The Kop End Debate: Are We Really Ready?
Monday, 17 August 09, 03:45 AM · Comments (3)
The Debate:
We finished last season on a high and was in a real position to improve on our best ever premier league performance. As usual we were only one or two players away from making the transition from title contenders, to title winners.
However, Alonso left, and no immediate replacement was found, on top of that the club doesn’t have many options in attack and should Gerrard or Torres get injured, we are pretty much screwed.
The opening day loss to Tottenham highlighted how we lack strength in depth, and that although the current formation worked last season, it may be time to re asses the situation and find Torres a partner, because he looks so isolated upfront on his own.
So my question for this week is:
| What needs to be done in order for us to get that illusive #19, and are we really ready?
My View:
Had I been manager of LFC, here is what I would have done. I would have let Mascherano go to Barca, in exchange for Eto'o. I then would have taken Real's offer of Sneijder + Negredo + Cash for Alonso, and finally I would have purchased Glen Johnson, Martinez and Sessagnon. - But I'm not the manager so lets focus on what we have.
I believe in order for us to be a title threat we need to change our formation and play a more attacking style of football. I would want to see 1 holding midfielder, be it Lucas or Masch with Riera/Kuyt/Benayoun on the flanks. I also want to see Gerrard maintain his free role postion just behind 2 strikers, be it Kuyt, Babel or Torres.
In my view, thats the way forward. And although it may anger some, I cant see us progressing on our performance last year unless something is done. We have already lost, and things just didn't look positive.
Im not a pessimist, I will continue to stay optimistic, but I have to be honest...
My heart says yes, but my mind says no.
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Posted by Neverwalkingalone
| Comments (3)
3 Comments · Add yours
The system we have works, the players we have need improving. Lucas is a stop-gap until aquilani is fit. At the moment our best line-up (everyone being fit), is:
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Aurelio
Mascherano
Gerrard Aquilani
Kuyt Riera
Torres
In my eyes we have Benayoun who can come in and add creativity and no-one else. Babel is raw pace but not a whole lot else.
We need 2 players still, a centre back and a Benayoun type player. Get Sol Campbell or Distin and Lavezzi/Silva/Van der Vaart/Sneijder/Robben.
Job Done.
I don't want to be a broken record, but depth. We have a lack of it in...midfield. I think we have forward thinking players in plenty, if not abundance (not strikers though), but our midfielders on the bench can't string together the passes well enough to allow the attack to develop. Well, maybe that's a bit too early to say having seen only one match, but it was the case in the friendlies as well at times. Rafa has some possible answers by changing the formation, but I don't think our midfield depth is ready for winning the Prem.
The other area that needs addressing at our club is the management structure. It's too fragile and creates problems. For instance, that whole Rafa-might-walk-out-in-Madrid thing from last season. While Rafa has cemented a lot of control with his new contract it seems, the support and players do not have confidence in the organization as a whole and this rattles our confidence at times. The belief on the pitch sometimes needs to be anchored in a strong organization, which I am sad to say we do not have.
In no way do I believe H&G to be as bad of owners as many say, but they haven't provided the confident support of the other top organizations.
If you are going to build a puzzle-like squad to compete for the premier league like Rafa is, you have to hope it all falls in place; there can be little drama and injuries. It just seems unlikely to me that everything will fall in place for us. That's not how winning works long-term.
Still, I wouldn't be surprised if we won it. I think we can. And I think the youth will come through at the end of this season and provide a real belief for the next. Pacheco is almost ready, and Nemeth looks like he could fill in off the bench now.
Great analysis guys. Spread the word!
The system we have works, the players we have need improving. Lucas is a stop-gap until aquilani is fit. At the moment our best line-up (everyone being fit), is:
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Aurelio
Mascherano
Gerrard Aquilani
Kuyt Riera
Torres
In my eyes we have Benayoun who can come in and add creativity and no-one else. Babel is raw pace but not a whole lot else.
We need 2 players still, a centre back and a Benayoun type player. Get Sol Campbell or Distin and Lavezzi/Silva/Van der Vaart/Sneijder/Robben.
Job Done.
I don't want to be a broken record, but depth. We have a lack of it in...midfield. I think we have forward thinking players in plenty, if not abundance (not strikers though), but our midfielders on the bench can't string together the passes well enough to allow the attack to develop. Well, maybe that's a bit too early to say having seen only one match, but it was the case in the friendlies as well at times. Rafa has some possible answers by changing the formation, but I don't think our midfield depth is ready for winning the Prem.
The other area that needs addressing at our club is the management structure. It's too fragile and creates problems. For instance, that whole Rafa-might-walk-out-in-Madrid thing from last season. While Rafa has cemented a lot of control with his new contract it seems, the support and players do not have confidence in the organization as a whole and this rattles our confidence at times. The belief on the pitch sometimes needs to be anchored in a strong organization, which I am sad to say we do not have.
In no way do I believe H&G to be as bad of owners as many say, but they haven't provided the confident support of the other top organizations.
If you are going to build a puzzle-like squad to compete for the premier league like Rafa is, you have to hope it all falls in place; there can be little drama and injuries. It just seems unlikely to me that everything will fall in place for us. That's not how winning works long-term.
Still, I wouldn't be surprised if we won it. I think we can. And I think the youth will come through at the end of this season and provide a real belief for the next. Pacheco is almost ready, and Nemeth looks like he could fill in off the bench now.
Great analysis guys. Spread the word!