alias75

PL football is all about pace and power, you need a core of it in your side, at the moment we have Gerrard, and Bellamy and Gonzalez and maybe you could argue Sissoko and thats it. Think this needs to be addressed. Todays game was a clear example that Arsenals young players are much better than ours but hey we knew that anyway and hopefully its getting addressed. It also showed that playing a 20 year old with plenty to prove is sometimes preferable to playing players coming to the ends of their careers.

4 million for Neil forget about it, with his contract up at the end of the season blackburn have 2 choices either sell him for probably half that or keep him until the end of the season and lose him for nothing.

Guy on betfair forum says Ashley Youngs old squad number at Watford has been taken by Liam Williamson suggesting hes been sold. Of course that doesnt mean to use but we have been linked.

Im not sure if we do need 2 "old fashioned" type wingers. I think 1 of this type is enough. In my opinion Gerrard is as good as anyone in the world on the right, one on one id fancy him against most fullbacks, hes so powerful and his delivery from that wide right channel is superb. I remember reading Gareth Barry after the Villa game and he said he was so glad he wasnt playing left back for that game he said Bouma (who had been left back) had never faced anyone as powerful as Gerrard in that position. The problem in the past has been playing Gerrard there leaves us weaker in the centre, but with Momo, Alonso and hopefully Mascherano that isnt the case anymore. Imagine a right hand side of Alves and Gerrard, good luck stopping those two! I think we should be looking for a traditional winger for the left, Gonzalez certainly has the potential but i think hes not ready yet. Maybe Vicente although i havent seen a lot of him since his injury.

Cant agree with this, Alonso has been our best player the last 2 months, and hes one of the few that seemed to give a damn in the games we were losing before the upturn in form. check out the MOM threads for the last 10 games i reckon Alonso will have figured in about 90% of them. There arent many players like Alonso in world football and we are lucky to have him here, Rafa likes the 4-2-3-1 formation and Alonso is perfect for one of the 2 defensive midfield roles, Mascherano isnt a bad 2nd option either. If its a choice between Gerrard or Zenden for the middle then fair enough we go with gerrard but if its a choice between Sissoko or Mascherano or Gerrard for the centre then Gerrard should play wide right. Alonso should always start if fit. (assuming he doesnt need resting)

Sometimes when the game is tight you need strikers that can create chances for themselves and produce that bit of individual brilliance, just as Henry or Drogba or Eto does. We have 3 hard working honest strikers but Bellamy is the only one that you think can make something out fo nothing, the others as you rightly say rely on quality service. Owen is probably the last forward we've had that can make chances for himself we need someone like that to complement someone like Kujt. Plus more of a threat from out wide.

Think Torres is the obvious one, tall, strong bags of pace and able to create goals for himself.

Some great replies i havent been able to post since yesterday cos im currently in Oz and so when you lot are posting im in bed! The purpose of the post wasnt cos we lost 1 game to Arsenal but more of a recurring theme starting to happen against the big sides, especially in league games, yes we have beaten Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal under Rafa but check our league record out against our main rivals and its clear that needs to be improved. Im not saying im better than Rafa and i have complete faith in what hes doing but this is a forum afterall for talking about Liverpool. Its clear this team is very close to being a very good one, one that can challenge for number 19 but its also clear that we're not going to get there with the players we have, that was the purpose of the post, how do we take that next step from being 2nd or 3rd best in the PL and a good cup side to being possible winners of the PL and a team that consistently beats our main rivals. Some really constructive replies and a lot that tie in with my ideas too, i.e we arent that far off but need top quality in attacking areas.

Left backs dont cost squillions because most professional PL level left backs are able to control and pass a football under pressure, they are also able to use their weak foot for more than standing on. We happen to have a left back that while having a great engine and always giving 100% lacks the technical ability of most left backs at this level. I wouldnt get rid of Riise because he has been a very useful player for us over the years and i still think he is a valuable squad player but i think we can do better at left back because of his technical deficiencies.

Im not so sure, at this level its your defenders that get the most cheap posession, teams back off and get men behind the ball meaning your CBs and fullbacks get a lot of possession. If you have a fullback like Riise that technically isnt very good and keeps launching it your not going to be playing a smooth passing game because you keep giving the ball away. While its correct that Riise has been part of a defence thats kept a record number of clean sheets i wonder if hes hurting the team in other ways not defensively but in the way we're able to keep the ball. *I also accept in his defence he hasn't had a consistent left winger in front of him all season*

Think thats a fair point, because of the state of the squad when Rafa took over and also the failure of some of his signings we've had to blood 5 or 6 players each season since hes been here. Hopefully now we have the basis of a solid squad, from now on what we need to do is add 2 or 3 top players to that. Pre-season this year was a disaster because of the world cup most of our strongest 11 hardly figured in the warm up games, that made it even harder for the new guys to settle. On the surface left back may not be a priority as you say Riise was part of a defence thats kept many clean sheets, however my query is this, is having Riise at left back affecting the type and quality of football we play? very often in tight situations he has to launch it because as we know he has no right foot and technically he isnt very good. If you watch a game of PL football its the CBs and full backs that get the most "cheap" possession i.e possession with little or no pressure on the player, therefore if you have players in those positions that are comfortable on the ball and good passers you are able to play a more flowing type of game, if you have defenders that arent good in possession and launch it often its difficult to play a posession type of game.

I think the lack of available top quality wide right players means we may have to settle for Gerrard there, bringing in Mascherano (hopefully) gives us 3 very good players that can play the defensive midfield role in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Gerrard probably isnt as good wide right as central but the difference is negligible. Would the team be better with a combination of Sissoko / Alonso / Mascherano in the middle and Gerrard wide right, or a combination of 2 from the 4 central midfielders and Pennant wide right? I think the majority would agree the TEAM is stronger with Gerrard wide right providing we don't have to settle for Zenden or similar in the middle. Maybe if someone like Alves could be brought in that would change things but i dont see many right wingers out there that are better than Gerrard. 4-3-3 is an interesting idea but im not sure playing forwards in wide positions is the way to go. We do need to play a better brand of football but if you have defenders that have to huff it all the time because technically they arent good enough (Riise is guilty of this all the time) then its hard to do that. You need players that are comfortable on the ball and because its the defenders that get most of the cheap posession you need defenders that dont panic in posession. Agger and Finnan are both good in posession Carra and riise arent, you can get away with 1 of the back 4 but not 2.

Under GH and before him under Evans i always felt the problem with the team was we would always raise our game against Man Utd, or Arsenal but would always lose or draw games we should win, this was happening home and away. Under Rafa the problem seems to be the reverse, we've certainly improved against the sides we're expected to beat, but now against the other big teams we're struggling. Very often the pattern is the same, we hold our own fail to take our chances then lose the first goal and never look like getting back into the game. How can we take the next step which is to be outplaying and beating our main rivals on a regular basis? I think Rafa has assembled a very strong squad, if you look at the squad when he took over hes done a very good job of moving out the deadwood and bringing in quality in all areas. However when we compete against our main rivals the problems seem the same i.e a lack of quality of ruthlessness in attacking positions. I think defensively we're very strong and the clean sheet records over the last few season are testament to that, however i do think we can do better than Riise at left back, hes still a useful player to have in the squad but as a starting left back i think we need someone thats better on the ball Riise gives the ball away far too much, i also think defensively our left hand side is definately being targeted by opposition managers often Riise doesn't get tight enough. Possibles for this position are Lucas Neil, Gareth Bale, Leighton Baines. Central midfield i think is fine, if Mascherano does sign the blend is fantastic I think its pretty obvious the main problems lie in the attacking midfield positions. Pennant isnt good enough to be starting every week, the problem is as we've found out there arent many top quality right sided attacking midfielders out there, Alves is the obvious one that Rafa obviously wants. Another option is of course playing Stevie wide right as he proved last season he can be very effective from there, if we do have Mascherano, Alonso, Sissoko for that position id play Stevie wide right where hes as good as anyone in the world, the players we have to play centrally mean he wont be missed. Wide left i think is a problem position and looking at whos out there i dont see many alternatives. Vicente was a quality payer a few seasons ago, but im not sure how hes playing after injury? Theres also Simoa whose played there for Benfica. Maybe Kewell will come back better than ever but how likely is that? Up front we have 3 honest players but we're really lacking that 1 superstar forward like an henry or Drogba. A lot of our problems against the big 3 has been we arent creating enough and the strikers need 3 or 4 chances to get a goal. We really need a top quality striker that can make his own chances and also is more cliical than we have at the moment. Villa and Torres are the obvious 2, it may mean we sell crouch to bring in a big money striker if that has to happen so be it. I dont think we're that far off. Playing Rafa's favourite 4-2-3-1 formation we're almost there, we have a pretty solid back 5 with maybe the need for a left back, if Mascherano signs we have 3 top qualtiy defensive midfielders for that position and any 2 would do a top job, we have Stevie that can play the wide right role where he scored and created all those goals last season, i think Kujt can play the deep lying striker role really well which leaves wide left and the main striker. We arent far away.

By attacking midfielder im assuming you mean wingers because i think our central midfield blend is superb (even better if Mascherano signs) there arent many that spring to mind at the moment, maybe if Mascherano does sign Gerrard will play almost exclusively on the right, and i wouldnt mind that as he has proven to be very effective out there. Wide left theres always the chance Kewell gets fit, but i think we need to look for a top quality wide left player and as you say a real top notch striker like Villa or Torres.

think the main thing thats been highlighted in the games against Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal is we lack the number of gamebreakers these teams have. usually these games are tight and they are decided by a defensive error or individual brilliance, very often the first goal is crucial. In most of the games against these sides we've held our own for most of t but simply havent scored the first goal or taken advantage of the chances we've created. we dont have enough real quality in the attacking third, we have Gerrard but thats it really, others like Garcia arent consistent enough. Our forwards for the main part are hard working team players without that little extra of an henry or even a Drogba. And our wide players compared to Ronaldo, Robben even Giggs arent consistent enough. Thats where i think we need to improve.

Nice words from Wenger and Henry... Arsene Wenger and Thierry Henry have joined forces to hail the Liverpool fans after an unprecedented show of fan passion kicked off Saturday's FA Cup clash at Anfield. The opening six minutes of the tie were played against a backdrop of incessant chanting of "Justice for the 96" as fans on the Kop held up a mosaic spelling 'The Truth' and sang their hearts out in an appeal for the justice they feel those who lost their lives at Hillsborough have never received. The inspiration for the idea came from the organisers of the newly launched Reclaim The Kop campaign and, while Arsenal may have prevailed on the pitch, the main men at their club were full of respect for the home fans. Wenger said: "You can only admire the Liverpool fans. They kicked every ball for the team for the whole 90 minutes and were just fabulous. The club has a great support here." Star striker Henry, who netted the third goal which killed off any chances the Reds had of a late fightback, added: "I'm not sure what the fans were singing at the start of the game but when it stopped the noise they made meant no-one could hear what was going on on the pitch. "I have such respect for this ground and these supporters. What a place this is to play football."

Dudek is more than capable of stopping at least 2 of the goals the fact he didnt is hardly Rafas fault is it? Its very easy to blame team selection and tactics after the game but as a manager how can you plan for the type of individual errors we say today? Before the goals we were the better team, we werent creating much but we were forcing the issue, the 2nd goal near HT was obviously crucial, the 3rd is to be expected when your pushing for an equaliser but even that should have been stopped. Games against the top sides are usually decided by 1 piece f magic or more often 1 error, at the moment i feel Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal have more potential gamebreakers than we do and that could be where we need to improve.

Dudek if sold will probably go overseas anyway, makes me wonder the importance Rafa placed on the FA Cup this year, but then again even though you make the change you dont expect Dudek to make such elimentary mistakes as he did, and he wasnt the only one. Its always easy to criticise the team selection after the fact but the truth is you can legislate for individual errors.

Couldnt understand a word they were saying, needed some Norweigans in there

i knew something was up re Mascherano when Rafa refused to rule it out when asked about him last week. Hes usually pretty open about players he likes although as usual he keeps his cards very close to his chest. I really do like the way rafa handles transfers.

Great player but im not sure where he'd fit in at the moment, especially if the Mascherano transfer happens. If he is available im sure Mourinho would have the inside running on him being an ex Porto player. Plays in a similar position to Alonso for Barcelona but always thought he was more effective further forward.

Fair enough i guess it depends on how you define "playmaker" im not taking anything away from stevie cos hes obviously a great player but my idea of a playmaker is someone like Alonso that sits more and dictates the tempo of the play, gets a lot of the ball, Stevie could no doubt do this job if asked but as we know hes much more effective when hes allowed to use his energy and make those runs into the oppo area. Hes probably asked to play this role more for England where he gets frustrated cos your only seeing 50% of what he can do. Either way hes certainly an improvement on Zenden in that position so im very happy if this happens. We know Rafa likes the 4-2-3-1 formation for certain games and Mascherano if he signs would certainly give us better options if we wanted to play that way.

I wouldnt describe Gerrard as a playmaker because hes more of a box to box player, for certain away games against the top sides playing both Alonso and a Mascherano type player could be an option because you have the 2 defensive midfielders that Rafa likes to play both of whom can sit and protect but also both of whom like to get on the ball a lot. Someone like Sissoko isnt as good at keeping posession if Alonso is being stifled. We also know Rafa loves the 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1 (whatever way you want to look at it) and so that could be a reason for another top quality central midfielder. There are plenty of games coming up and so im sure he'd like to rest all of our midfielders at some point, at the moment thats not an option, bringing in someone like Mascherano means you can rest Alonso or Gerrard and have a genuine top quality player replacing them.

As i said at the beginning of this thread id be really happy if this happens, it may mean that Stevie plays more on the right but if that does happen we would have 3 real top quality central midfielders so his absence from the middle wouldnt be as severe plus he adds much more than Pennant from the right. i dont think his style of play suits a team like West Ham that are struggling, if he signs for us we'll be dominating most games in terms of posession and this is where his strength is, he keeps things ticking over while protecting the back four, sometimes this season teams have tried to get tight to Alonso cos they know most of our play comes through him, having Mascherano in there maybe with him gives us 2 playmakers.

of course ive seen him play, first saw him at the Youth World Cup a few years back when he was awesome, completely dictated the play for Argentina and was one of those players that plays like a veteran in terms of his awareness despite his young age (similar to Alonso). Havent seen much of him for River Plate or Corinthians but ive seen him numerous times for the Argentina first team and hes always impressed me. One of those players thats always available and keeps things ticking over, plus his positional play is superb in terms of protecting the central defenders. If the fee of 6 million is accuarte its a very low risk move (depending on the MSI situation)