ANOTHER Premier League season has come and gone, and certainly there are much more positives to take away than negatives.
While we have failed in our bid to hold on to a European spot, we can take heart from the fact that Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers have looked like they have figured out their mistakes in the transfer market.
With the players brought in during the January transfer, I like many, am impressed by the displays of both Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge.
With that said, comes one of the most important transfer windows in a long time. It is obvious by watching Liverpool FC’s games that we need a decent centre-back in addition to an effective, quality wide player and possibly a decent striker to keep the likes of Sturridge and Suarez firing. However, the transfer window has always been our Achilles heel, in fact, it has been our somewhat embarrassing as a Liverpool supporter with the kind of business we have done over the years.
I, like many a Liverpool Supporter doubted Brendan Rodgers and a few of his purchases, namely Fabio Borini and Allen, because I do not think Allen is worthy of a place in Liverpool’s starting eleven – in fact I do not see him as being much better than Jay Spearing, and Borini seems not to be able to get over his injury woes.
However, I have since removed those fears and once again thrown my trust completely behind the man who I think will certainly take us back to the pinnacle of European Football.
Rodgers will no doubt have his hands completely full come transfer time, for the main reason of lack of European football, which is a much needed ingredient to attract top class players.
Nevertheless, Liverpool FC is still a massive club with a rich history and there are a lot of quality players out there who need to be playing regular football, and would welcome the opportunity to be a part of a club such as this. However, I think most of the work has already been completed; indeed, Rodgers would be certainly wise to conduct his business as early as possible, with the likes of Ericksen, Ince, Sinclair, and Ben Arfa all rumoured to be on his shortlist to fill the midfield and wide positions respectively.
There is a lot of talk of Ashley Williams to fill the void left by Jamie Carragher’s retirement, but that seems unlikely. Without a doubt Williams is a good defender, but so is Martin Skrtel. What we need is a top class defender; someone in the mould of our own Jamie Carragher, one who not only has game intelligence but also one who is a leader on the pitch.
Certainly, one can’t help but thinking that if Liverpool FC is to mount a serious and meaningful assault on the top four at all, then now is crucial, this transfer window is paramount.
Liverpool already have a core of very good players, only needing the two or three missing pieces and most importantly consistency. In fact if Rodgers, can get this team to play at a consistently high level, then there is absolutely no doubt that we will finish in the top four next season and seasons to come.
My LFC squad for 2013-2014 season …
Reina – staying put
Agger
Tiago Ilori – Strong, reliable
Johnson
Kelly – Better at defending than Enrique
Gerrard
Lucas
Ericksen – If Agger can convince him to join
Couthinho
Suarez
Sturridge
Subs.
Jones
Skrtel
Enrique
Downing
Henderson
Sterling
Shelvey
Ince/Scott Sinclair – Sinclair desperate to play regular football
Remy/Carroll – Remy if he can manage to stay out of jail
What says you?
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Your faith in Rodgers is misplaced. He is a poor manager. It was the transfer committee that picked sturridge & coutinho . The fact thst our manager blew the whole summer transfer kitty on rubbish last season shows he cant be trusted
As for the players you have mentioned . You need to reassess
Eriksson said NO – he is not interested
Remy ? Come on . We can’t go or a player mixed up with rape accusations
FSG have blocked Rodgers attempts to sign Williams
Sinclair ? Just like Allen and Rodgers himself – he has shown he is not good enough for a big club
No, the board decided on Assaidi. The other 4 transfers were decided by BR.
In terms of the above squad; I agree. It looks strong (and fairly deep) however I’m not convinced about the CB. He’s only 20 and who says he’s any better than Coates?
Personally think we need somebody older and more prime than that.
The board decided on assaidi coutinho and sturridge. The other 4 were Rodgers buys
If br manages to get eriksen then liverpool will be ok
Eriksson said no
My squad…
Reina – Wisdom, Kelly, M Richards, Johnson – Suarez, Gerrard, Agger, Sturridge – Coutinho, Carroll; Ward – Skrtel – Jordan, Jonjo – Downing – Pacheco, Morgan…Gulacsi – Flanagan, Robinson – Coady, Suso, – Sterling – N`Goo
@liverbaby SPOT ON about Coutinho/Sturridge being via the recruitment team. They didn’t trust Rodgers after his summer signings. BR own signings were Allen/Borini/Asaidi etc … All of which have showed they don’t have the quality to step up to the level of a team wanting to challeng for top 4.
“Kelly – better defensively that Enrique” …??? Kelly the CB/RB, never played LB in his life for LFC 1st team, so maybe u mean he better than Johnson. And for the record Enrique may hav had a dip in form but he one of few success’ from last few windows.
And we do need a CB for cover and push Skrtl/Agger – but there are cheaper overseas options with than williams.
As for Eriksen – we may as well keep dreaming…he is a CL player and is why he said no already.
We still need an attacking mid/wide player ie Ben Arfa, but need to be quick or lose out.
In my opinion, Allen is still young and could adapt to be a decent backup player to the first team.
However we should cash in on henderson glimpses of form, because he unbalances the team, too expensive to just be a sqad player and not got the quality kenny thought.
Downing – proved himself to be a good squad player for next season.
We need to blood, Kelly at CB, got all the ingredients to do a Carra, save loads of money in process. We hav RB cover in the ranks – check Mclaughlin out (flanagan also)
We need Ben Arfa and 1 more similar, Erikson not feasable so hope they can find somone like they did Coutinho
My team for next season:
Reina
Johnson: RB
Kelly: CB
Agger: CB
Enrique: LB
Gerrard CM
Lucas DM
Coutinho
Ben Arfa
Sturridge
Suarez
Subs:
GK ?? (Jones is poor – need a new backup GK)
Skrtel
Downing
Allen
Yesil
Sterling
Flannagan
Robinson
Suso
Wisdom
Young to blood: Ibe, Texitra (spelling?), Sinclair, Mclaughlin
Sell: Borini, Henderson, Assaidi and Carrol (but only for the money, as I’m still a fan of Carrol but doesn’t look like Rodgers is)
Good luck Rodgers (good coach, inexperienced manager)
YNWA
In my opinion, Allen is still young and could adapt to be a decent backup player to the first team.
However we should cash in on henderson glimpses of form, because he unbalances the team, too expensive to just be a sqad player and not got the quality kenny thought.
BR own signings were Allen/Borini/Asaidi etc … All of which have showed they don’t have the quality to step up to the level of a team wanting to challeng for top 4.
henderson 22 allen 23
in what way does henderson unbalance the team?
kelly has played more then once at LB for the first team also he is easily a better defender then enrique. jose has positional problems on top of the fact he seems to go to sleep at times.
what do you think happens in that committee? they sit down and talk about players and how much they will cost, but rodgers has final say on all players.
rodgers wanted sturridge in the summer but chelsea stood firm on their 18million valuation.
ben arfa will cost about 20million and be out for half a season nearly every year, so there are better players out there for that money.
In br we trust.i think shelvey,Allen,Downing,caroll,and enrique should be sold to gain money to bring in papadopulos,llori,villa,digne and ericksen
Personally, i would like, a like of ben arfa to replace downing, benat from betis or strootman to replace allen… also it wont be bad to see bojan krkic and tello both from barcelona to join our squad, both have impressive skills.
One of my main targets for the Liverpool squad this summer would be:
Diame (West Ham) to provide much needed back-up / competition to Lucas. A real strong athlete with presence. He was the outstanding player on the pitch when we played West Ham away.
I would also make space in the squad for Mcmanaman (Wigan), a central defender in the mould of Kompany, and a forward in the mould of Benteke to provide the team with more physical presence.
I also think we need to address our weekness at set pieces, where we look vulnerable in defence, and impotent in attack.
Sell:
G Johnson – 8 mil – Not good enough defensively
Enrique – 6 mil
Skrtel – 13 mil
Coates – 5 mil
Assaidi – 4 mil
Downing – 8 mil
Spearing – 2 mil
Pacheco – 1 mil
Caroll – 13 mil
Falangan – 2 mil
This would give us 62 mil + the 20 mil being reported already available that gives 82 mil.
Buy:
Tiago Illori – 4 mil – Looks faster and more mobile than Coates
Kyriakos Papadolous – 14 mil
Lucas Digne – 6 mil
Victor Wanyama – 8 mil
Henrik Mkhitaryan/Christian Eriksen – 15 mil
Hon Son Meung – 13 mil
Keisuke Honda – Bosman (Free)
Martin Motoya – 5 mil
Erik Lamela – 13 mil
This is not Fifa or FM but we can dream.
Realistically, we will I think get at most 4 players in the summer which somewhat may be balanced with some outgoings like Carroll.
I think Liverpool should sell a few players this summer; Carrol, Coates and Assaidi seem likely to leave and I would be glad to see Shelvey and Skrtel and maybe even Henderson go as well to give resources for better replacements.
Unlike most speculative websites, I do not believe Liverpool needs to worry about strikers; we have Suarez, Sturridge and Borini who can play on top and Coutinho and Downing can play as wingers, as they have shown when LFC play the 4-3-3 formation they so often play.
Defense and midfield need improvement however, Eriksen would be a great replacement for Henderson in the starting 11 and could potentially be a replacement for Gerrard in a few years when he retires. In defense we need a top level CB, not necessarily that young, who have experience and can take control.
Minimum requirements for a good next season is 1 midfield and 1 defender, in my opinion.
It’s disgraceful that Remy is even being mentioned as a possibility
Apart from Benitez i think BR is better than the middle two and i have a feeling that these players will be shipped out; skrtel, assaid, reina, downing, spearing, pacheco, wilson, carrol. And the following might be considered; myrkhaytan 4rm shakter, illori from sporting cp, macthey from reading and the following will be considered on a daily basis; sterling robinson and kelly. Here goes my team for next season; gk macthey, rb johnson, cb kelly cb agger lb robinson(relegate enrique to the bench) cdm lucas cdm gerrard cam courtinho lw myrkhaytan cs sturridge rw sterling(sitting in for banned suarez).
Dread to think what average dross Rodgers wi waste our money on this summer
I just hope this transfer committee stops Rodgers and buys proper players
The committee signed all of these players! Besides u can’t blame BR because 1 or two transfers didn’t work out! Even Fergie and Mourinho have made the odd clanger in the transfer market!
The positives are the way we play now! So much better football than the last 5/6 years plus we have a young up and coming team.
Further I think you’ll find Eriksen ( spell it right its not that hard) said he would weigh up his options! He has not said NO (yet)
well said mike. plus the players people have wrote off still have time to prove themselves.
vorm is a rodgers signing an he was the one that picked mitchu.
Dumb as feck. Rodgers had never even heard of michu
He was laudrups signing
shouldn’t there be another word in front of your name. it begins with s
yes laudrup signed michu. but michu was being watch sense march 12 by swansea.
do you need a diagram?
As usual you are wrong . Im starting to think you are totally clueless about football
Rodgers had sigurdsson lined up for that role . Michu wasnt on the radar until Laudrup came
You should try a little education before embarrassing yourself (again)
oh your right i forgot that you only have the 11 on the field in you team.
you got me again fotheringham
whats next i wonder.
Amazingly childish and stupid you are . You lied blatantly about michu…or would care to put a link up about it ?
Rodgers hasn’t just made one or two mistakes . 35 m down the toilet last summer is horrendous for totally useless players
1 or two average transfers and you write him off! Remember this is the man that signed Vorm, Caulker, Sigurdsson for Swansea!
He’s more than capable of signing quality. Don’t write him off yet.
He’s only been with us a year give the guy a decent chance and he’ll turn us around I’m sure
No. His record in the transfer market at Liverpool and Swansea is poor. Caulker and sigurddsson were loans
Rodgers is so far out of hisdepth it’s scary . If your waiting for him to turn us around – you can wait …it won’t happen
Plz don’t let brendan buys more players cos he will buy more cack. We shud b gettin new manager cos he is no gud. Our worst ever prob
Simon I agree , Rodgers record for signing players at Swansea is pretty grim
Out of the 19 players he signed . I would think only about 6 at the most were a success
6 out of 19 is awful . Where he did well out of was loan signings from his previous clubs . But thats not possible at Liverpool
All in all , I wouldn’t trust him with my beer money
new manager please before bodgers blows all our dosh on swansea sh*te again
Hey Niall, I don’t think we should be so eager to get rid of Rodgers, I can certainly understand your frustration, but I would think since he is there already lets see what he does next season and then we can have an idea of the direction we are going.
I and many others totally disagreee. We have seen enough . He is not even close to being good enough
U ppl shouldnt blame dis man BR, cos he has provn hs enemy wrong, whn he bought coutinho, i beliv many of u where down gradin d signin as a waste of money, bt d guy n d managa hav provd u ppl wrng.
Pls let bk d man up, n c wat nxt season will will leap, i beliv d signin of sinclair wil b a betta addtion 2our team n douglas. Also ben alfa n a standard fward wit d likes of remy of q.p.r n sell dat gud 4nthn raina n bring on mccharty of readn.
@kumber
You make a good point about Ben Arfa (might be too expensive – my preference would be if he is around 10m max)
Plus yea he hasn’t had the best injury record – fair point.
Q. Your question of how henderson imbalances the team?
A. This is echoed prepeatedly by LFC pundits such as John Aldo and Jan Molby and Allen Hansen:
He has poor positional awareness and no midfield disciplne. He chases the ball rather than players and presses into the challenge but isnt the best tackler. See his tackle sucess rate vs his attempted tackles.
He is technicalled gifted for an english player Yes, but tactically he’s lacking. And more to the point he just doesn’t fit the profile of Rodgers’ central mid player (to play the style he is creating) Yes he could learn, but we don’t have the patience whilst we already have shelvey who is streets ahead tactically (shelvey just needs to be consistent).
– & Allen is not just not worth selling right now because he has hardly attracted anyone with his displays, like henderson has – I’d wish him all the best if he brought us 10m in.