alias75

is that cryptic? Its Defour!!! (almost)

If Torres is injured then it has to be Kuyt with Maxi on the right. But if there is money to spend we do need another striker, the lack of goal threat is worrying.

You have to expect Insua to improve for his experience last season, hes a very young player who played more games than he should have last season. Still would like better there but looking at the names that have been mentioned aren't a huge improvement (imo) and Insua does have age on his side.

When fit Aurellio is top quality, hopefully he gets a bit of luck with injuries. Certainly makes things look a bit rosier in terms of what we need now. 1 more left back a replacement for Masch and maybe another striker and things are looking pretty good.

heard rumours of Young to Fulham.... given Kelly looks decent cover for Johnson and hopefully we can get a left back in and in a worst case scenario we can use Agger, Darby as cover im not sure how necessary he is. At some point you have to give these youngsters a chance if there are 2-3 players in front of them they will look to leave. I think Kelly is fine for backup to Johnson, plus we could always play Carra there if Johnson was injured and we we're playing one of the top teams.

Article An article on why Defour would be a good replacement for Mascherano...

Defour looks the business to me, when a player that young is captaining his side you know they have something special about them. Still not the finished product but plays in a similar way to someone like Xavi. Very good technically, good passer and good leadership qualities.

Think Gera played just behind him but he dropped in to make a 5 a lot too, he also played a left footer on the right (Duff) and a right footer on the left (Davies)

I think Jovanovic can do on the left what Kuyt does on the right, something like this maybe...... ........................................Reina....................................... Johnson..............Carragher....Agger.............whovever? ..............................Lucas...........Gerrard.................. Kuyt.................................Cole.........................Jovanovic .......................................Torres..................................... With players like Maxi, Babel, Aquilani to come in if you want to change it up a bit and go for more traditional wide players, you also have the possibility of playing Cole wide right or left and playing Kuyt or Jovanovic off Torres. If Mascherano stays obviously he plays alongside Gerrard but if he is sold that should give us enough money for a decent left back, and a decent CB (think Hangeland would be a great replacement for Carragher) ideally we'd also get in someone better than Lucas.

Dont think hes a central midfielder but i do think hes more effective in a freer role behind a striker. I thought Gerrard played much better in a traditional central midfield position last season so maybe Cole will play behind Torres with Gerrard in the middle. We do still have Jovanovic, Babel and Riera that can play wide left so i don't think he'll necessarily play wide all the time. Wouldn't surprise me if he did a similar job that Gera did for Fulham last season

You look at the attacking options we have now and its looking a lot more encouraging. You have Kuyt and Jovanovic that can play as central forwards or wide forwards, and Maxi and Cole that can play wide left or right or centrally. Add Babel into the mix and its not looking too bad for forward players. Now if we can get a decent left back, a replacement for Mascherano (assuming hes gone) and another CB and the squad isn't looking too bad. From memory Hodgson picked the same core players for most games last season so i think we'll see much less rotating than we saw with Rafa, fingers crossed we're luckier with injures the core of a good 15-16 players is already here.

So where would Cole play for us? I think the main reason hes always struggled to hold down a place for Chelsea and England is hes seen as a wide player, at West Ham he played centrally and i do think thats his best position. Something like this maybe? ............................................Reina.............................................. Johnson............Carragher.........Agger.....................who knows? ..............................Lucas............Gerrard................................. Kuyt....................................Cole................................Jovanovic ...........................................Torres........................................... Getting in Jovanovic and Cole does give the manager more options, Cole can play wide left or right if needed, and Jovanovic can play as a forward if needed. With Maxi, Aquillani, Babel thats a few more attacking options than we've had recently and given that team doens't include Mascherano theres the possibility of decent money available for the left back we badly need and maybe a better CM than Lucas and maybe someone to replace Carragher long term.

My link good news think we have another Kuyt for the left side too in Jovanovic

anyone else hear the Joe Cole rumour? Might make sense to go for a few Bosman players. With Yossi off the wage bill and a few others to follow it might be possible?

There are plenty of games where Johnson can play right back and he'd probably be our #1 attacking threat. But for certain games we maybe need a more solid option at RB and if we can play Degen at right midfield theres no reason why Johnson couldn't play there too.

Maxi's agent has said the move is looking likely, really good move if it happens, with Riera injured so much this season the lack of width in the team really has been telling, espeically with Johnson out for a while we need natural wide players.

we have been linked with Diarra from Madrid who apparently isnt happy there, could be Mascherano's replacement.

Won on pens by the way after 1-1 in normal time.

They can't afford to sack him, and we can't afford to lose him.

As someone else said if we lost Rafa not only would it cost us the type of money that could sign a world class player but we'd probably be replacing him with somebody inferior (which top manager would work under his current conditions?) The squad is a little weak although we've also been unlucky with injuries and today we were without 3 big players plus Aquilani who cost a fair bit of money, i dont know many teams that have the squads to cope with that. The problem is clearly a lack of support from the owners, we had a net spend of zero when teams around us were spending big, im all for running the club in a responsible way in terms of spending money but a net spend of at least £20million should be a given for a club thats consistently made the CL, thats 1 more world class player we should have signed that we didn't because the owners wanted to play simantics with the amount they've spent in the off season.

I think you can look at the loss of Alonso for that too, if you have somebody that doesn't give the ball away much then your not going to get that pressure on your defence, currently we don't have that composure in our midfield so not surprisingly we're facing more pressure at the back, lots of pressure on Aquilani to come in and make an immediate difference.

The owners are finding out you can't do things on the cheap in this league and expect to compete. We'v seen teams like Man City, Tottenham even Sunderland massively outspend us while we've gone backwards sooner or later thats going to bite you unless your very lucky with injuries. Any talk about replacing the manager is absurd because the problem is hes working with his hands tied behind his back, the players are low on confidence and we're not getting much luck, add to that injuries to our most important players and you have the situation we're currently in.

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/...ual_093743.html Liverpool winger Ryan Babel admits he may have to consider a loan move to former club Ajax in January to boost his World Cup hopes. Babel has struggled to make a sustained impact since joining Liverpool from Ajax two years ago and was recently challenged to take his game up a level by manager Rafa Benitez. The Holland international started the Reds' opening match of this season against Tottenham, but has subsequently made just one late substitute's appearance in the defeat by Aston Villa. The 22-year-old is unhappy with his limited outings so far this term and believes promises have been broken. "There have been a lot of things promised, but they haven't been followed up," Babel told De Telegraaf. "I would get to play for more minutes and have more chances, but after the first defeat, I only lost my place." A return to Ajax has been mooted and Babel believes a temporary deal in the January transfer window could provide his best chance of securing a place in Holland's squad for next summer's World Cup. He added: "I think half a season at Ajax with a view to the World Cup wouldn't be a bad idea. I can add something to the Ajax squad. "Loaning me out was not an option (in the summer). Now we have agreed to review the situation in January. "I see the current situation as a signal that I really have to get playing."

You've forgot the guy we spent £20 million on this summer. Lots of pressure on Aquilani to hit the ground running but at least its another option, and from hearing Rafa speak about him he could also play in the Gerrard position if needed.

we still have some key players to come back into the team and we don't know what sort of impact Aquilani will make. the way the owners have used improved contracts to justify the low amounts of spending is something ive never heard before from any team but its hardly surprising is it from these owners.