WITH four signings already completed we can probably expect two more arrivals before the transfer window shuts, there will probably be little movement out of Anfield, the 2013-2014 squad is bound to be one of the deepest squads we have had in a while.
The fact that we there is no European football to add those 10 or more games to our season tally means that there will be more competition for places, this is pretty exciting for fans especially those who say that some players do not give their all on the pitch.
Brendan Rodgers complained last season that his squad was not deep enough to maintain consistency for an entire season; this time around he has a wider pool to pick from.
Pepe Reina who had a poor first half of last season, but showed his best in the latter part of the season, will have to be more consistent this time around if he is to keep his place in the starting line up. Simon Mignolet will be waiting on the sidelines for one opportunity to get into the first 11. The Belgian is an experienced goalie and is familiar with the demands of the Premier league.
The right-back position has been Glenn Johnson’s spot since he joined Liverpool, but over the past year and a half he has seen the emergence of Martin Kelly and Andre Wisdom threaten his place in the starting XI. Wisdom may not be a big threat but a fit Martin Kelly will definitely give Johnson run for his money.
Unless a left-back is signed then Jose Enrique is guaranteed to start every key game given that he does not experience a big dip in form. Jack Robinson has not yet fully developed and the other person who can fill the left-back position is Glen Johnson who is not a natural left footer.
Sebastian Coates, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Kolo Toure will fight it out for the two centre-back positions, add one more signing in that department plus Martin Kelly then you have an intense fight in that area. Skrtel and Coates’ futures are not certain, though it will be safe to assume that only one of them may leave, not both.
Agger as long as he is fully fit will take up the other spot, Skrtel will not afford to sit on his laurels after what happened last season and Kolo will want to make the spot his straight away after a disappointing final season at Man City.
Last season we saw Rodgers employ two deep lying midfielders in his midfield three with Lucas sitting in front of the defence and Gerrard a bit ahead of him. Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson can also feel up those positions. Hendo’s mobility gives him added advantage while Allen is a great facilitator, which is a key ingredient if we continue playing our short passing game.
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Gerrard still oozes quality and showed last season that he can adjust to any setting; he will play a large portion of the games and be rested here and there. Lucas will have full pre-season this time around with the World Cup around the corner he will want to show his qualities as one of the best defensive midfielders in the English Premier League.
The fight for the starting berth in the attacking midfield position is bound to be the most intriguing. Luis Alberto and Suso are naturally built for this role, Coutinho can destroy any defence from the left-wing , but is more destructive when coming down the middle, Henderson also enjoys playing in this position. Rodgers is definitely spoilt for choice in this area as he has four young and hungry midfielders who can lay this role, all the players fighting for this position are versatile and can play in other positions be it wide in the front three or in deep in the midfield in the case of Hendo.
If Luis Suarez stays he will definitely take up one of the three forward positions. Raheem Sterling, Stewart Downing, Iago Aspas, Fabio Borini and Daniel Sturridge will have to fight it out for the other two spots, and Coutinho may also play on the left-wing.
Sturridge had a great start to his season and he will be looking to cement his place as an automatic starter. According to Vicente Del Bosque, Iago Aspas was also in consideration for a place in the Spanish Confederation Cup squad. Aspas is definitely looking forward to the upcoming season and will want to break into the Spanish squad.
Stewart Downing and Raheem Sterling have an outside chance of making it to the World Cup and will grasp every opportunity they get with both hands. Sterling had a breakthrough season in 2012-2013 and will be looking to continue his development and get more minutes. Fabio Borini had a frustrating first season at Liverpool a combination of injuries and poor form did not help him adjust to life on Merseyside. He showed a glimpse of his qualities at the Euro U21 Championships, if he fails to shine this time around he may be shown the exit therefore he will be keen to impress.
Liverpool fans must brace themselves for an exciting time. I’m confident that this squad will definitely improve on last season’s league position. The World Cup could not have come at a better time for us as our squad is made up of international players who are looking to get on the plane to Brazil for their respective countries.
Whoever steps onto the field will give it their all, we hope that everyone will be healthy through the season. #riseuplfc
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This article is waaaaay to positive..
like your postive contribution on liverpool. Bravo
Sorry . No improvements in squad so far . Hope to see some good signings soon
do you know how to read or understand english?? probably you need a sign language then
haha, Well said
*players we r Liverpool we don’t want 4 th place we want the league as winners 4th place WTF we need Arab owners lol
At the moment the only improvement is in squad depth, quality is to be questioned on how well those signing play and fit in. There is no point having great competition in positions when you have a squad full of mediocre players. We have some decent players in our squad, hopefully the new additions will do good. Although I can’t see why on earth we spent 9mil on Mignolet if he is going to be a back up keeper when we have more pressing issues to resolve and our budget is not exactly reportedly great. We need a centre back and a big CDM, to give us some steel in midfield and back up to Lucas. Keepers rarely get injured and miss games if Reina is staying I would have been more happy to see us get the outfield players right and worry about Reina’s absence as and when it happens. Though if he is on the way out that does change things.
Just because we signed a ‘backup?’ keeper doesn’t mean that LFC are not going to cover the other pressing positions. It is amusing the way people come to conclusions as though the transfer window was already closed. There is a long way to go yet.
If you actually read what I stated. In short is is all well and good having 2 top quality keepers, but we spent 9mil on a “back up keeper” of a budget that is reportedly limited; that means if we actually have a small budget other positions are a bigger priority and more in terms of funding should be reserved for those, once those players have been acquired then the remaining can be allocated to bring depth in positions that may need it. To make it simpler if you already had a suit, shirt and tie but had no appropriate shoes to wear with it, you would need to first spend your limited budget on the shoes then on other items.
We will see!
Simple and concise words you speak and I couldn’t agree more. There’s far too much judgment based on media gossip as if the transfer window was already closed. And also far too much pre-judgment on players who have just been purchased. We’ll only know come next May, March at the earliest.
Another summer of no top class players coming in. Fsg and their yes man Rodgers are taking us backwards. Top 6 at best
i dont think that we are done,i think we are going to buy 2 more players with one of those being a marque signing
shut up and stop using your mom’s computer to write trash
What a childish little fool . I presume you are only 6 or7 ?
Very intelligent contribution
Top six couldnt be taking us backward, we finished 6th this season.
It might be an idea to wait untill the windows closed before you start being so pessimistic
We finished 7th*
All we need is another 2-3 players like erikssen for 12mill arda turan – 20 mill and kyrikos papdoupilous – 15mill , llori – 3mill which comes to 45 to 50 mill and we are yet to spend a single penny yet as whatever we have spent have recovered from sales so out goes Reina – 10 mill skrtel – 10mill coates – 4mill assaidi – 4mill downing- 7mill spearing – 3mill and the total comes to 35 to 40 milll so it means we have spend around 10 – 15mill from our pocket and will have one of the best squads going into next season.
Shut up
Very intelligent contribution
We aren’t much stronger than last season . All our rivals will improve. It looks like another struggle next season 🙁
all of you is talking trash.We are aiming for top four.Rodger is doing a good job in liverpool.Very soon the liverpool will rise again
Dream on . Liverpool will never rise with Rodgers . How bus getting us 7th with poor embarrassing cup exits , ‘doing a good job’ ? He is an awful manager
I agree with dean. I dont think Rodgers will take us any higher
There is always optimism and hope at the start of every season . But this season ? No. Our owners are tight with the purse strings , we dont have a top manager , and we haven’t signed anyone who would get into city or utds squad. Worrying times indeed. Lets hope fsg surprise us with some proper talent soon
‘Tight with the purse strings’!!?? Liverpool are the third highest spending club in the Premier league over the last five seasons. You can argue about buying rubbish, but not about spending. Cop on man! Check the facts.
1.5 million spent this summer . Time yet but FSG are here to make money not spend it
Rodgers is building a average squad , not one that will challenge top 4 . We need 4 or 5 new top class signings or it will be another hopeless season.
am sure liverpool supporters are educated footballwise definetly some of the pple here are intruders un educated manc afraid rodgers will make us great again
liverpool are buying their own model of players when fungi bought christiano he was not world beater and many doubted he could replace beckham, bale the same .I have seen alberto enough we have agem there if you watch laliga aspas need no introduction.
Uneducated silly comment.
Do you understand football at all ?
Bale and Ronaldo WERE considered world beaters , some of the hottest talent in world football
And you are full of bull. Where have you seen Alberto play ? Lol . No you havent
Real Liverpool fans are educated enough to know Rodgers is a fraud and a rubbish manager
Only ignorant kids with mo football understanding are deluded to think he will bring success
Get a clue. Your knowledge is zero
Let’s hope we will have a good season .
In Rodger i trust we can’t convience top players without CL game, this players also has a re-sale value so let’s pray for injury free ahead.
lets see who is zero only rafa was after christiano manu developed interest after he scored against them in pre season bale was snapped by camoli as a left back who every one knew could not defend until ttn discovered his other ability as a winger as for alberto he was arguably the best player in barca b even more effective than delfuenso but I know all this is new to u because u are a manc in disguise who only watch highlites at MOTD keep this space liverpool will educate u
Childish immature response again
So you lied about seeing Alberto play then .
EVERYONE with a clue knew all about bale & cr . Except kiddies like you obviously
Only Mancs and evertonians want Liverpool to keep Rodgers .because we are a joke with him in charge
Shut up Charlotte
The owners need to back B Rodgers properly with £30-£40M on top of whatever money B Rodgers can bring into club on player sales out wards: And then hopefully club can get back amongst top 4 as we have now not been in the champions league for five years/seasons and we have become a top 6-10 side in the last five years/season as at the moment there are 6 clubs with alot better equipped squads than us that have finished above us in last two seasons: Both Manchester Clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea , Everton and Tottenham and all those clubs are strengthening this year.
So owners need to back B Rodgers well as even the likes of Norwich, Swansea are spending more on players than us nowadays:
Rodgers has sold Shelvey for £5-£6m and Carroll for £15.5M-£16M, when T Ince is sold to either Cardiff or Swansea the club will receive £2-£4M of the fee.
That in itself should cover the 3 buys brought to club Alberto, Aspas and Mignolet.
K Toure was free transfer
Rodgers needs to ship out the other 8 dead wood average hard working players and re couperate: £20-£27M
1: GK: B Jones 2: RB: Flanagan 3: CB: Coates 4: Spearing
5: AM: Pacheco 6: RW / RWF: Assaidi 7: LW / LWF: Borini 8: FD: Borini
Then Rodgers needs to find out if P Reina and L Suarez plan to be around and fully committed to the cause for next 2-4 years: If Not, then both should be shipped out as soon as possible
Reina should be sold in swap deal with C Tello(21) Of Barcelona and £2M Cash Or he should be sold for £10-£14M with Arsenal and Napoli fans of his also
L Suarez should be sold for no less than £55M, he is currently the 3rd best player in the world behind Messi and Ronaldo. Neymar went to Barcelona for £61m including add ons and Real Madrid offered £65M+ in their opening bid for Bale, Cavani has buy out clause of £54M and Suarez is better than Bale, Cavani and Neymar so the owners and B Rodgers should stand firm and should not listen to no offers under £55M.
If anyone wants him, that is the minimum club should accept for Suarez, Suarez is and was a better player than Torres and club got £50M out of Torres sale, so club expect to get more from better player.
Then if the 8 dead wood players are sold and the two world class players we have are sold: 10 players in total:
Along with C Tello(21) in swap deal with P Reina.
Then 9 other players need to be brought to club: Five Defensive players and 4 Attacking Players: To bring more class, quality, quality competition for places and DEPTH to SQUAD:
And then we could have squad capable of competing with one another on all fronts all over the course of season:
Five/5: Defensive players: That should be brought in to bring more stability, competition, mobilty, power and Strength to Squad: Cost =£30-£50M
1: GK: A Mccarthy(23) Of Reading for £4-£7M to compete with Mignolet(25) for the next 3-8 years at club
2:CB: K Papadopolous(21) Of Schalke for £10-£16M to compete with Skrtel(28) for next 2 years. And then to take over from Skrtel
3:CB: Toby Alderweireld(24) Of Ajax for £7-£10M to compete with Agger(28) and Toure(32) for next 2-4 years and then to take over the mantle with K Papadopolous
4: LB: A Cissoko(25) Of Valencia for £2-£6M to compete with Enrique(26) For next two to three seasons.
5: DM: E Capoue(23) Of Toulouse for £7-£11M to compete with LUCAS(26) for the next 3- 5 years.
Four/4 Attacking players: Cost= £42-£62M
1: AM: I Munian(20) Of A Bilbao for £10-£15M to compete with Alberto(20) and Coutinho(20) for the next 5-10 seasons at club
2: LW/ LWF: D Capel(25) Of Sporting Clube De Portugal / Lisbon or B Arfa(26) Of Newcastle for £4-£10M to compete with Aspas and IBE for next 3- 4 seasons
3: FD: C Benteke(21) Of A Villa for £18-£22M to compete with Sturridge for the next 5-8 years at club
4: FD: L Muriel(23) Of Udinese for £10-£15M to compete with Benteke and Sturridge for the next 5-8 years at club.
These players would all bring more class, quality, quality competition and depth to squad: Only one player would cost over £20M but Goalscorers are worth their money
Rodgers is assembling a good side, but what the club does need that we currently lack within Squad is power, size, steel, strength and pace and speed. And the players I have mentioned we should bring to club would rectify all that
In Mccarthy(23) You have young hungry Gk who will want to compete and become No1 at club competing with Mignolet week in week out and both keeping one another on their toes.
In K Papadopolous(21), T Alderwierld(24), A Cissokho(25) and E Capoue(23), You have class, quality, qulaity competiton for places mobility, pace, power, speed, strength brought to Defensive side in Squad.
In Munian(20), You have another classy, creative magician in the Cazorla, Coutinho, Iniesta, Mata, Oscar, Sliva Mould with pace and speed in his locker who will compete with Alberto(20) and Coutinho(20) for that AM Role, these players will unlock the best teams in world. But they need mobility, movement pace and speed in front of them for their passing skills to be regularly shown.
In Arfa(26) OR Cape(25)l and Tello(21), Club would have two classy quick pacey direct wingers who the likes of Alberto, Coutinho and Munian would look to find at will with their pace, speed on break. These wingers have the pace and speed to trouble any side in world football and when we played the teams competing with us: Man United, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Tottenham: The likes of Raphael, Evra, Zabaleta, Clichy, Sagna, Gibbs, Coleman, Baines, Walker and Essou – Ekotto will not be galavanting forward at will if we had these wingers on either wing against them, they would be forced to do more defending than attacking. And no matter how quick those full backs are: They will no the pace, speed they are up against would cause them problems all game and would have to be very cautious coming forward. Rogers should bring Capel and Tello to Anfield, both would keep teams stretched with their directness, movement, pace and speed. And Ibe and Sterling would learn their trade from two very direct lively class quality spanish wingers
In Benteke(21) and Muriel(23), club would have two powerful, mobile strikers, one has pace and speed( Muriel) The other is average speed and runs channels well with good movement but is a bully, good in the air and is a handful for any defender in world football(Benteke) both competing with D Sturridge(23) for the next 5-8 years. And all the three strikers would offer the club something different in attack