TBH i am quite happy with our signings by Roy because in our current position finance wise i think he has done quite well in fact. Imho Joe Cole, Christian Poulsen and Raul Meireles are top top signings for us. Wilson & Shelvey are good future additions and Jones i know nothing about. Jovanovic looks a powerhouse but not a 'winger'. Paul Koncesky is a good addition too and i had spoke to fellow supporters about our weakness on the left so a LB is a welcome addition for me. In addition, i feel our LM is seriously short and i would prefer a LM than another CF. But i cannot have it all my own way i guess. As to why a 4231 is better than a flat 442 it suites us better. Right now i think our squad is stronger than it has been for a long time but it just needs tweeking in LM, CB & CF. Now just say we get 3 top class players in those 3 spots we can become one serious, serious League contender but for me this boils down to who buys the Club. Now as i see it this purchase will be more important than those 3 players because another poor owner will set us back even more due to players wanting to or leaving the Club. If a good owner comes in who could buy players of the quality we need we could get say (not going fantasy footy lads so no jumping on me) CB - Lucio, LM - Robben, CF - Suarez per say. Thats the difference in winning a title or not. Now this is all too obivious i know but its black and white if you ask me. On the field end of things LB has to be Konchesky for me (i think Aurelio is very very good but injurues, well you know). As previously stated 442 does not suite our current squad as we have a definite lack of natural widemen especially on the left so i personnally feel that the 4231 formation suites our squad best. The CM pairing of Meirles/Poulson again my view is that this must be the CM our starting pair. The 2 FB's must give that width in the team so its Johnson/Konchesky for that reason. To add i do feel this year our options in MF are better than last season with Maxi, Kuyt, Cole, Pacheco & Gerrard able to fill in on the right, CM we have Lucas, Raul, Poulsen, Gerrard, Spearing, CAM we have Cole, Gerrard, Pacheco, Kuyt & on the left we are weaker but we can still use Pacheco, Babel, Jovanovic and Cole. Torres, Kuyt, Ngog, Babel and Jovanovic is strong enough for now to get us goals up top too. So nice options for us i feel and if or when we need to opt for different formations the squad is in good stead to do so. Reina, Jones are good for me. Johnson and Kelly does not worry in the slightest nor do Aurelio and Konchesky. CB i feel is solid but not great, Skrtel and Agger are my first choices and Carragher/Kyarokos are cover but nothing special. Overall i think our squad is good, very good at that but it needs tweaking as i say at CB, LM and up top. Thats my little take on it. Your views gents and ladies of course? My first thread go easy on me.
central midfield i hope is sorted with mereiles - torres and stevie g up top is ok. i think jovaovic has been brutal so far - one paced juggernaut with no skill and doesnt look a goal threat so i'd even play babel ahead of him...but yeah a top class wide player on the left is vital like suarez or robben. a back up striker is hard coz it looks like we're just gonna be playing fernando up on his own coz thats how he plays best so very few top guys are gonna come and be happy to play second fiddle unless they wre nearing the end of their careers and just playing occasionallly suited them...like trezeguet. centrehalf posn ok but would like to drop carra and sell agger and get in a really quick dominant in the air centreback but there as rare as hens teeth. but considering waht he was dealt and how little money and time he's had i reckon roy has done as good as can be expected
Sell Agger? Do tell. Thge way i see it our squad is this A & B Team. Going with 4231. A Team. Reina Johnson Skrtel Agger Konchesky Poulsen Meireles Maxi Gerrard Cole Torres B Team. Jones Kelly Carragher Kyiarakos Aurelio Lucas Spearing Kuyt Pacheco Babel Ngog Squad: Ayala, Darby, Eccleston, Jovanovic. Now the A Team looks quality and the B Team while looking good its not exciting me one bit. Now take out Kelly, Aurelio, Kuyt, Pacheco, Babel & Ngog the rest are either past it or not good enough. So we do have some talent in the wings but with the 3 quality players i speak of we would look a lot better.
Welcome mate, my thoughts on the signings: Shelvey - By all accounts look like a bloody good prospect, nice piece of business Jovanovic - Have to admit, so far, hasn't done a whole lot to impress me, give him time though. Cole - Great signing, class will shine through. Wilson - Seems highly rated, don't know anything about the lad. Poulsen - Not so sure about this one, but I'll give Roy the benefit of the doubt. Meireles - Pulled this one out of the bag, genuine quality. Konchesky - Solid, happy enough with him, should sort out the left back issue. Still no quality replacement for Torres if (when) he gets injured, still no pace on the wings. Our squad has been insanely weakened by the asset stripping, we should just be glad that the window ended when it did. All in all, I think Roy did as much as he possibly could, given the current situation.
Though I was a little bit more diplomatic with my assessment, can't really argue with you on that one.
Cannot see our squad having the depth to cope with a few injuries and to compete in 4 competitions. Saying that Roy (or Purslow) has done ok transferwise considering the working conditions. Konchesky and Cole have proven prem quality and Meireles should finally give us the Alonso replacement we've been craving. 4th and a cup trophy would be an amazing achievement by Roy and the squad. Not overly confident though. On Jovanovic-let the guy settle into life in England first before we get the knives out lads. I think he has done well in some games not so much in others. New signings never get time to impress any more, instant star impact or rubbish player. Not so black and white imo.
i dont rate agger but thats just me - i think he's lazyminded and not very strong mentally or physically - he gets beaten all ends up by any physical striker like drogba or davies etc and jsut isnt commanding enough for me. i think skertl is a much more natural 'put ure head whereit hurts' kinda guy and is actually a better reader of the game thatn agger. also agger is prob our most saleable defender taht we could get decent money for, maybe from italy, coz of this obsession with his 'ability to take it outta defence' lark...put soto into the ure first team and i'd agree with it 100% otherwise
Got to agrre and this is why i say we need 3 quality players in not just to bring quality but also quantity but quality over quantity.
Hope that you are right, just expressing an opinion though that, to be honest, haven't seen anything to give the impression that he will be quality player that we are all hoping he will be. Love to be proven wrong, but so far he hasn't show a glimpse of pace or skill that would indicate a 'settling in' period. Will gladly eat my words though if I am wrong come the end of the season.
Class--Reina/ Gerrard/ Torres/ Cole Average-- Skrtel/Agger/Konchesky/ Kuyt/ Ngog/ Carragher/ Kyiarakos/ Aurelio/ Johnson undecided—Poulsen/ Meireles Not good enough—Maxi/ Babel/ Jovanovic/lucas too young/inexpierenced – Spearing/ Ayala/ Darby/ Eccleston
Bit unfair on Jovanovic. Not been here very long now has he. But i agree with the general arguement. For me Reina/Jones is solid, Agger is not getting in ahead of Carragher, why? J9ohnson flatters to deceive and Kelly looks the best player out of all our defenders, PK has only joined so time and Aurelio is a crock. Skrtel could be good but Kyra is not good enough. So our back 4 is weak, very weak. LM is non-existant. RM is not great either bar Joe Cole and a CF come RM in Kuyt. MAxi is not good enough tbh. CAM is strong very strong with Gerrard, Cole & Pacheco. CM looks weak enough with Lucas, Poulsen & Meireles, The latter 2 need time. CF we have plenty of options and people still say we are short, how i asl? We have Torres who looks disinterested, Kuyt, Jovanovic, Ngog & Babel who will and if not should be sold. So overall i think that GK is strongest part of the team, RB is average, LB average, LM disastrous beyond beleif, CM can be good but needs time and Gerrard playing in it, CAM is strong and up top is quality if the players where arsed. GK - 5/5 RB - 2/5 LB - 2/5 LM - 0/5 RM - 2.5/5 CM - 3/5 CAM - 4/5 CF - 3.5/5 Overall - 22/40
This is NOT a dig at Hodgson,it's a dig at the media and since it relates to our squad I'm sticking it in here... Driving to Dublin on opening day of the new season and I have the radio on in the car.5 'journalists' are on discussing the new season and 3 of them give Liverpool as their tip to win the title.I couldn't help but laugh out load in disbelief (as I'm sure any red with an ounce of cop on would have done).Their theory,was that this is the same Liverpool side that should have won the title a mere 18 months earlier,bar just one player.We had some world class players in the likes of Torres,Reina and Gerrard and last season was all down to Rafa losing the dressing room and the plot.Hodgson,a superior manager had arrived and would sort out that zonal marking and rotation lark.Hodgson who could 'man manage' and unlike Benitez,would get every ounce of ability out of the array of the talented players at his disposal,just as he had done at Fulham.Gerrard would finally get to play in his 'best' position and Babel would emerge into the superstar that had been stifled under the previous manager.Roy will keep his nose out of the owners business and concentrate on the job at hand.Joe Cole was just the icing on the cake and all was looking bright once again in L4. Alas,a couple of games in and Hodgson's honeymoon period is over before it ever began.Some pathetic defending and disgraceful lack of commitment and creativity have culminated in one of the most embarrassing defeats in the clubs history.Conveniently,just when it looks like any manager would have nowhere to hide after such a defeat,the media remember what a nice chap Roy Hodgson undoubtedly is and looks to shift the blame elsewhere.Shaka Hislop reckons Benitez ruined the club before doing a runner.The ever knowledgable Mark Bright claims that Roy has signed some good players 'like Paul Konchesky' but that it will take time for him to turn things around,while Jan Molby makes a bizarre over use of the word 'legacy' in sacraficing Rafa's reputation to spare Roy's. If that's not blatant evidence of anti-Rafa media bias and a desperation to assasinate the mans reputation and protect the image of the likeable Roy Hodgson then I don't know what is.Talk about shifting the goalposts to suit your agenda. To belatedly cut to the chase-Did we overestimate how good a lot of our squad actually are or is the manager doing the best he can with the hand he's been dealt?Or none of the above.... I don't know what to think anymore.It's frightening how so many talented individuals can perform below par so consistently.
Good post Ninja. I do believe the squad we have is a good one, agree we were never going to win the league with it, but I honestly thought that we would make a fist of the performances to date. I admit I welcomed Roys appointment, still have faith in the guy, its barely 4 months into his reign. But things do need to start LOOKING like they are going to change for the better. Maybe not necessarily with results, though they would be nice, but definately with heart, passion and performance. Ive mentioned a couple of times that I believe the confidence of the team, players, squad and club is shot to bits. From the heights of May 09, starting with the Alonso sale saga, Aqua's almost comical situation, the dire pre season that carried over into last years campaign, beach ball goals, bad decisions, too many players possibly focussed on the World Cup to come, the constant pressure from the press, the ownership crisis and all the uncertainty surrounding whether players would need to be sold, early exits from the league, Champions League, Carling Cup, FA Cup, another semifinal lost, Rafas final departure, pre season training totally disrupted with players back late from World Cup and U19s duty, while at the same time having to start a competitive season in July for the first time in our history I think with a newly appointed manager who hadnt even gotten his feet under the desk yet, again the vast movement of players within the squad and of course the media there at every turn picking and questioning every little thing that goes on. I do believe they despised Rafa, and I dont understand why? Maybe it was the temerity to take on bacon face and look like he could win. I dont know. Roys a truely decent bloke who deserves a chance. But if hes going to pull this around the first thing he need to do is instill CONFIDENCE in this squad, who I believe are performing at less than 50% of their potential, but he needs to do something fast.
Thanks lad.I'm just baffled that the likes of Johnson,Carra,Skrtel,Agger,Gerrard,Maxi,Torres amongst others are all performing way,way below the level they're capable of on such a consistent basis.This has been going on under 2 different managers and sets of coaching staff for over a year so I don't think I'm knee jerking after last night.You could argue that Carra and Gerrard are devestated by whats going on at the club they support,Torres knows he's missing out on bigger and better things elsewhere and is effectively wasting his prime years.Even if they had a point,you would still expect them to be professional and earn their 100k a week.And whats the others excuse?Something is seriously wrong in that dressing room.I'm sure it will come out in someones book one day because something definitely stinks about all this.
Out of the full squad we have about 5 genuine world class players, Reina, Gerrard, Meriles, cole and Torres. The rest of the squad at best is average. We have some exciting prospects in Shelvey Spearing Kelly Pacheco Wilson but their not at premier league standard just yet, bar Kelly. Carra as much as I loved him as a player is past his sell by date, we need a commanding center half, we also need another world class striker, we have no cover for Torres and I dont rate Ngog. This is just my poinion, there are some decent players in the squad like Kuyt Poulson Agger Skrtel but are they strong enough to compete against the best in the premier league ? I dont think so. Berbatov destroyed us last week, how would we fare against Drogba, Malouda, etc.... All we can do is try to make the best of a bad situation, which wont be solved till those 2 american idiots get the f**k out !
the situatation where in 1st team not bad considdering overall squad lacking good cover for to many positions rotation this season is a no no if where to do anything