alias75

It is going to be interesting to see how Stevie is used next season, the secret to our success under Kenny has been everyone playing their role and the team is everything. I do think Stevie might have to redefine himself as a player next season but hes more than capable of doing that and of course we're going to be a better team with Stevie in it. Looking at the way we're currently playing i think he could play in a few different positions. 1. As a traditional central midfielder alongside Lucas where Spearing has been playing - if he played here he'd probably have to reign in his attacking instincts a bit but we've seen Spearing get forward a fair bit and when the team is playing on the front foot and pressing high up the pitch those opportunities to get forward will happen. If he played here he would have to be more disciplined but we've seen him do that (more for England than Liverpool) so he is capable of doing that. 2. In one of the "wide" midfield positions, where Maxi, Meireles, Kuyt have been playing. Here he has license to roam and lots of freedom to move about, think he'd do great here obviously he's a great attacking player with ability to pick a pass or score a goal, his link up with Suarez, Kuyt, Meireles, Maxi etc could be great. It does beg the question of whether we do need another central midfielder, with Spearing getting better with every game he plays and Gerrard likely to play there too, i do wonder if signing another central midfielder would block the progress of Shelvey and Spearing, maybe this is where if we signed someone like McCarthy he wouldn't expect to play every week and he could slowly be groomed to replace Gerrard.

If you fancy a small interest punt on the game, how about backing the keepers to get booked, currently trading at 12.5 on betfair. There's always the chance they bring someone down for a pen but more likely if Utd are winning or drawing van der sar will be wasting time and similarly if Chelsea are winning towards the end Cech will try and waste time. Ive seen worse bets.

Ok fair enough, if we can get around £15 million for him i think that'd be a good deal, its a bit rich of Juventus to agree a fee for him before they take him on loan and then say its too much after hes played almost every game for them and made the Italian team. But with that sort of money i think we can find someone better and more suited to the league. Milan have an ageing squad so maybe they'll be interested in someone whose pretty young and a current Italian international. Whatever happens im confident with these owners we won't get messed around by Juventus and if we do end up keeping him Kenny will get the best out of him.

How much will he end up costing us?? a big part of his fee was based on appearances which he isn't going to fulfil if hes sold in the summer. I think an Italian team will want him, if its not Juventus maybe Milan. We've also been linked with a couple of players from Serie A so maybe even some sort of player swap?? I think we can find better for that sort of money and someone thats better suited to the PL. But if they try to get him on the cheap we'll just keep him im sure Kenny will get the best out of him anyway and he is a quality player.

Pound for pound has to be one of the greatest signings ever!! still get a lump in my throat when i watch him say goodbye to Anfield.

He's such a great player you can see how much his movement and technical ability has helped players like Kuyt and Maxi and Meireles. Needed that goal today but he does more than enough to contribute even when he isn't scoring, i think once he gets a few goals and he's less anxious about that he's going to be a hell of a player for us. The best thing about him is his will to win and if we can get another 2 or 3 with the same mentality anything's possible next season. Can't wait to see him link up with Gerrard too next season.

getting some good width from both fullbacks at the moment something thats really important when you have players like Meireles and Maxi in the "wide" midfield positions.

defending really bad though 3-0 not a shock i suppose given they're missing a few, does anyone have the starting 11?? Im assuming no Flannagan or Robinson, as well as Sterling and Adorjan

I think in the past though we've either had players like Fowler, McManaman, Gerrard, Owen and to a lesser extent Carragher that have been good enough for the first team almost from the off or they've been not good enough and left in the reserves until they've been 21-22 which is too old really. I think Man Utd and Arsenal have shown that it can pay dividends to loan out players that you have high hopes for when they're aged 18-20 obviously if they're obviously going to make it like Gerrard or Owen then you get them in the first team as soon as possible but someone like Shelvey just isn't going to get the games in centre midfield next season, is he going to develop playing 20min wide right every now and then, plus the odd game in the league cup or Europa (if we make it)?? personally i don't think so. What we've tended to do is wait too long to loan them out so they're already in their early 20's which means they've missed 2-3 years of their development where they could be learning in the pressurised atmosphere of the championship or PL instead of playing reserve team football. The other mistake we've made is loan them out and then find out they've hardly played, that has happened far too often, while you cannot guarantee that the player will be picked you have to have some understanding with the club your loaning them to that they need to play or you find them another club where they will play. Personally id like to see players like Coady, Wisdom, Shelvey, go out on loan next season.

Yeah Blackpool was the type of team i was thinking about too. I think the important bit is he needs games in central midfield, hes very much like an Alonso or Redknapp in that he can only really play in the middle, at the moment when he comes on for us its always been out wide so while its good to get exposure to the PL he has looked uncomfortable playing wide. I don't see him getting much game time in the middle for us, we have too many players in front of him already and will probably sign 1 maybe 2 more in that position. A year on loan where he can play in his proper position i think will be more beneficial than the odd subs appearance out wide.

Made the same point about Shelvey on the other thread but the consensus seemed to be that people didn't want him to go out on loan. Personally think its the perfect time to get him a full season in the PL or a top Championship team playing in his proper position. I don't see him being ready to play too many games in central midfield here and i do wonder how much he's going to learn getting 20min here and there in a position he's clearly uncomfortable in. Wilshire is an excellent example of a player that benefited from a full season out on loan and came back ready to play in the first team. With Flannagan and Robinson im not so sure that a loan is best because i do think with fullbacks its easier to get them games in the first team. They have already proved they can handle it if called upon and we should be able to give them 15-20 games next season when you include the cups plus you never know what's going to happen with injuries.

Im not so sure, we have Lucas, Meirles, Gerrard, Spearing and we're probably going to sign someone that will all be ahead of him, central midfield is such an important position as we've seen he's not really played there yet for us at all. I think he'd benefit more playing a full season in central midfield than the odd cameo for us usually out wide where he doesn't look too comfortable. Not that id be worried about him if we had to play him but i just think his opportunities are going to be limited here in central midfield.

When you have players like Meireles, Maxi, Suarez, Kuyt, Gerrard we're always going to be very fluid, they are all very intelligent players in terms of their movement, Suarez and Meireles in particular are a nightmare for teams to pick up because their movement is so good. Once the young fullbacks get more confidence they will get forward more and help with the width, but some of the football we played yesterday was excellent/

Cos his main position is central midfield i think he needs to go out on loan so he can play there for a season, maybe in a lower level PL team maybe for a top championship team. Hes similar to someone like Alonso in that he can only really play in the middle, so while its good for him to get experience he does look a little uncomfortable when asked to play out wide. But hes obviously very talented and i do think people forget how young he is because we signed him and he hasn't come through the academy. I agree he did well when he came on yesterday and this exposure to the PL will only help him, but because he plays central midfield which is such an important position i do think he'll get limited opportunities there for us next year, so maybe a loan is best for his development.

Definitely still need a left back, as others have said you have to blood young players slowly, picking the right games for them. What it does mean is we only need 1 left back when it looked like we might need 2, have Robinson as backup and GJ as 3rd choice in case of an emergency, on the right we have Kelly, GJ and Flannagan, if we can get Kelly games at CB eventually Flannagan can be #2 behind GJ. But they're still very young and have a lot of developing to do, i agree you don't want them to slip back now but they're not ready to be first team regulars and we do have better in their positions when everyones fit. Theres plenty of games so they'll get their chance again.

Great win, played some really good stuff at times and loved how we kept pressing and kept pushing even when the game was won. Kenny has the ability to get the best out of the players which is something we've been missing, if your manager can do that then average players can all of a sudden look as if they can do a job for you. Really exciting to see the 2 fullbacks playing well and you can see the effect it has on the crowd having young players playing, it also helps focus the players around them who are working really hard to help them through the games. Once again Lucas was superb, and Suarez, Kuyt, Maxi and Meireles linked up really well in attack but everyone played their part.

Shelvey on for Robinson, playing left back??

Should give Coady 15min now...

Wonderful play from Suarez, at the moment hes being a little selfish cos you can tell he wants his goal but time after time he produces lovely moments, hes gonna be a hell of a player for us next season. Maxi gets the match ball!! 4-0

The way we're playing is really encouraging, still pressing at 2-0 and playing some lovely 1 touch stuff. When you look at the team we have out there you could easily excuse them for being disjointed but that hasn't been the case. Kenny really does have the ability to get the best out of players which is very encouraging looking ahead to next year.

I think the comforting thing at the moment is whoever we end up signing I have total confidence in Kenny getting the best out of them. Of course its important to sign good quality players but you also have to get them to play for you, how often have we signed great players on paper who've then simply not played to that level. I know its fun to speculate on who we'll sign, but whoever we end up getting i have confidence in Commoli and Kenny getting it right.

Sterling posted something on twitter yesterday about training with the senior players maybe he will be part of the 17 before the end of the season. Its the perfect chance to give him 20min in a home game.

Looks like we had 2 insane owners and a CEO who was at best incompetent. Gotta feel for Rafa, he had built a team that was so close to cracking the PL and he gets these maniacs as his boss!!

When your basically given only what you can bring in in sales to spend every penny counts and paying £4million more than we should have for 2 players could be the difference between being able to sign someone that could improve the team or not. Its also just another illustration of the amateurish way in which the club was being run which must have been extremely frustrating for a perfectionist like Rafa, especially when we were so close to winning the PL.

Exactly you only have to look at this summer and... Cole>>>Pacheco Poulson>>>Spearing to see examples of where we've wasted money on average squad players when he have youngsters waiting for a chance. Thats money that should be spent on the areas of the team that really need improving. I also agree how encouraging its been to see the way Kelly, Flanagan and Robinson have played when they have been called upon, in a lot of ways their technically superior to a few of our first team players.