Magic8Ball

I hope we get Mascherano, Neil would be nice too but I have a sneaky feeling we could be looking at moving toward a 433 system come next year

Lets see Paletta (CH) , Insua, (LB) Leto (LW) rumours of Mashcherano (DM) any other nextgen Argentinians we should be looking at?

This is where our problems started and remain it all started win King Kenny who did a masterful job BUT he focussed on the first team and didnt bring in any youngsters or build up a replacement side the result was when that generation disappeared there were no replacements and we had to start all over again - we're still in that boat The only way out is lots of money or we get extremely lucky with some youngsters like Man Utd did if we were to get say 7 promising youngsters coming through at the same time - thats potentially the next generation team and suddenly you are buying top talent to fill the gaps rather than buying another squad player We cant afford to buy the best players ( well not as many as we need) so we have to gamble on the youngsters - all this despite our academy TBH now you are seeing why Houllier and Rafa are in conflict with Heighway .. despite all that spending, where's the talent ? even WHU are providing more talent than we are

had those 4 gone to arsenal they'd all be stars now its not that we cant find the talent, its more to do with we dont know how to bring it out of the players ( in general)

with respect to the starter of this thread - that just sums us up - sign another teams has been player ... great Ljunberg is past his sell by date, as is Beckham -signing these players shows our desperation and lack of ambition

I hope you are right, I would prefer to think its down to not being able to afford the creative attack players Rafa believes in I just feel ( right now) that he doesn't know/get the creative/impromptu side of the game and this makes us a good team, with often great tactical positioning and play but in attack it makes us REALLY VERY PREDICTABLE Chelsea when they were doing well had Duff, Robben, Cole, Drogba ( who this season has come of age) Utd have Rooney, Ronaldo, Scholes, Giggs, Saha Arsenal have their creative players too ( too many to mention) we dont we just have a Good potentially great attacking midfielder - Gerrard ..... I dont think its a fluke that we beat Chelsea last year for the FA cup final when Kewell bust a gut down the left

Not meaning to talk Rafa down, he is meticulous, shrewd and a good manager but his reluctance to trust genius and ingenuity could be his undoing - several times now what we've been lacking is that creative spark - wide players who can score 10 goals a season and force defenders into errors - until we get those we will be also rans

it wasnt Barca !

maybe but its not just pace !! our last 2 managers Houllier and Rafa make similar mistakes; they are all about the squad - but its also about 1 Creativity 2 passing at pace 3 Carrying the ball at pace these later three points were not addressed by Houllier and are not being addressed by Rafa At some point in order to address the above you have to start buying exceptional individuals who specialize in one position

Buried in that response is the reason why we will never truly compete with Chelsea , Arsenal or Man U let alone overtake them We have to stop buying for the squad, we need to make a decision first team or promising youngsters, but no more average players for the squad my vote - buy first teamers only and right now 2 world class wingers would be a good start ( one for RW one for LW )

in many ways what Arsene's doing is the ultimate evolution of the Houllier philosophy ... sits back and waits for the accusations

Mascherano ( subject to our getting him and given time) will be the new Didi

we've been taught a lesson TWICE but we are still in 3rd place and should be better prepared for the champions league

would love more information on these two. I'm hoping rafa goes out and buys ...wait for it, wait for it BETTER WINGERS

1 - which wing ? 2 - the Sheff Utd player we have first option on, which wing does he play on too ?

Anton Ferdinand is available for 7M

interesting thoughts all - you should read the thread below I think its called something like why blame the players IMO we lack players who can run with the ball - our passing game is really about Hollywood passes both from Gerrard and Alonso which despite their quality are easy for the top teams to defend against we need left mid and right mid - to be able to 1 run with the ball at players committing forcing them to break formation 2 be able to regularly beat a man - by going down the line or cutting inside 3 to be able to cross of play the ball accurately and effectively once the man is beaten 4 to be capable of scoring regularly most people think that makes a winger but to be honest a you don't have to be classic Steve highway winger to do that Our problem is we dont have anyone who can really do that, the best we have is Gerrard who when playing on the right is very good but hes not a beat the man kind of player he's more a drive through midfield player if you look at the other top teams Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal - they all have a variety of players who can run with the ball and force defenders to break formation leaving gaps where their respective midfield's can pass through until we get top quality LEFT AND RIGHT midfield's we will always be a cup team

thats pretty much it - I'm glad I read this thread before posting This matched showed something and made it really obvious - we have a top class defense and central midfield ( hopefully with Masherano soon) our strikers Kuyt, Bellamy, Crouch are good enough -- not the best non are in the form Drogba is neither are any as good as Henry however we could easily double what our strikers score in a season is we had top quality wide players. we dont ! As per usual we dominated play but failed to create anything of note where it mattered I put it to you, in this modern game you cant just pass your way to a goal you need players who can run with the ball and force a defense to cope with the unexpected as well Arsenal have those players, so do United and Chelsea ( though Chelsea arn't using them as well this season) we only have Gerrard and I think under Rafas system he does that best from the Right if we do have money to spend this summer I would love to see Mascherano and 2 Wide players bought ( plus the obvious youth hopefuls )

well if the FA or UEFA are consistent then its a good thing as it means that Juve cant sign him, and we can loan him evaluate his abilities and then sign him seems to me the way Rafa really wants it is with 2 defensive midfielders and this would give him that I still think our wings are our weak point right now - I think Kuyt, and Crouch would score more if the wing play were there

you know i hate it when the press get hold of a story, yesterday it was Mascerano wants liverpool, the liverpool board approve bid, personal terms agreed and medical already taken place now its ...... I hope we sign him, but eitherway I wish the press would shut up !

hamman with pace, makele with passing - would be about right - tbh only really seen this guy play for argentina but he would fit in as well as alonso has for us, I'm not saying he would be as good but he could be as good

yup it makes sense sign a 16m rated player for 6 million when the opportunity is there

Millionaires, billionaires - Mascherano for 6m is a better deal than Mascherano for 16m regardless of whether you can afford it or not

wouldn't mind this player at all, to be honest if we don't get him now, I hope they accept our bid for him - other wise we will never be able to afford this guy, and I think he can be as valuable for us as momo

Going back to america ? he's not american Elias ???? ( isnt that a tv show ? )