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State of the squad

Premier League Liverpool
by Benny-Yoon (U9539856) 31 December 2007
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Assuming a PL team needs a squad of 22/23 (based on International tournament selections)to compete effectively in the league and cup competitions, how does the current Liverpool squad measure up and where are the main gaps? In my view the following slots are filled leaving a few key areas to buy in:

First XI / Back Up
GK Reina / ??/??
LB ?? / Aurelio
RB Arbeloa / Finnan
CB Carragher / ??
CB Agger / ??
LM ?? / Kewell/Babel
CM Gerrard / Alonso
CM Mascherano / Leiva
RM ?? / Benhayoun
CF Torres / Crouch
CF ?? / Babel

For the GK position, I'd be keen to retain current position of Carson on loan rather than sell him in the event that Pepe sustains a long term injury or significant dip in form. (Although assume he's on season long loan). Difficult to judge Itandje on games to date but he may prove a reasonable backup.

LB: I think Riise is passed his sell-by date and am not convinced Aurelio, despite some good performances is a strong enough first choice. Arbeloa has shown he can play there but I'd prefer to get a strong LB back in.

At CB: we're clearly missing Agger, who I believe has the makings of a very god CB and partner to JC. Sami has been a great servant to the club but is no longer strong enough to be part of the squad. Richards would be excellent (and would put Dan Agger on the bench) but don't expect that we can afford him.

LM: I've been quite impressed with Harry since he came back but he is limited in his effectiveness. I'd prefer him as an impact sub, if at all and believe we still need a Malouda/Lennon/SWP/etc player for the flanks.

RM: Without any addition to the squad I'd be tempted to put Stevie G back on the right and have Alonso and Mascherano in the middle, giving Stevie lcence to cut in. Would be preferrable to have an out and out winger on the left to make the most of the width.

CF: Like most on the boards would like to see Babel get a run up front with Torres. I think the player we are missing is Berbatov... reckon he would play superbly with Fernando being a goal scorer who is used to the Premiership. Don't think we can afford him and would not recommend buying another striker on a £10 mln budget since we'd be unlikely to improve what we have.

Would happily sell Sissoko, Voronin, Riise to finance one or two players to fill in the above.

Other views?

Latest 10 comments

Read members' comments or add your own

posted Jan 2, 2008

i would love to see david villa come to mersyside and send either crouch kuyt or voronin the other way. crouch was bill last season but letting his overconfidance get the better of him. And villa has hinted a move out of valencia.

daniel alves would be another great signing of sergio ramos they are 2 top class rb's in the world both are young and theres more to come from them.

we should swap riise for silva but put more money towards silva as valencia wont let him go cheap.

Richards would be a great signing as he's young and has great pase which none of our currant cb have.

in...
villa (crouch + 10 million)
dan alves (12 million)
ramos (12-13 million)
silva (riise + 5-9 million extra)
richards (wont come cheap)

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posted Jan 2, 2008

I will watch the game tonight and see whether Arbeloa can cope with M.Bent. If he cant we definatley need a centre back. I bet Benitez starts with Voronin & Kuyt tonight as Torres would be "tired" and of course Gerrard will be also. 3-0 Liverpool though & i'm backing the masch to score a goal.

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posted Jan 2, 2008

My LFC Team to face Wigan tonight

Reina
Finnan
Arbeloa
Carragher
Riise
Benayoun
Mascherano
Gerrard (c)
Kewell
Torres
Crouch

Subs
Intandje
Aurelio
Alonso
Kuyt
Babel

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posted Jan 2, 2008

LFC ARE THE CHAMPIONS OF THE PREMIERSHIP
this is what we want the newspapers to read but to do this we need to add players

D.Villa
D.Alves
K.Kaladze
Silva
Combined total of £50m
Will the Americans allow us that sort of money or will we have to sell????????????

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comment by chopah (U9216997)

posted Jan 2, 2008

We def need players in the following positions:
RB, LB, CB, RM, LM, ST

Like others i think Riise is past his best, and i have no time for kuyt (and Rafa's reason for pickign him is his workrate, so that allows Torres to cruise?, that's wrong cuz Torres has the pressure of knowing he is the only forward capable of scoring). I think we need to bring someone else in to compete with Finnan, if we are to win the league he may not be good enough long term. Peter Crouch should stay, if Torres get's injured and assuming we havn't brought another striker he is our best bet and other teams struggle to contain him - yes he is going through a bad patch but against the bottom half of the premier league he is a handfull and i would far rather have him on our team than play against us.

In my mind our targets should be:
Anthony Vanden Borre - CB/WBR
Ezequiel Garay - CB
Chiellini - LB
Morten Gamest Pederson - R/L Wing
and Kerlon for AMC/ST (he is a simular player to Teves and would work well with both Torres and Crouch)
Oh and if we lose Carson we should buy Kasper Schmichel (he is one of my FM favourites)!!

So my Starting team:
GK-Reina
LB-Chiellini
RB-Vanden Borre
CB-Cara
CB-Agger
LM-Morten Gamst Pederson
RM-Babel
CM-Alonso
CM-Gerrard
ST-Torres
ST-Kerlon

Bench:
Kasper Schmechel
Ezequiel Garay
Mascherano
Harry Kewell
Peter Crouch

Oh btw sell the following:
Kuyt, Voronin, Riise, Sissoko, and benayon (only if we get a good price)

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comment by chopah (U9216997)

posted Jan 2, 2008

i don't believe we should chase berbatov, he seems lazy and tempremental, there are players out there of equal or better skill that work hard and don't create problems around them. Let him go to Old Trafford and when he see's very little game time he will sulk there too. I agree that the squad we have now is close to the title but we don't just want one title do we?, we want a RED dynasty - so we should be buying players that will perform long term at a high level.. forget villa, forget santa cruz, buy in players that demonstrate true determinationa and passion to win (which is why Mash is such a asset). that's my view anyway!!

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posted Jan 4, 2008

I agree that crouch should stay. He proved his quality against arsenal last year. I think that we drop to many points leaving us frustrated. We need that extra bit of quality to beat those teams. By the way our away record is better that our home record this year??? Something isnt right

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posted Jan 4, 2008

Pepe Reina
Daniel Alves
Daniel Agger
Jamie Carragher
Kakha Kaladze
Jermaine Pennant
Stevie Gerrard (c)
Xabi Alonso
Javier Mascherano
Morten Gamst Pedersen
Fernando Torres

Subs
Scott Carson
Alvaro Arbeloa
Peter Crouch
Ryan Babel
Harry Kewell

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posted Jan 4, 2008

Remember ....

Liverpool 4 - 1 Arsenal
Crouch (3) Gallas
Agger

Liverpool 2 - 0 Chelsea
Kuyt
Pennant

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