sangria

No rewriting on my part. I said at time the midfield only needed a biter which we could get for cheap from lower league, thus allowing us to spend on forwards.

I'd have preferred to make do with those we already had, who although not great weren't drastically deficient either, adding a cheap midfield biter, and concentrating the money on forwards which we were short of, even before considering the quality of the few that we had. Allen wasn't going to go up in price much more than the 15m we paid for him, and he wasn't likely to move anywhere immediately, so we could have waited on him while we strengthened in more urgently needed areas. A Sturridge type forward would have done more to improve the team than Allen could and did. We had plenty of CMs. We had very few forwards after the loss of Kuyt, Maxi and Bellamy, and Carroll which was a managerial choice.

Or we could have waited on Allen, and filled out the forward line before trying once again to rejig the midfield. If we assume 30m to be a decent upfront window, that was half of it in an area where we already had lots of bodies.

Edit: Calm down.

Lucas holding isn't the only combination that can work. We've grown to rely on it because Dalglish's 2011-12 squad was split between back players and front players, with only Lucas capable of tying them together. The holding player doesn't need to be able to do everything Lucas does. Alonso didn't, and he was our previous holder extraordinaire. Another model is to have a holder who can link play and who knows his positional work, with a number of runners breaking up play in front of him so he doesn't need to chase opponents down. Sahin is a holder in the Alonso mould, while Lucas used to play the runner role for Gremio, and last played it in the 3-0 win over Wolves in January 2011, when Poulsen held. Lucas is an excellent holder, but it's not the only thing he can do, and Lucas holding isn't the only option we have.

Sahin's competition at the moment is Allen. Henderson's performance shouldn't have any bearing on Sahin's game time. What might affect it is Lucas's return to fitness.

He'd be better off going to Napoli, where he can play with another former Liverpool player, Lucas Leiva.

Liverpool star set for an Italian job Published 28th Mar 2011 By David Maddock http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Liverpool-transfer-news-Lucas-is-being-lined-up-for-a-3m-move-to-Napoli-as-Reds-continue-to-track-Blackpool-star-Charlie-Adam-as-central-midfield-replacement-article717921.html Lucas signs new Reds deal 30th Mar 2011 http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/lucas-signs-new-reds-deal "Napoli head the queue for Liverpool midfielder Lucas, who has not yet been offered a new Anfield contract. The Brazilian international is closing in on the last 12 months of his current deal, and there have been no moves from within the club to extend. That suggests his days on Merseyside are numbered, with the club already preparing their transfer plans for the summer under new director of football Damien Comolli. The fact that talks have not even opened suggests it is now unlikely to happen, and Serie A side Napoli have taken note. The Italians are ready to offer around £3million, which could be enough for them to get their man as Liverpool are hoping to get ready-made replacement Charlie Adam from Blackpool for a similar figure, given that he too will only have a year remaining on his contract at the end of the season."

A bit like when Menezes started pinning his team on Lucas holding everything together. The Lucas + 10 others Brazil team was the making of Lucas as a player.

The playmaking number 10 role isn't based on longbusting runs. That type of number 10 drifts around in a game, not making huge amounts of effort to keep himself involved, but is constantly alert to the opportunity when it does come. It requires vision and technical skill, which Gerrard has plenty of, and patience, which Gerrard has little of. If the game is constantly played away from his area, he should accept that as part of the game, and not look to involve himself in areas of the pitch from where he'd then have to make 40 yard sprints to support the striker. Few players can do the stuff Gerrard can do in attack. Lots of players can do what Gerrard can do as an orthodox midfielder.

We have lots of strength at the back, very little up front. Therefore the way to best use Gerrard for the team's sake is to play him as part of the attack. The way to get another few seasons out of him is to limit his role, which means not playing him in CM. The problem is he doesn't want to be limited, hence his distaste for playing in positions where he's supposed to observe play more than run around, or his continued willingness to knacker himself out for England. If he's looking to prolong his career, he should be retiring from an unrewarding international team and playing for Liverpool in roles with less demands on endurance.

He's still an excellent distributor in advanced positions though, a quality that still costs money. While he might grow into a Matthaus style role as sweeper in front of or behind the CBs, with the squad we currently have, we need his attacking qualities more. Funnily enough, in my opinion at least, Gerrard was most consistently good in an orthodox CM role when he was carrying an injury, as it meant he couldn't go on those roaming runs he's fond of, but had to play for position instead. While his performances weren't as eyecatching, the team fitted together better.

Players who play further forward with quality are usually much more expensive than players of an equivalent playing further back. You can justify moving a gifted attacker back if you have a surplus of attacking talent. We are severely short of attacking quality, while Gerrard is a recognised top class talent in attack. Given the resources we have, why move Gerrard back? Wouldn't it be much cheaper to buy someone of Gerrard's quality in defence to play in defence, and push Gerrard forward, than the other way round?

More importantly, it would be more beneficial to the team were he to concentrate on his attacking game. It costs shedloads to buy an attacker of his quality, and they may not sign anyway because we lack CL football. It should be easier to find a midfielder of Gerrard's quality, both in terms of cost we can afford and persuading them to sign for us despite us lacking CL football. I gave the example of Holden as someone who is very gettable, and can both play alongside or instead of Lucas, being basically the same kind of attacker turned allrounder DM. Probably 5m at most, and without extravagant wages.

I'm thinking of someone who's been one of the league's top tacklers in the 2 or so full seasons of PL football he's played. Started his career as a more attacking player, but reinvented himself as a DM shielding the back 4 and channelling possession. Pardoning the pun, he's proved absolutely central to his team, as they fell apart following his injury.

Gerrard/Shelvey should be treated as a single player. Both should not be on the pitch at the same time, only one or the other. With Gerrard's fitness record over the past couple of years, Shelvey might well get more game time than him. Adam shouldn't be in the equation at all, as he has the same weaknesses as Shelvey without the same degree of intelligence, and is substantially older as well and on a bigger wage. We don't need him, as all his qualities are covered by Gerrard/Shelvey, and he's not flexible enough to be useable elsewhere. We'd be better off replacing him with Lucas-type players like Stuart Holden.

I think he should have played more, and I also think we should be looking to replace him. Spearing is the right kind of player who should be playing in CM, Adam isn't, so he should have played more. On the other hand, it shouldn't be too difficult to find a markedly better player than Spearing who also plays in the right way. CM is such an important area that we shouldn't mind overstocking there for a season, before moving on whoever looks the weakest of the bunch. Add someone who is better than Spearing, challenge Spearing to up his game, then sell whoever lags behind if finances and tactics tell us we can't keep everyone.

From WBAunofficial. "I appreciate that the defensive organisation desperately needed/needs working on. My fear though, is that Hodgson risks chucking out the baby with the bathwater. It is possible to improve us defensively without totally changing the system. The 4-5-1 served us very well from an attacking point of view, and over 18 months brought the best out of our key creative players: Brunt, Dorrans and Thomas. All, for one reason or another, had poor games today. Thomas's game just is not suited to this formation. The side were clearly also under instructions to sit deep and hit balls into the channels/over the top for Odemwingie and Fortune to run onto. Again, this just does not suit our personnel, bar possibly an on-form Odemwingie. The 4-5-1 could easily be tweaked to incorporate two proper holding midfielders (two from Mulumbu, Scharner and Reid), who would provide greater protection for the defence. This is the way most coaches use the formation. Di Matteo seemingly preferred to use one holding midfielder, whose natural instincts meant he was often caught out of position. Organisation at defending set-pieces - our major weakness - is a totally separate issue to how the side is set-up, and presumably this can be improved by work on the training ground. The concern for me therefore, isn't so much not seeing pretty, free-flowing football, but seeing Hodgson's stubborness over 4-4-2 taking away from our game the attacking threat we do have. "

New WBA boss Roy Hodgson chats to chairman Jeremy Peace

The ex-Fulham manager. Dunno what this thread is doing in the Liverpool forum though.

Kop needed a sage to restore spirit – now they have one in Roy Hodgson Liverpool have taken the first step out of the darkness by appointing a wise head with an eye for undiscovered talent by Paul Hayward http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/jul/01/roy-hodgson-liverpool

Served apprenticeship as scout at Watford. Was scout at various clubs, including Leverkusen, who signed Lucio among others on his advice. Progressed through scouting career ladder, until becoming DoF at some Scandinavian club. Freelance nowadays I think.

Whether or not Benitez returns, Carragher should be shelved anyway. Even before the coup, the CB combo should have moved towards an Agger + AN Other pairing, with Carragher dispensable and not worth his high salary. After we've seen the results of the coup, Carragher is no longer dispensable, but a must get rid. Hodgson, Purslow and Carragher should be cut clean from the club, while planning should be made for a Gerrard-less team. If Gerrard stays, it's a bonus, but the team should be planned without Gerrard in mind. I'd like Benitez and Dalglish back, not just for their ability, but also as a reassurance that the club will never again be run by the media.

I feel contempt for him, and I wouldn't care how much of a wreck he leaves as, as long as he leaves quickjly. However, I don't actively hate him and wish hurt on him as such. That, I reserve for Purslow.

Does anyone else expect Hodgson to bring out Lemmiwinks soon?