Liverpool Angle – Crowded Center Midfield – Wingers Required
A rejuvenated Liverpool FC under Kenny Dalglish look to strengthen their squad to challenge for the title. However their approach in the transfer market seems quite complex till now. For now keep all other positions aside and think about Liverpool’s starting center midfield. Last season under Dalglish, in the absence of the captain Steven Gerrard, Lucas Leiva and Jay Spearing started in the center of the park, on the other hand Raul Meireles was utilized as a winger. Christian Poulsen was completely out of favor and Jonjo Shelvey was mostly provided the substitute role.
Liverpool Center Midfield
The scenario now is that Gerrard is coming back to full fitness and will be raring to go, Alberto Aquilani is not wanted by Juventus or any other Italian club and is set to return to Liverpool. Moreover Liverpool have already completed the signing of young Jordan Henderson from Sunderland who can actually play as a wide man but his natural position again is central midfield and utilizing a central player or a striker at wide positions will not solve Liverpool’s problems. No sales as yet, which shows that Liverpool now have 8 center mid fielders. The question is that what will be their formation and who will start?
Arrivals
You cannot keep Steven Gerrard out of the starting line up if he is 100 percent fit.Lucas was the player of the year for the club, Raul probably the capture of the year after the prolific Luis Suarez and then there is Henderson, 20 million signing means you do not spend such high amount for a player to bench him. The only problem with Aquilani is his injury else he is a gifted talent. It is already complex situation, still Liverpool are linked with another central player Charlie Adam of Blackpool and the news in the media tells he is very close to signing whereas Meireles can be sold. Some supporters believe that selling Meireles would be a mistake equal to that of selling Alonso, others believe that perhaps Charlie Adam will fill the gap left by Alonso. Whether Adam arrives or Meireles leaves, in any case the midfield will still be congested.
Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez being the most expensive signings for Liverpool means that they are perhaps bound to start if fit. Now lets suppose Dalglish opts for 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 where Suarez might play behind the striker, there would only be 2 starting positions in the centre midfield. What will be Dalglish’s selection as Gerrard,Lucas,Henderson,Meireles,Aquilani and if they sign Adam are pure first team candidates leaving aside Poulsen,Spearing and Shelvey. The point of having depth in the squad is understandable but here it is very crowded.
Natural Winger:
Another saga that Liverpool has faced over the years is not having natural wide players that are technically very good. Yossi benayoun was effective for them, Dirk Kuyt might be the most hard working player in the side, Maxi Rodriguez perhaps in very good form recently but again these players are not able to offer the advantages of a gifted winger i.e speed, brilliant crossing and a little bit of dribble as well. Lets say Albert Riera who is just an average wide player but still a natural one used to provide width by always being present at the wing and provided good crosses as well without cluttering in the centre like Benayoun and Kuyt.
Next season will probably be the toughest and if Liverpool have to compete for the title then signing two natural wide players is a must. To take the best out of Andy Carroll who is strong and brilliant with headers, sweet crosses are required and again for that natural wide players must be signed. More than a few wide players are linked with the club such as the likes of Mata,Nzogbia,Cazorla and last but not the least Downing who is the closest to sign.
Linked Wide Players
Who will you pick for the starting center midfield positions and who are the wide players do you think Liverpool shoud sign?
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I am a life long Reds fan, but am getting a bit fed up with the constant talk about signing Jack and Jill and nothing ever happens. It is always the case with the previous managers, and it is happening again. Too much talk and no action! Look at ManUre, they knew who they wanted, where to add steel and they have already done it, and Liverpool is nowhere close to doing that! How pathetic is that?? There is so much talk about King Kenny yet he seems to be clueless as to who to sign, busy hunting down the British players with no skill and technique. Liverpool fans, pray and hope he and Comolli do not perform another Rafa, buying quantity with no quality and blowing millions of pounds. Enough of these British players, too expensive, to greedy, no talent but just bulldozers. Go abroad and get skillful and classy players for less. Lets not be hypnotised by the phrase “King Kenny”, it could turn out to be a big con, wake up!
June 28th, 2011 @ 15:23Has it not even occurred to you that the next signings are coming from abroad and as that window is not open until this coming Friday things may be on hold? To get anywhere we cannot simply sign every damned English player there is unless we want to stay “mediocre”!
June 28th, 2011 @ 15:49Agree.
June 28th, 2011 @ 15:58Bubbles do not panic son it is only early days the international window is not open yet.
June 28th, 2011 @ 15:37Look around and see who the rest have signed!
Mate this is exactly what i av been talking about in recent blogs
June 28th, 2011 @ 15:39This exactly what I was thinking. Well written article Mate!
June 28th, 2011 @ 16:07so many targets for each position. not all our first choices wanted to come(gomes, richards,young,jones,coentrao), so they are looking for the next best and working through through lists.
June 28th, 2011 @ 16:11if enrique is being quoted too high, they stick a bid in for clichy, so on and so forth.
Certain targets are dead cert(as in they want to join) but then it comes down to agreeing a price. For example, wickham wants to come , but are we willing to pay 13m for him. personally i think he can be even better than carroll, but its not my decision.
after adam, seems to be between downing and mata, hopefully both. for left back, the two mentioned and the french guy, for centre back dann still looks most likely. mccarthy is a real target, but only if we can move out poulsen, cole, jova etc.
aqua will come good in an attacking side, shelvy on loan, my precious spearing as back up, the rest changing depending on who we play.
a very well written article and writer is totally focused on how to increase the motivation of the fans though his sugarcoated speech.
June 28th, 2011 @ 16:12on one thing i am agree with the writer that this season Liverpool can become a serious threat to the Manchester United because “Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez being the most expensive signings for Liverpool”. But there are many more things on which Liverpool must have focus which i hope writer knows best then me.
Am I the only one that does not want Adam or Downing? What happened to the days where we looked at top European talent? Yes we have taken a bit of a fall recently but players like Zapata and Mata show that Liverpool is still very much attractive to players of their caliber. Downing didn’t exactly set the PL ablaze, he is good – for Aston Villa. They arent exactly contending against top opposition, save for the top EPL teams (where he didnt exactly show his best). Same with Adam. He can pass through Birmingham and Fulhams defenders, and apart from one or two good showings against us and United (both were more of the opposition playing like crap) he didn’t show that he can play against Thiago Silva or Maicon or Sergio Ramos or any world class players. Remember despite his best efforts, they were relegated.
Those who say that these signings are a good base for rebuilding our squad are the same ones that agreed with the signings of Konchesky and Cole as “experienced” players. We don’t need to rebuild from scratch. We aren’t aiming for sixth again! We can attract top European stars (except mercenaries) and we should start doing so. Please, no more overhyped, one season wonder players. They got us to 7th and 6th. Instead of our rightful place at number 1.
Hopefully as the window isn’t open yet we will see that Kenny realises that we need superstars, not mediocricy.
June 28th, 2011 @ 17:48Well i had to write the article as a neutral but in anycase i agree with ya…those who think that adam is as good as alonso are completely wrong….alonso is a class above em…even aquilani is better passer of the ball than adams…
as far as downing is concerned he is not the best option available and certainly not for 19 million which is quite bizzare..even nzogbia is better than him…
lastly the thing u said about starting from the scratch is correct as well….seems like this…but the only thing that many of the supporters are quiet is because Kenny is incharge…he gets the player he wants but the best thing is he knows how to take the best out of the players and keep them motivated…and on paper wed never be favourties to finish in top4 …however hopefully Dalglish can prove us wrong..
June 28th, 2011 @ 18:45Rightly Said
June 28th, 2011 @ 18:26Mata over Downing anyday, completely agree…and he would come, even though he could play CL with anyone else. The English obsession is in trying to replicate the barca model. hungry, home based players, who get the EPL, is the remit. Perhaps these players are all being bought, just to do well next season, and then, once in the CL again, we’ll start to bring in world class. there can be no bedding in periods or expensive flops. they must believe that henderson can become like steve g one day too, as they do in carroll/shearer.
June 28th, 2011 @ 19:09While our list of targets(adam/downing) does not set any pulses racing, at least we should be able to dispose of hard to beat ‘smaller’ teams because of the options we have alone.
none of dann, downing, henderson or adam excite me if im honest. just hope kenny is not doing an even worse version of what roy did. hopefully, he and clark can see things we cant, and believe they can shape those players. adam will not be a week in week out player, surely. he is way to slow and fat to be a trojan. he is there to unpick parked buses, when needed. his re-sale value, should he flop, would be around 5m, so no great loss. enrique would be a great addition, for attacking games,but hes certainly not the complete left back.
mata/gomes aside (possibly) im not expecting any WOW names to come in. Kenny needs to be right about this, cause the fans are not loving the choices so far, luis aside of course.
Think of the year we finished 2nd. Alonso – Real Madrid. Mascherano – Barcelona. Hyypia (One of the greatest defenders of all time). Arbeloa – Real Madrid. Even Benayoun – Chelsea. Torres, etc.
These are world class players. Players that drubbed Besiktas 8-0. Players that beat Real Madrid 4-0 and 1-0. That beat Barcelona.
Are Downing, Adam and N’Zogbia really going to get us back there? No. There is no way they can.
June 28th, 2011 @ 19:32So why do we need them? To finish 6th again?
Well couldnt agree more…
Alonso>Adam
Masch>Lucas
Hyppia>Skrtel
Benayoun>Maxi
Arbeloa was not as good in attacking as johnson but he was a better at defending and consistent as well…
and no matter how much people say they hate torres….every one knws torres>carroll…cmon that guy got fastest 50 faster than many anfield legends…RUSH,dalglish,fowler,aldridge,keegan…nuff said…carroll is completely different type of player…
now that sums it up..when players leave and are not replaced by better ones then how can you expect to climb and not decline…
June 28th, 2011 @ 19:452 me why cant kenny luk at other clubs using black 2 ises up there squard are lvp dffrnt cme 2 africa luk 4 gud nd strng players sO mny talent like nigerian winger ike uche who is skillfull nD hvE power shot kenny atlest by blacks
June 28th, 2011 @ 22:56which part of ‘we are not in champions league thea4 can’t attract worldclass players’ can’t u understand guys? wake up! plus don tell me only Ferguson can manufacture the Christianos and Beck’s of this world to grace mordern soccer ..give kenny time.
June 29th, 2011 @ 06:19mate its not just about champions league. you see juventus are having negotiations with Ageuro. its just that why dont we even bid for top quality players thinking that they ll reject us for not being in CL. like MATA’s agent said that he is interested because of LFCs tradition
July 3rd, 2011 @ 19:08how can you morrons possibly think kenny is messing up- idiots first okay maybe were not as gud as we were but who were after are top quality players-
June 30th, 2011 @ 17:53adam – tor man u apart for blackpool
henderson – stevie’s 31 – need back up
n zogbia – good player
downing – best left footed english player bar carroll, can dribble, beat a man, cross with eyes shut he’s great, also y hate on carroll 14 pl goals in under 25 games not even at 100% fit- cant call him bad, gives us a new dimension
lucas – player of season
we need to completely rebuild from back to front before january all we had was injured gerro, reina, meireles and carra, wee need players.
look at man u – fletcher- anderson sung berbatov never get games but are good players, we need a good bench , bring aqua back, sell mereilis while we can, stop all the we have to play 4-4-2 rubbish we can play any formation, we need togetherness and belief not idiots doubting the greatest player we ever had
man u, chelsea arsenal all have depth we need depth not doubters
lfc my hopeful 2011/12 starting 11
reina
johnson-rb agger-cb carra-cb clichy-lb
aqualani/meriereles adam – cm/cdm
gerrard -cam
suarez – rw carroll st lw-downing
June 30th, 2011 @ 18:00bench:
henderson
shelvey
spearing
ngog
peter gulacsi
skrtl
sterling/nzogbia
u tellin me that squad can’t get in top 4
look at it and tell me
even if we dont play like that kenny will still make it right- LOVE LFC AND KENNY OR P OFF TO MANCHESTER
we are lfc we will be back – squad half as gud as that beat man u 3-1 doubled over chelsea and thrashed man city and drew with arsenal all pl title contedners – u idiots look at lfc stats under kenny and we’d be 3rd in pl 6points off chelsea – remeber we had no gerrard last season
June 30th, 2011 @ 18:0525% torres and suarez for 45% of season and we finsihed 6th. wen were fit and firing and get a wide man and couple others in and we’ll gun down everyting in our path!!!!!
Danny J first u need to calm down, I accepted ur comments for the sake of arguement and opinion but kindly try to see ur language,as no one is talking non sense here its jst their opinions abt the players..talking about togetherness in such a manner doesnt make sense…every one has belief that Liverpool can get into top four and even compete for title and i already said that belief is due to KENNY DAlGLISH…..he had the same squad as hodgson except 2 new signings and torres leaving but he turned everything around…he gets the best out of the players
the squad we have is more than capable of getting liverpool into top4 but i think you must agree that on paper our squad is not stronger than manu mancity and chelsea and arsenal. although we thrashed manu n man city and beaten chelsea as well. its the consistency and results against smaller teams where we drop points that can earn 4th place..
About your depth point, the point discussed in my article is not against any player…not against bringing adam as if kenny wants him then so be it…after Adam we will have 9 CMs…i think 5 CM is called depth but 9 is a crowd u wud agree with me…we might sell players but even the squad u listed 6 of them and din even include lucas in it which i guess u must have forgotten…makes it 7…we need depth at the wide positions
Everyone has their opinions as well..YOu know that downing is not the best option for 19 million…is MATA better than him or not…and best left footed player in england in ur opinion can be downing, but i think adam johnson is better than him.
Last but not the least..no one is doubting the greatest player we have ever had. but u see if i like mata and kenny goes for downing then that doesnt mean that i have to say that now for me downing is better than mata :S..doesnt make sense…but id always believe that kenny can utilize downing to be brilliant…
June 30th, 2011 @ 18:37[...] Also Read: Liverpool Angle – Crowded Center Midfield – Wingers Required [...]
July 2nd, 2011 @ 09:14reina
August 2nd, 2011 @ 19:41johnson carra agger insua
lucas adam
gerard suarez downing
carrol