May
31
2007
How can Liverpool improve this summer?
As part of our 2006/2007 Premiership season-end review, here’s a look at how Liverpool’s season went. Read up, then offer your own advice on how Liverpool can improve this summer.
- Pre-season expectations: There were very high expectations from Liverpool this season - they were expected to challenge for the Premiership title and at least reach the quarters of the Champions League.
- Season evaluation: Despite their Champions League exploits, Liverpool regressed this season. Last year they were much closer to the top 2 and they failed to perform in the Premiership as expected (3rd because of goal difference, 21 points behind United). Domestic cups were a travesty as well, which only leaves the Champions League as a performance of any note.
- The Big Negative: Inconsistency - Rafa Benitez is one of the best managers to have for knock-out games (2 CL finals in 3 years with Liverpool) not as good when consistency in the league is required. And yes, it’s down to the manager, not the players.
- The Big Positive: The takeover - Liverpool will now have funds to improve the squad, although to be honest you can’t just buy the league (otherwise Ranieri would have won it in Abramovich’s first season).
- Summer Priority: Clear out the dead wood and bring in 2-3 quality attacking players.
Liverpool are a club with high expectations, and they should be doing better in the Premiership / domestic cups than they have so far. The responsibility for this falls on the manager, and it’s up to him to show people next season that he can crack the Premiership.
Now it’s your turn: How do you think Liverpool can improve this summer?
Also see:
- The complete list for the Premiership 2006/2007 season reviews.
- Do you have what it takes to be a football manager?
- Soccerlens Premiership 2006/2007 Review
- How can Watford improve this summer?
- How can Reading improve this summer?
- How can Sheffield United improve this summer?
- How can Blackburn improve this summer?
Discussion - 74 Responses
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Comments are moderated (our comments policy).
The problem has always been the same: The money people at Liverpool have always been too slow to release funds.
I firmly believe that keeping Parry was a big mistake - if you want to talk about clearing out the deadwood, then he should go too.
When he was in charge, he failed to release the sort of funds that Manure have at their disposal.
Even with the new owners millions now, Parry seems to be stalling again.
Rafa has said on numerous occasions that things dont move as quickly as he would like, and potentially we could lose out on our own transfer targets, with Spurs, Chelski and even Manure also looking at the likes of Danny Alvez, Malouda and David Silva.
If money had been released quicker, then these would have been done deals. Manure have already spent around £50m, and its still May !
I always thought the demise of Liverpool started with Souness taking charge, and to some degree, thats probably right - but I am starting to see the light now.
Parry has dragged this club down, and as long as he has any affiliation with our great club, we will always fail to achieve the success we crave.
So dont start blaming Rafa - he has done a phenomenal job with the resources available to him. Being limited to £10-12m in past seasons for a world class player is a joke.
It is widely recognised that you have to spend much more than that - look at Owen Hargreaves ( £18m ???) Wake up and smell the coffee.
Hicks said in an interview recently that money was no object - Rafa had to only identify the player he wants, and the board would do everything in their power to get him - regardless of cost.
Now is the time to put their money where their mouth is: in all honesty, they probably have, but the stumbling block seems to be the link between manager and the purse strings: who would that be ? Parry.
If you want to have a moan at someone - direct your energies to the real culprit.
PARRY OUT ! PARRY OUT ! PARRY OUT !
Long live the Rafalution.
rafa needs two top class strikers preferably tevez and villa or etoo. he also needs a right wing,simao and 1 or two left wings depending on whether kewell leaves, possibly silva or malouda and rosini as a sub. a cb(militio or richards) is needed to boster the defence along with dani alves next years line up will have two players for every positin, so rafa can rotate happily.
reina/carson
alves/finnan carra/hyypia militio/agger riise/aurelio
gerrard/leiva alonso/masch
pennant/simao maluuda/kewell/rosini
vill/kuyt tevez/voronin/crouch
luis garcia and arbeloa and paletta will be called in for cover
outsdudek,zenden,gonzalez,bellamy,sissoko
money can buy the title. Raneiri would have won it in his 2nd season. big money in 1 season may not be enuf, but big money every season is a sure win. Tough luck on chelsea this year, but if they spend anotehr 100million, you think injuries will be a problem this time?
liv needs more money to compete with MU and Che.
liv fan.
[…] SoccerLens: How can Liverpool improve this summer? […]
after the champions league final rafa said himself “we must act now,no more talk, talk, talk” but what has happened? its all gone strangely quiet. where is the big signings? i agree the buck stops with the manager,but if you have to sign your 2nd or 3rd choice players because the money is not there, or the board wont sanction a transfer fee, then what can rafa do, only work with what the club can afford. the new owners need to show a motion of intent, and get the big signings that rafa needs, but so far it seems to have fell on deaf ears!
liverpool take to long to buy players.look at man u, 3 players in already. stop messing around with the fee’s pay the money and move to the next player,this was liverpools problem under rick parry taking to long to buy players due to arthur daley style hagling….
Liverpool’s season was very disappointing, just a champions League final and a Charity Shield, they will strengthen this summer as will the top 4.
As for Rafa, three years at the helm, just not good enough !!!!!
How long did it take Sir Alex of Fergusson to win anything ?????
Seem very cocky bearing in mind you have been struggling in the past 3 season’s. I’d be more worried about spending £50M on three nobody’s !!!!!
Hi All.
I believe that Liverpool need at least 5 top signings this summer and maybe a couple of young but future players such like Lucas who we just signed.
I would say that we need:
two strikers - Eto’e and Tevez and with Crouch and Kuyt we would be safe.
One of two new left wingers - Malouda and Silva. Silva can play all over the attacking midfield.
One new right winger to compete with Pennant and that could be Simao or another player
Central midfield we are covered with player of a very high standard.
Right Back - Alves who I would say is a brilliant footballer maybe not the best defender but in games were we need a player to defend, we will always have Finnan.
Left Back - I’m not quit sure that we need any new players.
Central back - we could add a new player but it doesn’t need to be a world class player, it could just very good young player to cover for Agger and Carragher.
Keeper . We only maybe need a backup keeper.
what is it with the yanks, they know who rafa wants. alves 2 wingers, and 2 strikers. and a defender not milto, he is to slow.in the prem, we need to sign top players now. as for parry ,once gillet/hicks son learn scouse he will be out. so come on guys get your ,amercian express cards out.
I think the truth lies somewhere between all these typically extreme comments. Personally, I’m doubtful if Rafa will ever win the PL with his rotation policy. If he’s big enough to learn that in the English PL it’s necessary to win with 14 or 15 dedicated professionals who put their heart and soul into every game then there is a chance. However, I’m doubtful that his ego will allow this. The Benitez machine where all players are interchangeable and replaceable is a reflection of the Benitez brain and I don’t think it is something he will easily abandon.
On the whole he’s done a good job–but will he ever win the BIG ONE?
WE NEED MORE SROGE STRICKERS AND DIVENDER AND OTHERS BUT LET LIVERPOOL FORWARD TO SHINE
rafa the rotater is a nickname given to him by the english press. no one critisises mouraniho and fergie for doing it so lay off. every prem manager rotates and with rafa its over published. he rotated with valencia and that was a huge success. so what if he rotates i dont see the big deal! to begin with he did it to test the formations and what not. fergie tests new players and even arsene wenger rotates any critisism? NO
its popular for foreign managers to rotate. ask anyone
reina was critised for punching, but there was a bald manc goalie that punched and didnt get in crap for it? barthez
liverpool always get bad press
yes this season was a pretty dismal one but next season you’ll see the changes. you can already see the changes now with certan players being released and put up to be sold
rafa is a manager that likes to bide his time anyway so its far too early to even presume that hes not got anywhere when it comes to transfers
in my eyes rafa is the next best thing and he’ll prove this. to be honest he’s already proven it, its not every year you get your team to the champions league final, come back from 3-0 down to win. so everyone just needs to chill out and wait for the premiership to start.
you’ll see the next gen of gods! ynwa
Lets take a look at how previous teams have won the Premiership.
Premiership Champions have always had great attacking wingers that also score goals ie. Giggs and Ronaldo/Giggs and Beckham for MU, Duff and Robben/Cole and Robben for Chelsea, Pires and Lundberg for Arsenal. These teams have also had at least one prolific striker - Henry, Van Nistelroy and Drogba. With that combination, you always stand a chance of breaking down teams that play a lot of men behind the ball and have solid defences on a bleak winters day (Bolton, Blackburn, Everton)
Liverpool currently have a defence and central midfield that is equal too or better than the other Top 3 teams. So the priority has to be two very good attacking wingers and a centre forward. Rafa tried to address this last season, albeit on a limited budget by bringing in Gonzalez, Pennant, Kuyt and Bellamy which in terms of challenging for the Premiership title only partially brought returns. If he had managed to buy his first choices - Simao, Joaquin etc. things might have been different.
So I would hope he buys two from Simao, Joaquin, Silva, Malouda and then Tevez as the attacker. A proven forward from Spain/Italy is always going to be more of a risk due to the faster and more brutal pace of the Premiership and one only has to look at the former world player of the year, Shevchenko.
Should funds be available after the above outlay, then Alvez and a Centre back would be the next choice, though with Sami staying and Arbeloa on board, this is less of a priority.
Does that make sense?
4 things:
1) Liverpool look bad atm because of Man United’s swift movement in the transfer market. To be real, it’s United who have moved extraordinarily fast so far. It’s only been 2 weeks since the CL final, and the window hasn’t even officially opened.
2) When you dedicate your tactics to rotation, you tend to only buy players just below world class, because they are the only ones putting up with that. United had only 1 or 2 positions, where there was doubt as to who was the strongest player, and WE benefitted immensely from that last season.
3) Liverpool’s fans need to be realistic. There are many positions where you need strengthening, if you really want to challenge. Right now the best you can hope for against good sides is to close them down and aim for a draw or a fluke goal. You need at least 1 winger for each side, 1 striker, one left full back. I’d buy a decent keeper and maybe a CB as well…that’s 4 players of highest quality plus 2 more, and I don’t care what your new owners say…they can’t possibly afford buying that. We’re talking at least £80 mil (and that’s not including world class, if that’s what you’re after - Eto’o or Villa alone would cost £30-35 mil). They are just not that wealthy (I think). You also need to reduce numbers in your squad. There’s simply too many no-goods.
4) The last thing you need to do is change the tactics. Loosen up the game, take risks. Don’t be afraid to loose, it’ll only make you more sure of winning when you got the right players.
what liverpool need are a few world class players! liverpool never had the money for real stars, but now they do and they should go for a few big names like david villa. i also think teves would be great, i think he’d be the perfect guy to feed off gerrard. alves would be a good signing too. and let’s not forget simão! he can provide an edge that liverpool need. as far as the premiership is concerned, liverpool have to wake up and start off with a bang! they always start off way too slowly and by the time they really get going, man u and chelsea are too far ahead. i think benitez is great and with him, some money, a few stars, hard work and a few more lucky breaks than they’ve been having, lfc can be england’s ‘galacticos’!
Liverpool can improve by starting to play in all of the competitions instead of just the CL also they can stop going on about history as if it means something today.If you look at there recent history they haven’t won the EPL since it was set up and don’t look like doing it too soon with what Man U are bringing to the table.Another good idea would be to stop playing gerrard on the right because as much as i hate the guy he is Liverpool’s best player by a long way and it should be him and mascherano(rafa’s only decent buy along with Agger)in CM and put Alonso out wide instead of gerrard.A 20 goal a season striker wouldn’t go amiss.if they can do this they might have a chance of holding on to 3rd place
have to agree that united have moved extroardinarily quick with they’re transfers and fair play too them, looks like a good bit of business, but nobody seems to have mentioned that alot of rafa’s suppossed targets are playing in the spanish league, with the top 3/4 clubs in spain who are still 2 matches from completing they’re league. that league is incrediblly tight and interesting this season and to think that anybody at those clubs would even be contemplating transfers at this moment is crazy, if liv,chavski and united were seperated by 2 points with 2 games remaining you know that nobody would be talking or thinking bout transfers out of the club..
also heard that david gill has said that thats an end to united business for the summer, certailnly no more major signings, which leaves the battle for eto’o, tevez, alves etc between liv and chelsea of the british clubs at least..also rafas on hols so cant really be doing his transfer business with his full commitment…
interesting few weeks ahead though.
liverpools performance in the champions league final showed all they need is a top striker something they have been missing for a long time. bellamy, kyut and crouch are not world class players liverpool need a real striker!there midfeild is looking strong gerrard is still the most compltete midfeilder in the world!hopefuly they do not sell sissiko as is rumoured they will do at the moment.Torress would be my dream choice but it wont happen i think alot of liverpool fans will be disapointed once the transfer window closes we will be stuck with the crap bellamy ,patchy crouch and kyut who works hard but is not a true goalscorer
liverpool could improve only by getting in new players(world class) two strikers for sure from villa,tevez and eto… a right winger simoa or arteta… left winger malouda or silva…. would be the best…. this would cost more than £60… can the new takeover afford this much??????
Tevez (£25 mil), Malouda (£12 mil) and Simao (£12 mil). With these three addtions I believe Liverpool will be a genuine title contender for the Premier League. To fund the acquisitions Liverpool should sell Bellamy (£8 mil), Cisse(£6 mil), Sissoko(£7 mil), Kewell(£3 mil), Alonso (£15 mil) and Gonzalez(£3 mil) plus £7 mil from the £40 mil transfer kits promised by the new owners.
The God - that was probably the most realistic contribution from any Liverpool fan I’ve read so far (except from Cisse who won’t bring in more than £3 mil). You’re right because you need to get rid of some of your dead weight. You have so many midfielders, so you can easily part with Sissoko. None of your current left wingers are good enough.
What you need beside the 3 you mention is a good left full back imo. I’m not sure, you can get Malouda and Simao for £12 mil each…might be more like £15 mil each. There has to be money available for a major striker signing for you. The only ones available in the mould you need as I see it are Huntelaar and Tevez. Torres looks set to stay in Spain (could be priced away maybe - in that case £25-30 mil). Eto’o won’t go anywhere, and he’d cost £35 mil. Villa could be available, but he’d cost £30 mil, and I’m not sure, you’ll shell out that amount of money for one player - you never have done before. That’s about it for world class strikers, and I can guarantee you that there are other clubs hoping to sign some of them - and clubs who are used to buying big.
AC Milan are looking for at new striker, and so are Juventus. Chelsea could be on the lookout, but it’s a little difficult reading the signs from the russian. Real Madrid could easily sign someone just to please the fans. Man United could still go for Huntelaar despite Gill saying we’re done spending (unless SAF finds a player he simply must have). There’s also “smaller” clubs like Lyon, AS Roma, Bayern Munich, Sevilla, Arsenal (lol), who could attract striking talent so to speak.
Forgot - I don’t think signing Malouda, Simao and Tevez will allow you to challenge for the title, but it might take you closer. The problem will be that your backups will still not be good enough. It takes time to build up.
But it would help you a lot to get Gerrard back in the center, because it would mean one more man in the box. Neither Mascherano nor Alonso are ever in the box. The problem is that Benitez doesn’t dare to play Gerrard as one of 2 central midfielders, because he thinks, Gerrard is not good enough defensively. That means that if Gerrard is to be played in the center, you’ll only play one striker, which means one less player in the box, and you’re back to all square.
all liverpool need is a good skillful striker who will be able to take on defenders and score goals e.g eto’o/ Tevez and one experienced center back and three midfielders e.g malouda, simao and ofcorse david villa they are both good players and as a liverpool fan i believe this coming season the PL is coming to anfield!
Liverpool needs 2 world class strikers, 2 world class left sided midfields, a centre back cover and a right back/right midfield. I would prefer Tevez, Eto’o, Malouda, Silva/Mancini, Milito and Alvez. And we need to sell Bellamy, Sissoko/Alonso, Gonzalez, Cisse and Kewell.
Tevez would be a brilliant acquisiition as we have all seen what he can do. He can stretch the play to breaking point & pull defenders away from Stevie & even Crouchy. 18MM may secure him, if Rafa gets hold of the money promised & acts fast. Simao has done nothing since we were linked with him 2yrs ago. I’d be gutted if we blew a wad of cash on him as it’d be a waste of Diao proportions. Like Joaquin who has hurt Valencia’s bottom line, he is a flash in the pan winger. LFC would be better served going for the tried & tested in this regard & opting for someone like SWP at 12-13mm. Malouda I dont know enough about to comment on, but I know he wouldn’t score 19 goals in his first season like Cisse did, so I’d be reluctant to go French for big money.
It’d also be really silly to sell Alonso just because of one bad season. Besides he’s worth 20mm of anyones money, I still rate him higher than Cesc, Ballack or Pirlo. Xabi says he only wants to play for Barca. So I say we only sell Xabi as part of an Eto deal. No one else.
So as not to bore you any further, heres who I’d buy & sell;
Buys: Eto 25mm, Owen 9mm, Tevez 18mm, SWP 13mm, Alvez 15mm.
Total price = 80mm.
Sales: Kewell 3mm, Bellamy 10mm, Zenden (off wagebill), Fowler (off wage bill), Gonzo 4mm, Cisse 6mm, Xabi 20mm, Pennant 6mm.
Total price = 49mm.
Total outgoing would be 31mm, lower than the proposed budget & still less than half of Manure united’s outlay.
There are many schools of thought. Too many purchases & they need time to bed in etc. The we dont need Owen V we know what he can do. The above is just an idea of what we need. But we need to move fast to get the good ones. We’ve already missed a trick in Distin going to Pompey, Boro signing Woodgate etc. Both would be perfect cover for Agger & Carra. Lets hope we dont lose out any more. Look forward to hearing your comments.
With thw above players we would have serious combinations available, more than enough to win the lge.
Reina, Finnan, Carra, Aggar, Riise.
Tevez, Stevie, Masch, SWP
Kuyt, Eto.
OR
Reina, Alves, Carra, Aggar, Arbeloa.
Stevie, Alonso, Momo.
Garcia, Crouch, Owen.
OR
Reina, Finnan, Carra, Aggar, Riise.
Alves, Stevie, Masch, Aurelio.
Tevez, Kuyt.
All dangerous teams with serious possibilities.
As a lifelong Red (im 32), i remember some great teams and players but i also realise that it is going to take a massive effort by everyone at Anfield and their fans to all get behind them if we are finally going to Kop Number 19. I know we need to improve and yes we need one top striker at least , two wingers and probably a couple of wing backs but hold your horses.
What about our young players i dont believe that we can win the FA Youth Cup twice in two years and there be nobody good enough for the first team. I agree with Rafa, its a structure change that is needed at the club. Have any Reds seen these kids is Lindfield good enough what happened to Paul Anderson and Adam Hammill why arent these players considered options as back up to the “stars” that all you guys want us to sign.
I would love to sign E’to , but would he get on with Rafa’s rotation policy the answer is no, so we could waste 30 mil on a tempermental inconsistent player, see Bellamy, Cisse, Pongolle (which incidentally we still have on the books). Wouldnt it be better to have young hungry kids coming in instead of highly paid costly failures from Spain, France wherever!
I hope that we now have the finances , the right management and a bit of luck and we sign the players that finally mean we can at least challenge for the title which we haven’t even been close to for nearly two decades now.
Remember also guys money is one thing but we are also up against 3 great managers and clubs in any potential title fight and they are not going away so we got to take the fight to them next season and the one after that and then the next one too.
C’mon u Reds
There is a lot of talk going around of selling Kewell, it won’t happen. Benitez is no idiot. He doesn’t wait 2 seasons for a player to get fully fit only then to sell him at a fraction of what he’s worth. Benitez has seen some quality in Kewell in the glimpses he has got between injury. Kewell will stay for at least another season and (if he can remain fit) I believe it will be like having a new signing on the left.
Tomas is so right: when you have a rotation policy, you tend to go for players who are just below world class–as the greatest players wouldn’t put up with being dropped at the manager’s whim. Benitez LIKES dealing with this type of player; he keeps control and any success that comes along is HIS. Yes, he won the title with this method in Spain–but England is different and I don’t think he’ll repeat his success here without changing his methods (and admitting that great players win games).
I read a lot of people writing that Sissoko will be leaving. I think we don’t need to sell to buy & as Benitez wants 2 players for every position we need Momo for Masch cover. Especially as the prices being quoted are as little as £7 million. His distribution is poor but if encouraged to keep his passing simple its ok & he is one of the best ball winners around. How soon we seem to have forgotten all the times he has been voted man of the match by supporters.
We do need at least one break the bank striker, plus 2 wingers a CB & LB. I would like to see Eto’o & Malouda, Simao, I think Silva is too light weight. Baines looks a good buy, which just leaves a CB of which I am not sure about do we need someone good enough to displace Agger or cover quicker than Hyypia? Either way we have to keep them happy in the squad, which is much easier at the top of the league & we cannot bank on that just yet.
We do have to wait for the Sanish league to finish for some of our targets but I am getting a bit twitchy that we have not made a official move for Malouda or Simao yet. All the noise about acting now seems to be more hot air!
I think its fair to say Rafa has found the key to be successful in Europe, however domestically he is way short. A lot of his signings are mediocre at best and have either been sold or loaned out, which makes you think does he have confidence in his own ability to sign players (Carson, Morientes, Gonzales etc etc) Surely having chased Gonzales for 2 years, you’d give him a crack next year (remembner a certain Thierry Henry) Yes not quite the same calibre i know!!
As for the comments regarding Rick Parry, I think its unfair to attribute such harsh criticism and blame in his direction. David Moores was a good chairman who truly loved the club but unfortunately doesnt have the financial credentials to compete with Roman and the Glazers. That is why the takeover is a definate plus as far as Liverpool go, it will give as that financial backing we need to compete in the modern game.
As for the coming season and all the speculation surrounding the ins and outs coming in, I think Rafa needs to buy wisely and in the right areas. I think there is a general consenus that we are in desperate need of 2 attackers and 2 wingers who can cross the ball. I would like to see the Americans dig deep and give Rafa the funds he needs as Hicks said they would and get rid of Zenden, Bellamy, Crouch, Fowler, Sissoko and quite possibly Garcia. At the moment the liverpool team of Reina, Finann, Carragher, Agger, Riise, Penant, Alonso, Gerrard, Zenden, Kuyt, Crouch does not strike fear into opposing teams as does Utd or Chelsea. They have many match winners, we have Gerrard at best.
I’d like to see the team on August 10th line up as:
Reina, Alves, Agger, Carragher, Riise, Simao, Gerrard, Mascherano, Silva, Villa, Eto (if not Tevez, Torres)
Now this team oozes class and would give Liverpool that psychological advantage before kick off. The team is full of team players who can also deliver that something special.
need 3 big signings,would go for simao,eto`o and silva
get rid of bellamy,sissoko,cisse,zenden and gonzalves
these are the match winners they need and i cant beleive people having a go at benitez.did anyone expect houllier to reach 2 champions league finals in 3 years,hes spent less money than newcastle to get here…english champions season after this and european champs this season!!!!
Now that Benitez has got significant funds, he must go out and buy some household names. For me, we have 2 areas of weakness - the wings & up front. Gerrard HAS to play in the centre and Pennant hasn’t proven his worth yet. Kewell is a top player on his day but has never looked like the player of old & Gonzalez has been a flop. I would love to see Benitez bring in the likes of Malouda, Simao or David Silva - all fantastic players. Up front we haven’t got a striker that can smash in 25 goals a season. I like Kuyt alot but he’s not prolific & needs a proper partner. The likes of Eto, Villa, Torres or even Benni McCarthy would be top additions.
Look, guys asking for 2/3 world class strikers at once are a bit nuts. Actually, very nuts (e.g. Patriot)
As an outsider (Man Utd fan), what you guys need and are likely to get is 1 world class striker, a good winger and a good defender (most likely CB).
For all that watched the CL Final, it was clearly evident that Liverpool bossed most of the game but lacked that cutting edge in front of goal - a finisher supreme. Looking at options, the obvious ones are Eto’o, Villa etc etc. Eto’o, tbh, is unlikely although he did recently come out and say how much he liked Liverpool, their fans etc etc. And if Gillet and Hicks are to be believed, the funds are available.
The more likelier of the 2, imo, is Villa and mainly because of the Spanish contingency at Anfield. People will obviously draw comparisons with the Morientes failure syaying he’s not suited to the EPL, that its too fast, too physical but we’ve seen similar class acts in Zola and Cantona whove done remarkable in the EPL.
But what about Huntelaar? You guys are looking for a proven goalscorer. He’s the man. Still young and tons of potential….
Eto’o? Tevez? Villa?
Heh.
if liverpool want to challenge for the title next year their team should be like this….
———————Reina——————–
Alves——carra——agger——riise
simao—–gerrard—alonso—silva
——————Villa—Kuyt—————
Sissoko-10 mil
Zenden—2 mil
Bellamy–7 mil
gonzales-4 mil
Kewell—2 mil
Pennant–6 mil
Cisse—-5 mil
Fowler—0 mil
liverpool need to be challenging for the title next season with this sort of team :
reina (carson)
finnan (palleta)
carragher (hyypia)
agger (milito)
riise (aurelio)
alves (pennant)
gerrard (alonso)
mascherano (lucas)
malouda (simao)
villa (kuyt)
tevez (crouch)
this side is more than capable of challenging the likes of man utd and chelsea, but rafa needs serious backing from the new owners if this is to be made possible.
Rafa should buy Ricardo Quaresma…y nobody notice him?he is a brilliant player tat liverpool nid as a winger..he is a player tat can switch wings..so buy him,eto,tevez and alves.i dont tink we nid malouda
I think that liverpool need 3 new players we need an amazin big named player up front who can score alot of goals i would love us to say eto also we need a winger for the left hand side a real good 1 like simao sambrosa and on the right pennant is a good player if benitez would give him the chance and we need another central defender because sami hyypia is to old now and if carragher are agger gets injured are even say both there are no replacements so we should build on to our defence
I think that the three players that should be brought in are:
Alves(probably about 20m, dpending on if a bidding war starts the price could go up to 25m), as he is the best right back in the world, well I can’t think of a beter one at the moment.
Quaresma(18m?), anyone who doesn’t know who he is should watch him on youtube, able to play on both ings, cuts in and scores goals, and is an outstandin crosser of the ball.
Huntelaar(16-20m), although i know little about him, van basten clearly thinks that he is good enough to be in the dutch team, and it’s quite clear he can score goals, he doesn’t seem particularly creative but all liverpool need is a goal scorer.
P.S Tevez would work terrifically well with a goal poacher e.g huntellar, or villa who i think is one of the best strikers in the world, but his release clause is like 60m and i don’t think that valencia will let him leave for much less.
I think that the three players that should be brought in are:
Alves(probably about 20m, depending on if a bidding war starts the price could go up to 25m), as he is the best right back in the world, well I can’t think of a beter one at the moment.
Quaresma(18m?), anyone who doesn’t know who he is should watch him on youtube, able to play on both ings, cuts in and scores goals, and is an outstandin crosser of the ball.
Huntelaar(16-20m), although i know little about him, van basten clearly thinks that he is good enough to be in the dutch team, and it’s quite clear he can score goals, he doesn’t seem particularly creative but all liverpool need is a goal scorer.
P.S Tevez would work terrifically well with a goal poacher e.g huntellar, or villa who i think is one of the best strikers in the world, but his release clause is like 60m and i don’t think that valencia will let him leave for much less.
When did this discussion degenerate into a “What 3 new signings would you make” type question? Use your imaginations as much as you like, but I still don’t think Rafa has a chance of the PL without abandoning his rotation policy.
Buy Owen for 9 million instead of fooling round with Milito, Forlan, etc.
Buy a Zenden
Now is it players that make Rafa seem average or Rafa makes the players seem no champions?
I think it’s only Benitez to blme for, cause he bought bellamy Gonzalez Fowler and Kuyt when he could have got at least 1 world class player with those maoney.These players don’t seem to be good enough cause they aren’t.Benitez just bought them.He will never take a big money transfer risk.
In the other hand Benitez is the one who never takes risks in the games,too.And that’s the reason he will never win a league.I mean a 0-0 result in an away game is fantastic as a cup result,but in a league game it’s discusting. By the way,that’s the reason the Italians think he is a master.
He should take the scousers’ 0|0 result…Sorry Liverpool fans but you deserve to have a less “strategic” coach.
P.S.If he takes Villa he ‘ll put him play as a winger.The “masters” are always conservative.
I actually think Rafa prefers players of less than world class quality to fit into his rotational master plan. However, he is just realising that he simply can’t compete at the highest level without the best players. So how does he make great players accept rotation? It’s simple: he can’t. This is the reason Owen will never return to Liverpool–in spite of being available for a knock down 9 million.
have you not been reading sky sports recently? Alonso - not going Sissoko - not going. why do you constantly critise this guy? i watched him play at valencia and he’s a great defensive midfielder. yeh he looses his temper and he’s not always accurate but theres a good example of a midfielder thats even worse than this bloke and he gets no crtisism well apart from recently. lampard is a worse midfielder but he gets played and scores goals. Sissoko - selling him would be a big mistake because if Alonso and Gerrard or Mascherano got freakisly injured you’d have absolutely no one that could cover as well as him.
going for a new 10 side of world class players is so un realistic. yeah we have money but why waste a load on players that wont settle down? eto’o would be a good signing but i doubt it would happen. personally with aurellio back we’d have the left side covered so all we’d need was a spare. gonzalez isnt a good replacement so thats something to consider.
do you not remember how we were playing before aurellio got injured? I remember cleansheets and goals. he was brilliant, with Riise in midfield! all we need is right wing replacements, finnan’s a bit iffy in right defense so thats an area to work on.
we dont need to change the whole side, just certain positions
and to disregard some of the players we’ve got atm is ridicolous. i’d love to win the premiership but to completely change the side, well we wouldn’t be Liverpool if we did that
Rafa isn’t to blame, its Parry for the weak budget. but if he had started with buying expensive players he’d have got the blame for not succeeding too.
its the premiership, the best league in the world. it takes time to conquer and when we do, the whole world will know about it. we’ll dominate and then will you blame rafa? i really dont think so
patience is what you need and we’ll succeed
heather- what are the odds of gerrard,alonso AND mascha ALL getting ‘freakishly injured’ ,as you so wonderfuly put it? get real. mascha is a straight swap for sissoko (and is a much better,classier player) and we don’t need sissoko anymore. we can’t keep hanging on to everyone if we wanna get anywhere!
p.s. heather,i agree about lampard being worse.i also find him WAY irritating. he cant work with anyone,he’s too busy trying to outdo them. and he’s always messing up moves with his jinxed shots.okay, he scored a couple of good goals esp the CL one vs barca.but otherwise? and what about his performances for england? the gerrard-lampard combination WILL NOT work because lampard CANNOT work with gerrard.he’s not prepared to stand back and let someone else be the main guy. and by the way, i think gerrard is fantastic and leagues apart from lampard!
A few things:
1. I believe it is imperitive that we keep Sissoko for the main reason that we need cover for both central midfielders, when just one as back up isnt enough. I know the arrival of Lucas Leiva this summer will add furhter pressure to the central midfielder debate. However, i have heard that Sissoko’s eye injury is still causing him some trouble, but the source i heard this from isn’t reliable at all.
2. I am curious to how Voronin will adapt to the premiership to be honest, from what i have seen, which isn’t a lot, he seems like the type of striker Van nistleroy (sp) was. I’m not saying this is true, and that he is as good, but it was the impression i got. Obviously again, i am probably wrong on that.
3. I believe that Rafa has come under a little too much scrutiny in his 3 years, as the same arguement most reds fans give, “How many managers win the Champions league in their first season?” To be honest, i am a reds fan, as you’ve probably guessed, i have used that excuse too many times for my liking, and the truth is we havn’t been able to compete with the top 2 teams for the main and obvious reason of lack of funding early in the transfer window, and our current lack of action in it.
In all honesty i am glad to see the income of some young “talent” even if we see them come and go like some other young signings of previous seasons such as Barragan (sp.) The income of a new GK is a good sign, especially at the fact the keeper is at a “young” age of 19.
As people say we need a striker who scores week, in week out, and at the moment it looks most likely we’re going to end up with Torres. It may not happen, due to Atletico not willing to let him go, but it’s a funny and unpredictable game football. Isn’t that why we love it.
I wish the guys luck ahead of the new season. I hope it’ll be better for us than the last
Personally I’l be very sorry to see Garcia go as any part of a deal to bring in Torres. Despite his inconsistency, LG has proved a match winner on his day–and in spite of the inflated price tag, no one knows how Torres will cope in the PL. Bringing back Owen for 9 million pounds would have been a sensible move, but we know Rafa won’t do that (after all, he wants to play all the time!).
I repeat that Rafa must abandon rotation if we are to have a chance of the PL.
Aristedes I cant agree with you more.
Garcia hasnt been consistent like Momo, but in Europe he has been a revelation. Just the man we need & I struggle to see how Benayoun will replicate that magic. I see some papers have valued Lil Louis at 4mm, but thats the going rate for a standard championship midfielder. Dont forget he is a full international. Torres is not only untried in the prem & double our biggest ever signing (almost), but he’s a huge proportion of our budget. I watched a lot of Spanish footy last season & he didnt look any better than the rejuvinated Morientes & we know how he struggled. I would also go as far to say that Mori looked a lot better than David Villa. So this signing is a huge gamble & we dont have the infrastructure to absorb misfits like Veron (28mm), Sheva (30mm) like the others do.
Going off on a tangent, Rafa’s personal ego is harming the club on the Owen situation. Rafa wont sign Owen because he walked out on him, he hates him for that. But he should think of the team. The fact he’s even considering Defoe for the same money is plain wrong & will harm us in the long term, especially if Man-ure get their sweaty paws on him. I see Rafa’s point, but dont cut your nose to spite your face eh chief. Owen also needs to come out & say sorry to Rafa (in private) & beg to be taken back. He wont though. With the Torres money we could get Tevez & Owen.
I’m not a Liverpool fan, but from a neutral point of view I think there team is ok at the moment. They’ve done well getting Torres, but I think they need another top ‘Centre Forward’ in order to be a force to be reckoned with!
Also Cisse, Bellamy, and Crouch are not good enough and will never score enough goals to win a league. Never!!
I feel that maybe…Torres is just worth the try. Even if he doen’t succeed, according to Rafa’s usual custom, he will be sold next season and at 24 next season, he should still be able to be sold for maybe 20m? Another striker is needed too i guess…Hopefully Owen can return, for he’s one of the Liverpool’s great…
Wingers are our priority too.. With Luis Garcia most likely going and currently we have onli pennant and Kewell as our out-and-out wingers, maybe is time to splash on wingers..Benayoun can’t help us win any titles..he’s as good as throwing money into the drain..We should buy wingers, such as Malouda, David Silva and so on…
Finnan, Carragher, Agger and Riise had been WONDERFUL for us in 2006-2007, but perhaps we need to find COMPETENT cover for them? Hyypia can last another season, at least…
I had not seen much of Arbeloa yet, and paletta is not ready!! Maybe Right-back like Daniel Alves or Micah Richards?? Center back…we have tried with defenders from Spanish league (Josemi, Krompkamp, Pellegrino) and they are not very promising…perhaps we can go for C.Davies maybe?
Hopefully we can get some great youth players…im sure we sent scouts to U-21 championship and U-20 world cup…There should be some good reports back!!! Also being an Asian..I do hope we can get some Asian players!!!
What does everyone think of Aurelio? Is he good? I’m not very convince with his performance…at most as good as Mark Gonzalez..i feel..
Lee Pownall - there’s no deal over Torres yet, so Liverpool fans will have to wait on that to happen.
I think Aurelio is very good & offers us different alternatives. great set pieces & with Kewell injured he was often our most penetrating winger.
Dont forget JAR (Risse) if Arbeloa is at left back he plays as a winger & he is very direct & quick.
It’s all a crazy paper chase. Today, Torres is valued at 27 million. One bad season in the PL will probably half that valuation. Who is to say that, man for man, Torres (currently 27 million), is really any better than Garcia? (currently 4 million)
I am almost sure that Torres will never be a goal scoring machine like Owen. After all, how many strikers ever could be? Yes, he’s prone to injury and is now 27–but 9 million is a fair price for a player who could possibly give Liverpool another 3 great seasons.
And my point about rotation still stands.
I believe that Liverpool should definitely buy Ricardo Quaresma. He has an absolutely fantastic shot/ free kicks, is fast, skillful and best yet, still young.
Quaresma and Torres would work great i would expect and Quaresmas crossing is inch perfect.
I really hope that Liverpool buy this player because i believe with top class coaching at a big european team would turn Ricardo Quaresma into the best player in Europe. Except for carra and gerrard of course.
i also believe that we should try out cisse this season, see how he fits in with torres.
No chance Ben. Now Torres is asking for 31.2 million pounds for personal terms–more than the transfer fee. It’s quite possible the deal will fall through.
Quaresma is hugely overrated and wouldn’t stand a chance in the Premier League.
I expect the Torres deal to go through, but it’ll be an expensive one for Liverpool, and there’ll be huge pressure on the kid to perform from day one.
Cheers Tomas! people were talking like it had already gone through last week. sounds like it will though. It was probably just the scousers getting excited!!
Same applies though, they definitely need to lose at least two of the other strikers.
Hey, here is my 10 cents wabout liverpool..
I certainly think that Quaresma would add so much more to a liverpool team from the wings. I do think that he is far superior to Christian Ronaldo, and is adapt to the big stage. He will bring so much more dimension to our attacking frailties, and with Torres striking up front, boy, it will be mouth watering
if liverpool want to improve next season they need to bring in wingers. pennant is not doing it for me, he doesnt attack attack defenders so i suggest liverpool go in for porto winger ricardo quaresma, he’s a fake chritiano ronaldo. also on the left not maluoda he is rubbish maybe david silva, certainly not simao liverpool are looking to the future why would they buy a player who’s almost 29 i don’t see the logic. with the immunent arrival of torres liverpool have enough strikers with torres and kuyt being a great partnership and bellamy, crouch and voronin as back ups
if i was rafa i would get Torres,ricardo quresma and some one solid at the back
Jayson
What you said is wrong on so many levels I almost don’t know where to start. If Quaresma is so ‘far superior’ to Ronaldo then how come he was rejected by Barcelona because surely there aren’t too many players who can boast to being better than him and not getting into the starting lineup of their national team. He may be good but don’t kid yourself.
guys, what’s ur opinion on lucas leiva?
As a neutral, I think Liverpool or Rafa, need to be harsher with who they get rid of if theyve got all this money and they are going to bring quality players in, they need to lose players who are good but just not good enough e.g. Kewell(not quite good enough), Crouch (same), Bellamy (shit but you can get money for him), Hyppia (getting on), and all the other players that won’t be first team need to go if you want to win the league. Mainly because the squad will be to big and these average players think they are a lot better than they are, and they will expect to play every week because they have been regulars in the past!
MickeyMouser, if not mistaken it took Red Nose Alex 7 years to win his first English league title for Manure. The year when he brought it the likes of Cantuna and Shoesmaker.
Pool need some quality wingers. At the moment they have pennant, kewell and neither are world class. Yossi is not world class either. Thats the prob with lipverpool in the past. Too many decent players. Rather buy a few quality guys like Utd.
we already hav torres wrapped up bu we need another striker wit premiership experience robbie keane would b a great signing and riki frm deportivo get rid of bellamy,cisse,gonzalez and possibly arbeloa we need a left sided player wat about david silva or messi a right sided player in jouquin sanchez off valencia and danny alves for a defender and snjeider off ajax for a central mid rafa is right we now hav d money so lets use it.
personally if your given the chance to play you’ll flourish it’s as simple as that. liverpool could get ricardo quaresma cheap and he easily boot pennant out from that right hand side, he would give liverpool width and pace they for both sides regardless of him not being a starter for the national side he is better than simao and im sorry if given the cnahce could prove to be valuable
Right. Now were back to dreaming again!
messi?!!!only in ur wildest dreams!
Alright…so now let’s talk about Ryan Babel…
Liverpool is said to have bid for him….and i haven realli watch him play…but i noe he can play at left wing and as a striker…but which is his best position? Will he be more of a failure or a great capture?