alias75

If only the Greek were 5 years younger with him and Carroll id fancy us to get a few from corners and free kicks. Gonna be great to have that aerial threat though, haven't had that for a long time.

Im hoping we sign the following players... 1. Fabio Coentrao - top quality attacking left back ideal if we're going to persist with 3 at the back, we could move Johnson to the right and use Kelly as a CB 2. Ashley Young - been hearing strong rumours that this is a done deal for a while, was a little unsure but was really impressed by his last performance for England, could play as a traditional wide player but can also play more centrally, with Carroll up front we're going to need wide players with good delivery and he fits the bill pretty well. 3. Yann M'Villa - i agree we need another central midfielder as we saw this weekend we lack options in there when we get 1 injury and we can't rest players when they need it because we have little strnegth in depth, was really impressed by M'Villa when England played France and he is someone we've been linked with before. I do think Kelly could save us millions on a centre back, if we got a top quality left back in we could move Johnson back to the right and Kelly could play as CB, he has everything we're looking for hes quick, strong in the air and good on the ball.

Roy working his magic already... "I'll only have a small contribution today - probably at half time"

think it just illustrates what we all knew our squad isn't good enough, i think with the new owners we won't see too many older players coming in to be fringe players on massive wages, we need a core of about 14-15 players that are first team quality and the rest of the squad should be made up of young players that are hungry and will show that enthusiasm when their given a chance. Im fed up of having these fringe players in their late 20's on massive wages that contribute very little to the first team.

Kind of expected this too, lots of players missing during the week and without Agger whose become a key player in terms of playing it from the back and Gerrard whose obviously a big miss. The thinness of our squad was highlighted today. Its going to be small steps of progress from now until the end of the season, at the moment we need to be playing with our strongest team most weeks. Im sure the need for quality is known by all and im confident steps will be taken in the summer to improve our strength in depth, can't wait to see this team play with Carroll and Suarez and Gerrard and Agger all playing. Onwards and upwards think its the youth cup game on monday so something to look forward too!!

Interesting article in the mail today about Carroll and how he's never had a proper weights programme. Makes you wonder how big and strong he can get with our sports science people giving his specialised programmes.... By Matt Lawton and Dominic King Liverpool believe they can transform Andy Carroll into the ultimate England striker, making him bigger, faster and more powerful while also educating him on the drawbacks of drink. Carroll developed a reputation for boozing in Newcastle and he even admitted to enjoying a beer when he was unveiled as Liverpool's £35million signing. But to the astonishment of the Anfield staff, it turns out the 22-year-old has spent little time in the gym to develop the upper-body strength that would make him even more potent in the penalty area. Since Carroll arrived at Anfield, he has been stunned by how hard he is being made to work in trying to recover from a thigh injury that is expected to leave him on the sidelines for another two to three weeks. However, the striker is scheduled to start jogging with Liverpool's medical staff at the club's Melwood training base, to show that his rehabilitation is going smoothly. Liverpool caretaker manager Kenny Dalglish said: 'Andy has been thoroughly checked over, he is progressing well and I think the people who made the assertion (that he is out for the season) have got a good chance of being wrong.' But Dalglish's coaches have further programmes in mind they hope will prove the record transfer fee for an Englishman was money well spent. It will start with sessions at the sports science department on the adverse affects alcohol can have on an athlete; the fact it makes players more prone to injury and can hamper performance, even when consumed days before a game. They will also put Carroll on an intensive weights programme in the belief that, come the start of next season, he will be an even more formidable forward and even more of an athlete. In fairness to the Geordie, he has acknowledged the responsibility that comes with his price tag. While he said he 'wouldn't change' when it came to being a working-class lad who enjoys a beer, he promised he would be careful to choose the right times to have a drink. Liverpool recognise it is ultimately up to Carroll to take heed of the warnings, but the sports scientists will do all they can to educate the centre forward so he can realise his considerable potential - for club and country.

Numero uno

don't think these owners will want to sign too many older players on a bosman because that usually means massive wages and no sell on value. There can be value sometimes with an older player like Gary Mac, or even the Greek but i don't think either of these players were on huge wages and they do represent value for money. Think we'll be trying to get rid of a few high earners in the summer, players like Cole, Jovanovic, Konchesky, Poulson who haven't really contributed enough in the first team can be moved on and their places can be taken by younger players that can come into the first team and players from within the club.

I did mean for next season and i still see left back as one of the priority positions to fix. Centre back is another one but if we signed a left back and moved Johnson back to the right Kelly could save us millions on a new centre back. Is the need for a wide man a priority if we're gonna play this formation?? Obviously you want to be flexible and be able to play a few different ways so i still think a proper wide man is a priority in the summer but i also think if we could sign someone like Coentrao he'd be tailor made for the way we're currently playing.

The question is should we stick with him and Kelly as our fullbacks looking forward to next season?? Has GJ's improved form come because he's playing on the left or is it more to do with his confidence improving and the "Kenny Effect" I do think it concentrates his mind a bit more playing on his "wrong" side but he also showed when he first arrived that he can be as effective on the right side. But looking forward if we could sign someone like Coentrao to play down the left move Johnson back to the right and use Kelly as CB does that make us stronger?? Its very difficult because both Kelly and Johnson have both done really well but you must always look to improve.

Carroll has excellent technique you only have to watch clips of him, his hold up play and close control is excellent, also watch his hat-trick goal against Villa he starts the move with a 40 yard cross field pass, there aren't many big men that can do that. (I don't think Crouch can kick it that far)

exactly, its tailor made for Agger and there aren't many defenders as good as he is on the ball, if we play games where its 3 marking 1 Agger will get so much time and space on the ball and hes good enough to use it properly.

Playing 3 at the back is going to help Carra no end, he reads the game as good as anyone defensively so playing him centrally of a 3 is perfect. He has players alongside him with a bit of pace and Agger who can bring the ball out so there's less need for him to carry the ball or look to pass it from the back which is his weakness. I do think we still need someone to replace Skrtel and Kelly could probably be that player, then we'd have 2 quick good ball playing centre backs each side of Carragher,

Its possible Kelly could save us a lot of money on a CB and the money could be spent elsewhere. if we're gonna play 3 at the back a lot id take someone like Coentrao to play as a left wing back move Johnson to the right and play Kelly as a CB.

Playing in the middle of a 3 could extend Carra's career with us by a few years, you get another good passer in there on the right (maybe even Kelly) and with Agger on the left and just let him control the backline and defend and forget about passing it from the back. He reads the game so well defensively that he could really suit that position if you have 2 players in there like Agger and Kelly with a bit of pace and the ability to pass it from the back.

5-3-2 or 3-4-3-1 whatever you want to call it, if this is how we're going to play under Kenny what players should we be looking at?? Obviously after playing so well over the last few weeks you don't want to write players off but we must always look to improve the team and move forward. Fabio Coentrao is someone we've been linked with and i think hes tailor made to play down the left side in that formation, Kelly has been superb on the right for us but he could save us a fortune on a center half as he does have pace and is great in the air which is something we need, GJ would seem ideal to play on the right side in this formation, something like this... ..............................Reina................................. .................Kelly....Carra....Agger.................. Johnson....Lucas...Gerrard......Contreau ...................Meireles.....Suarez...................... ..............................Carroll................................ That team looks pretty strong and it only has 1 new player compared to what we have now so all this talk of needing to spend lots of new money might not necessarily be true, although obviously we need better strength in depth and maybe we do need to sign someone like Young so we have that flexibility to play different ways depending on the situation and the opposition.

Reckon that's about right maybe a little bit more this summer simply because we're playing catch up and need to close the gap. We only really have 1 player we wouldn't mind selling that we could get decent money for (Aquilani) but there are others like Cole, Jovanovic, Konchesky, Poulson, Skrtel?? that would bring in some money but also release a lot of money off the wage bill. Its all about value for money and we have too many players on massive money that don't give us value for money, you replace them with young players to come into the first team and promote from within.

Thought that was really interesting too, and it does explain why the Carroll fee went as high as it did but because it was related to the Torres fee we were always going to get the difference of £15million (assuming Chelsea would pay what we asked) im guessing if that £15million difference wasn't possible because either Chelsea or Newcastle wouldn't play ball we would have moved onto another target to replace Torres. Its a really interesting way of doing things. I do think we will see some investment over what we bring in from sales but i also think money will be freed up in terms of wages, we have 4 or 5 pretty high earners that aren't really contributing to the first team squad, if you can replace those players with young players that can play in the 1st team and bring through young players you can save yourself a lot in wages on players that don't give you value for money.

We should have learnt by now that no one is irreplaceable, and while Pepe is the best keeper we've had for a while (maybe ever) the same argument applies if he doesn't want to be here then let him go and bring someone in that does. If these rumours were around a few months ago it'd be very depressing but at the moment im confident Kenny with the backing of NESV will cope with whatever problems come their way and move forward.

Jack Robinson 17

Blackpool were never gonna sell us Adam unless we paid a stupid amount for him, they realise how important he is in terms of staying up. We don't really need him now anyway although i guess having these players here for 3 months might help us hit the ground running at the start of next season. The same with Young unless we offered a huge amount they weren't gonna sell in January, from our perspective too both players will be in the final year of their contracts in the summer so if i deal can be done we'll save a lot of money although we might have more competition.

think its more likely it'll be Agger seeing plenty of the ball and carrying it into midfield a lot.

It'll probably gives Agger license to carry the ball a lot if we have 3 back there and they just have 1 he might see a lot of the ball, lot depends on Gerrard and Meireles cos there aren't many attacking players in that team and obviously huge importance on the 2 wide players if it is a 3-5-2

Aurellio's had a few decent games in midfield, Kenny clearly wants good passers in there, might be a clue what he has planned if he'd signed Adam. Not really sure about wingbacks, although we haven't had proper wingers for a while it can leave you open and outnumbered down the flanks.

As long as he gives his all when he plays for us that's all that matters.