What about the wings though? That’s where Liverpool’s curse has laid for a fair while now. Harry Kewell, Jermaine Pennant, Ryan Babel, Joe Cole, etc, etc, etcetera. Suppose we leave Maxi Rodriguez out of the equation, Liverpool still lag behind on attacking wing play; a problem which has seen Dirk Kuyt take on the right winger’s role more than the natural born flank players in the squad.
Every signing in those positions has failed for one reason or another. Quite a recent example, Albert Riera. The reason he wasn’t included in the list above is because technically he didn’t fail so much as he was sold after a falling out with Rafa Benitez.
He was one player who still should’ve been here. He brought almost the exact same qualities Meireles has since his move from Porto, and some of his performances took you back to what might have been had eternal injuries not blighted a certain Australian wonder kid’s career.
So who now, can come in to Anfield to strengthen the wing play of Liverpool? The difficulty with that is, more often than not, wingers have been brought in to the club based on their performances against Liverpool as well as others, but in the red shirt, they’ve often seemed a shadow of themselves. Jermaine Pennant would have to be a classic example of that. There were a few brilliant performances like against Arsenal some years ago, when a Peter Crouch hat trick and Daniel Agger header gave them one of their biggest wins over the Gunners.
Other than that, the way he played against Liverpool for Birmingham before the switch, dribbling circles around Stephen Warnock, he seemed the perfect solution to head up the right side of midfield. Yet in a Liverpool shirt he looked a shadow of his former self. Now there have been speculations over Aaron Lennon as a possible target over the summer. Excellent choice, by all means, but Kenny Dalglish will have his work cut out to make him fit in to the squad.
Gareth Bale’s been another mention although it doesn’t look like Tottenham are going to want to part with one of their most prized assets at the moment. Having said that, Newcastle did with theirs but every club isn’t owned by Mike Ashley.
The way the forwards have been performing (Suarez, Carroll, and Kuyt), it doesn’t look like there’s much to worry about as long as they can keep it up and improve more. Andy Carroll, by no means has reached his full potential and he’s had a few niggles restricting him to not a great deal. As said during his historical last gasp transfer, a good pre season will most certainly unleash a beast together with Suarez’s already brilliant performances and Dirk Kuyt’s never say die attitude.
Whatever happens this summer, Damien Comolli and Dalglish are going to have to sit down and think extremely hard over signing quality wingers; more importantly versatile players who can adapt to circumstances as and when required. It won’t be easy but there’s a reason fans at the Kop and throughout the world have been bursting with renewed hope over Dalglish’s permanent appointment, and it’s not because they expect to have it easy.
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Cahill ,ENrique,A young ,Hazard or mata,And adam plus a young talented striker like chicarito who keeps pressuring suarez and caroll to perform..Poulson,jova,konchesky,ngog,elzhar OUT
Hope Kuyt will be our third streaker next season. Meaning he wont be playing on the wing. Hopefully we can bring in 4 wingers. For both sides with decent backups. Young, Downing, Hazard, etc.
We definitely dont need 4 wingers. I’d say we need 2 good quality ones. my choice would be Mata and Hazard
I agree we need a young striker in the mold of chich and for that reason I reckon we should go for Kevin Gameiro from Lorient. He has 1 year left on his contract
I think we should let go of Agger..he is injury prone, whether we believe it or not. To replace him I’d get Jan Vertonghen from Ajax. Similar player but more commanding, stronger and quicker.
James McCarthy if a future star. I’m convinced. I’d be happy if we splashed 15mil on the lad. He is that good. The closest thing i’ve seen to Paul Scholes in the league.
Jose Enrique left back. Solid. Reliable.
I don’t want Ashley Young. Too inconsistent and tactically weak. Don’t want Charlie Adam. I feel in Suso we have a similar player. And while Adam is fine as passing, the “moving” does not come too naturally for him. It would mean other players would have to move more and hence are more likely to be pulled out of position.
Jones, Degen, Agger, Kyrgiakos Konchesky, Insua, Jovanovic, Cole, Poulsen, Aquilani and N’gog should all go. Maxi has done well but I think giving him a 2 year contract now would be a mistake and he is on around 70k/wk. Not worth it.
And also regarding Kuyt on the right. I may be one of the few, but I quite like him there. He still scores and assists. His striker instinctiveness brings him inside, creating space for Johnson on the wing. He often cuts in and Kuyt’s good heading ability is often rewarded.
But i do understand why youd want to play him as a striker. His movement is phenomenal. He just lacks pace.
1st and foremost the club needs the 11 dead wood mediocre players on clubs books shipped out:
1: B Jones GK
2: Krygiakos CB
3: Degan RB
4: Insua LB
5: Koncheskey LB
6: Aurelio LB (Class,quality, great player but on treatment table 80% of every season/injury prone/Inconsistant)
7: Poulsen DM/CM
8: El Zhar RW/LW
9: J Cole AM/LW/RW
10: Jovanovic RW/LW
11: D Ngog FD
And if Aquilani does not want to come back to club,then he should be sold to the highest bidder in italy.
So 12 players out: And 8 to 10 players in:
Then 8-10 players: Good, Quality, Class, Hungry players should be brought in: To improve squad quality and competition for places:
INS:
1 GK: W Hennessey Of Wolves for £5-£8M
2:CB: G Cahill Of Bolton for £14-£17M
3:CB: S Kjaer Of Wolfsburg For £8-£12M
4:LB: A Cissokho Of Lyon for £6-£12M
5:LB: O Wendt Of Copenhagon Free Transfer
6:DM: M’Villa Of Rennes, Moussa Sissoko Of Toulouse Or B Matuidi Of ST Etienne for £8-£15M
7:AM: Diego Of Wolfsburg, C Eriksen of Ajax, Valbuena Of Marseille Or Willian Of Shakhtar Donesk, one of these should be brought for £8-£17M
8:RW: Jesus Navas Of Seville for £17-£24M
9:LW: Charles Nzogbia Of Wigan for £7-£14M
10 FD: ? Lukas Podolski Of FC Koln for £10-£15M
Hennessey has dropped more crosses than any other Premier League goalkeeper this season so why would you want to waste up to 8m on the guy. Plus, we have a young and talented goalkeeper in Gulacsi anyway. Gary Cahill is overrated and overpriced and the guy can hardly defend. Just ask Bolton fans. Diego can’t even cut it in Italy and is hardly setting the Bundesliga alight so why would Liverpool want him. Jesus Navas is homesick so he won’t leave Seville.
A few months ago I was calling for Maxi to be sold, but he can still do a job as a squad winger.I’m not sure about Ashley Young, because as much as he reminds me of John Barnes, he doesn’t hug the touchline like we’d need. I think we should go in for Jose Enriqué, Ryan Shawcross, Diego, Navás, Eden Hazard, and Sergio Agüero.
Its not unrealistic, then we have four world class strikers and brilliant wingers to provide ammunition for them.I only named 2wingers because,A: quality ones are ridiculously expensive, and B: We can always move Glen up there.
I think we need a decent backup keeper to play Cup games, I would suggest Shay Given but he’d be too expensive. Rob Green (free) and Wayne Hennessey (£5m) are more realistic options.
Firstly, Kenny should get rid of all the deadwood. These players are either not good enough or are just past it. As many as 15 players need to be sold this summer to make space and boost funds for new signings. The following players should be sold:
Jones
Darby
Degen
Soto
Konchesky
Aurelio
Poulsen
Ngog
Jovanovic
Ngog
El Zhar
Aquilani (no less than the agreed price)
Liverpool should buy the following players:
Baines – quality left back. Very solid defensively and excellent going forward with great crossing ability. Good free kick taker as well.
Moussa Sissoko – young defensive midfielder. Lucas has done a great job but we need one more player in that position. Sissoko fits in perfectly with the transfer policy and a hard tackling midfield destroyer like him is what we need.
James McCarthy – for now and for the future. Easily one of the best midfielders in the league in 2 years time. At 20, he can become a great player for us for the next 10 years. A quality all round centre midfielder, I would have him over Aquilani. Liverpool should do everything they can to get this guy, and before Chelsea come sniffing around.
Ashley Young – for the right price. He will provide the ammunition for Carroll with his crossing while he can also play behind the striker.
Charlie N’Zogbia – I rate this guy highly. Has been fantastic for Wigan for the past 2 seasons. He’s got the pace, can dribble, can cross, can shoot, just an excellent left footed attacking player. Can play on the left if you want him to cross, on the right to cut in and shoot and also as an attacking midfielder. He’s single handedly rescuing Wigan from relegation and is just a great player overall. Available for 10m and like McCarthy, available for less if Wigan get relegated.
we already have the future best winger in the world, his name is raheem stirling, he will be ready soon, i would use him as a sub in home games to start with. HE IS THAT GOOD! just wait until he’s 17. in fact if we play him pre season he will be hard to keep out.
a classy centre half is a must plus a top winger and at least one more top quality striker, add a left back and we can take them all on – and win. we can buy one out of the sales money, fenway need to do the rest.
In any time you could be knock- out in any round without a very hard and good Defence that’s the point to be taken in consideration YNWA