from leukemia has not meant that he can’t play football. It’s clear that Kenny prefers the younger and more talented Peter Gulacsi to Brad Jones so getting rid of this guy is a no brainer.
You were not decisive enough in your article. Also you intend to keep too much of our dead wood.
I don’t like this article at all
A lot of this post is wide of the mark never mind the the Jones one.
Can we have some examples please anon!!!
I would love to see the club do the following:
SELL:
Agger/Skrtel 12m
Aurelio 0
Cole 5m
Jovanovic 1.5m
Kyrgiakos 1.5m
N’gog 3.5m
Poulsen 2m
Aquilani 12m
Konchesky 2m
El Zhar 1m
Degen 0
Total in: £40.5m
BUY
LB: David Santon, 20 (Inter) £10-12m
CB: Neven Subotic, 22 (Dortmund) £17-20m
CM: Fernando Gago, 25 (Madrid) £10-12m
LW/LF: Ashley Young, 26 (Villa) £12-15m
RW/RF: Eden Hazard, 20 (Lille) £20-30m
(CF: experienced backup or promising youngster £5m)
Total out: £69-89m
net spend: £19.5-39.5m
Squad for next season: (1st/2nd choice)
GK: Reina, Gulacsi
RB: Johnson, Kelly
LB: SANTON, Insua
CB1: Agger/Skrtel, Carra
CB2: SUBOTIC, Ayala
DM/CM1: Lucas, Spearing
CM2: Gerrard, GAGO (deep lying creative mid – Pirlo is available for free)
AMC: Meireles/Shelvey
LF: Suarez/YOUNG
RF: HAZARD/Kuyt
CF: Carroll/ OTHER??
THAT would be a top quality side which could compete for the title. At a max investment of £40m, it is also not unrealistic for FSG.
Jones has also spent the past few months on loan to Derby – a loan which has not gone very well. Sell.
Insúa – we should keep him as 2nd choice to a new LB, something we desperately need. Davide Santon of Inter would be my choice – maybe in a swap deal with Aquilani if we can manage it.
Skrtel/Agger – not convinced about either, one due to form, the other due to fitness. only one should be kept, with the Dane the better player when fit. A new top class CB is needed.
Agree with this and the players brought in seem to be realistic buys, although have not heard much about this subotic guy!! who needs damien comolli!!haha
Ok, that is a good list etc. but…. Jovanovic would fetch alot more than 1.5 million because he is still a top quality player. Also, why not save your money and Keep Agger/ Skrtel and not buy Subotic as they are both really good Center Halves. Other than that though, well done 🙂
For Aquilani, its £16 million or nothing in my view.
Good choice on Santon btw, I have him in my Fifa 11 Liverpool team.. 😛
How do you figure that Robinson looks better than Flanagan, or that Flanagan looked a deer in headlights on his debut?? :-/
Then again, how do you figure that the last game was out of character for Maxi (or Kuyt) because they’ve had a few good games recently in a season full of sh1te??
You also say that Skrtel’s form ebbs and flows because he doesn’t know who’s playing next to him each week, but no such allowance is given to Agger not knowing if he was playing in any given week at all? I’d MUCH rather stick Kelly in at centreback than continue to wait for Skrtel to eradicate the regular ‘rookie’ mistakes from his game. It would also make far more sense to offer Insua a new contract than to offer another one to Aurelio.
I can’t be bothered to go through the whole article right now anyway, but Lucas was far and away the most improved player of the season… moreso than Bale, Nasri or Nani?? I know that he had a far lower starting point than most regular starters in a ‘top 4’ team, but still!
Agree on most players, but for me Kryiakgos needs to be sold, he makes too many stupid mistakes and is getting old. I’m not really sure how Robinson and Flanagan were ‘deer’s in the headlights’ on their debuts, they both did well, particualrly Robinson, who was up against Walcott. I also think Aurelio has to go, he is quite a good player, but is always injured and is getting on a bit. I’d rather see us buy a top class left back and keep Insua as an understudy. I’m also not convinced about Maxi, he has had a good few weeks, but for about a year before that he was very poor, and only seems to be good at shooting.
Good article though mate.
Agree with most of your comments mate. What’s up with Jay Walker again!! He never agrees with anyone on this site. SO superior – never offers us his great insights just criticism (usually of the writers)this is just a bit of fun mate so get a life. or you could try writing an interesting article yourself. Oh sorry, your probably can’t be bothered.
I assume that that was supposed to be a funny play on my name eh sonny jim? If so, I think you’re sadly mistaken – I rarely say anything about people on the internet, as we’re all just anonymous random names. I agree or disagree with people’s opinions, not with the person, and it is irrelevant to me who I am agreeing or disagreeing with.
Anyway just for you, a quick general roundup of my ‘great insights’ – my arguments typically center around the ideas that;
– I want Liverpool to be title contenders not just battling for 4th place
– in order to be title contenders quality wingers should be a priority
– we can’t stick with the same players that have failed the team so miserably over the last two years and expect them to suddenly start leading us to win anything
– players that have figured heavily over the last two years should be held far more accountable for our failures than players that were on the sidelines.
– older/higher paid players should be expected to lead the team. Younger/lesser paid players can easily fill ‘squad’ roles and be carried by their teammates
– we need more pace, power and technically gifted players throughout the team. A team full of limited ‘triers’ can only get you so far
– you can win a title with a few limited triers/ passengers regularly in the team. You can’t win it with as many as our team is currently carrying
– if all else is practically equal, we’d be better off sticking with the younger or more athletic player
– just because we haven’t seen some of our fringe players play in a certain fashion, that does not prove that they are incapable of doing so
– Benitez is not worthy of the continued deification that he receives from the IRWT brigade
Let yourself down with a few there
Ngog has to go
Pacheco can also go
Soto has to go. He’s very good in the air but he’s too slow and makes way too many mistakes, can’t afford to rely on this guy at the back anymore. As much as I like Aurelio, he has to go as well. He’s top class when he’s playing but there’s no point keeping a player who can only play 10-15 games a season. Amoo and Eccleston should also go, can’t see them making it at Liverpool.
Our KD if you buy some players i have request to buy these players first joe cole jovanovic poulson shevley koncheskey if if you buy these players please do not buy kyriagos agger aurelia ngog they’ll the future of the team} loan players firs ngog jones insua he’ll continu his loan also elzahar pachecho ins players in the club next season firs n’zogbia ashly young hazard aquilani jesus navas tht’s wht i would like to do our coach KD they are good players in the world
Great read, and a fairly good judgement on the players to be sold/kept.
I agree with the most.
hibernian13 who says Agger and Skrtel should be sold is clearly out of his mind… sorry. They are both quality players and true Reds which is extremely important. They do have their respective flaws, but who doesn’t.
I won’t be surprised if you (hibernian13) are one of those ‘supporters’ who whispers in the corners that Gerrard has no future in the team….
Great read, and a fairly good judgement on the players to be sold/kept.
I agree with the most.
hibernian13 who says Agger and Skrtel should be sold is clearly out of his mind… sorry. They are both quality players and true Reds which is extremely important. They do have their respective flaws, but who doesn’t.
I won’t be surprised if you (hibernian13) are one of those ‘supporters’ who whispers in the corners that Gerrard has no future in the team….
Il be the first to say it, give poulsen 1 more season, he has something, he was a very classy player in his day, i always thought he was great during world cups, even fergie tried to get him at the time.
Just like maxi, slow starter but he has something in him and i think he will turn good, he just needs confidence just like maxi did and joe cole does