alias75

Thats a tough one the home record last season without Torres was superb theoretically with a much better striker you'd expect that to continue. My take on it may be simplistic but id say we just havent got the breaks our dominance has deserved in most home games that we havent won. When teams come to Anfield they park the bus this season especially we've been too reliant on Torres and Gerrard for a goal or even to create something. More so than when you play away at home you need players with pace that can beat a man to create that space, the surprising thing is in a lot of home games that we've drawn or lost we've got that all important first goal but failed to kill the game off. But we really havent had a lot of luck at home this season, i mean how often will Titus Bramble score that goal? A 1-0 win tonight would have been deserved however poor we were. Man Utd were pretty poor on the weekend but got the 1-0 win against Birmingham thats the difference at the moment. Theres a pretty fine line at the top level between winning and drawing, forget about tactics and formations its top players that make the difference most weeks and the hard truth is we dont have enough of them.

At least its glaringly obvious what we're lacking, id go for Quaresma, im sick of these hard working average players i want someone that thinks their the best in the world and has that arrogance that goes with it. He gets goals and assists which is more than any of our wingers, and is a player that is comfortable receiving the ball in tight situations and hes confident taking on defenders. As a partner for Torres, Berbatov ticks a lot of boxes, again he may not have the greatest work ethic but he scores goals and produces moments of magic most games.

Part of the problem is because he likes to rotate you need a bigger pool of better players, a manager that didnt believe in rotation as much could probably have a slightly smaller squad meaning we go with our better players more often are the fringe players dont play as often. Id add Arbeloa to the first team group and of those in the "squad" im happy with Lucas, Babel, Aurellio, Hyppia, Benayoun. The problem is when these squad players are playing lots of games in the PL ideally your not relying on them as often as we are at the moment. Your correct though we need more attacking players in that category of players that hardly gets rested we're so reliant on Gerrard and Torres to score and create it isnt fair on them. Our other attacking players need to step up and start delivering more than being neat and tidy and giving us a good shape, bottom line our wingers need to be getting assists and goals and they're not.

On the positive side at least its very obvious where the improvements need to be made. The core of the team is there, but we're so poor compared to other teams in attacking areas its embarrassing. Quality attacking players win you games, but if your relying on the same 2 players every game your going to come unstuck at some point. If your relying on 4 players then at least 1 of them's going to deliver more often than not. Part of me thinks at least a new manager would probably play our strongest team more often, but i think the bottom line is we need better players.

I think great attacking players can make the difference, in todays game our wide players saw a hell of a lot of the ball but did nothing with it. You get better players in with the same posession and the chances are they'll create more or chip in with the odd goal. Its not as if our attacking players aren't seeing much of the ball the problem is the players arent good enough to do anything with it.

think players like Benayoun, Babel, even Kuyt, Aurellio, Riise, Lucas, Crouch are fine as squad players they're certainly no worse than some of the squad players at Man Utd for example. The problem is most of those ive mentioned are regular 1st team players for us instead of coming in now and again. Of course the way Rafa rotates means those fringe players probably play more here than at other clubs, but hypothetically if a new manager came in that picked the strongest team more often i think theres a strong core of 8 players that are good enough.

Id hate Rafa to go but in a perverse way the only replacement id be happy with (apart from someone like Wenger which isnt going to happen) is Mourinho just because id be confident hed get results.

I think we have 8 or 9 players that would make a very strong team.. Reina, Arbeloa, Agger, Carragher, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard, Torres (maybe Babel) so thats 8 out of 11 should have been 72.727272727272727272727273% to be precise.

I think most agree we have 85% of a very good team, thats whats so frustrating at the moment, i think if you took Ronaldo out of Utd and into our current team we'd be above them in the league, so we're not far off. Of course finding someone thats as good and as consistent as Ronaldo is easier said than done and its not going to be cheap but i think most agree any serious money thats spent on the team in the summer has to be spent on attacking players. So who can we sign? I think its pretty obvious we need a world class partner for Torres and an attacking midfielder / winger but who? I know he divides opinion on here but Quarsema is the type of attacking midfielder id go for. Yes hes dives, and he comes across as a bit of a show pony, but i think thats exactly what we need. Someone with that arrogance and ability. He scores goals and gets assists. Of the possible wingers we could sign id put him high on the list. He takes on defenders and against weaker teams he'd cause havoc. At the moment we dont have wingers that can score or create he does both. Torres needs a partner the other strikers we have are so far below his quality its embarrassing, we probably need someone thats comfortable dropping off a little and can link the midfield and attack, but we need someone that scores goals. Theres Berbatov? Keane? Maybe David Villa? Its really frustrating cos i dont think we're as far away as the league suggests, but the bottom line is that attacking players win you games and we simply dont have enough top quality attacking players. (Its not going to be cheap either)

If you have wide players that are bombing on and attacking their full backs and full backs that are getting forward theres nothing wrong with those two in the middle because they give that protection and plug the gaps. Its almost 4 defenders and the rest getting forward. The problem is our attacking players arent good enough and then that makes you think maybe we could sacrifice one of them in the middle to get another attacking player in the team. If our attacking players were good enough in the first place and doing the job their paid for (creating and scoring) it wouldn't be an issue.

Theres enough blame to go round i think, and Rafa must take his fair share of it, but some of our players are performing so below what they've shown they can do. Pennant was obviously ready to play today wasn't a bad game to put him back in. The team he picked tonight was a strong one given the players we have, the problem is the players we have arent strong enough.

1. Torres 2. Mascherano 3. Gerrad (its getting pretty boring how the same core players keep showing up in these threads)

Thats how it feels at the moment however poor these players are the law of averages says they should contribute something during the season but the contributions of some over a season are abysmal when you compare it with other attacking players at other PL clubs. Benayoun and Babel at least have contributed something, but when you look at players like Kewell, Penannt, Kuyt its all very well talking about keeping possession and giving the team balance but is it too much to ask for an assist or goal at some point. We must get one of the worst returns from our wide players in terms of goals and assists of any PL team.

Hes an improvement on Riise. id guess if that happens its cos Riise's being sold id imagine we'd get a similar fee for him so its an improvement all be it not really where we need to be strengthening.

I think a lot of that boils down to the mentality of the individual, you have born winners like Roy Keane or Souness that would never ease up, we do have some players with the right mentality but too many that are fragile. I guess Rafa has to take the blame for part of that since he signs the players but also the players have to have a personal pride in their own performance.

Sorry didnt know i always did it (anyway hes not good enough)

The point about the full backs is a good one but i think having better wingers makes it easier for the full backs. Arbeloa has shown glimpses going forward and Aurellio has quality if he can stay fit. I just think if you added 1 or 2 world class attacking players to what we already have you'd find the performances from others improved. It would have a knock on effect throughout the team.

Id add Agger, Arbeloa to that, defensively we're more than good enough. The problem is glaringly obvious when your attacking midfielders are Benayoun, Kewell, Pennant, Babel and your strikers are Kuyt, Crouch, Veronin thats simply not good enough to challenge for a title. Attacking players win games and we rely far too much on Torres and Gerrard to produce. Thankfully for us they do it consistently but we need another 2 that produce to a similar level. The really frustrating this is we're not far off having a very good side, but the attacking players we need are costly and not easy to find.

this is where i disagree with you, the frustrating thing for me is i dont think were far off. But your correct the missing pieces are going to be expensive we need 2 world class attacking players that will have a similar impact as Torres and Gerrard. I said on another thread put Ronaldo in our current team and i think we'd be in front of Man Utd, so we can't be that far off. Of course signing someone that will have the impact of someone like Ronaldo is easier said than done, but all the focus should be finding those top attacking players with pace and skill.

Of course and id argue during the 90min we were far superior to them. Of course the result s 1-1 so thats what matters in the end. But we're Liverpool FC players like Pennant, and Kewell (in this current form), and Kuyt shouldnt be anywhere near are strongest 11. We really do have the makings of a very good team but those final pieces are the hardest to fill because we need 2 world class attacking players that perform to a consistent level. I honestly believe if you put Ronaldo in our current side we'd win the title so we cant be that far off, thats what makes things so frustrating.

The problem is great attacking players cost a lot of money and up to this point he hasnt had that type of money to spend on attacking players because hes had to strengthen the squad as a whole. As a result most of our attacking signings have been 4-5 million midfielders or 8-10 million strikers, thats simply doesnt get you the necessary quality unless you get a bit lucky. Its glaringly obvious that all the problems in the team are our attacking players we have 2 very good ones and the rest are either very inconsistent or just not up to it.

Lets not use the formation as an excuse, we've played 2 up front almost every game this season and played worse. Most thought the team was a good one before KO as usual its very easy in hindsight to blame the formation. The bottom line is we have too many average players, when teams sit men behind the ball you need that bit of guile of injection of pace to make the difference and we simply dont have enough quality attacking players that do it on a consistent basis. The wide positions are a real worry at the moment to the point where i think we have to play Stevie out there because without him we have no real quality out wide. Yet again its a case of not taking the chances and not having enough people chipping in with goals assists, once again we're relying on the same players. Some of those fringe players need to have a good hard look at their level of performance they should be so greatful to be at this great club but we have too many passengers week after week and the same half a dozen players that perform to a consistent level.

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Having Alonso and Mascherano in there is basically saying to Pennant, Kewell, Gerrard, Torres (and the 2 fullbacks) to attack, a stronger team than i was expecting to be honest but im really glad we have our 3 best midfielders playing together.

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