Us and Them. How do we catch up next year?

[New York Red]

I drive myself absolutely mental thinking about what we need to do, who we need to buy, to win the title. Well after this weeks performances, I'd have to say "not much".

 

It's just a matter of turning those draws into wins as we all know. To absolutely crush some of these lower positioned teams every few weeks. It may well be that they have a better squad than us, but it wouldn't take much for us to get there. So how do we stack up versus them?

 

Goalkeepers: Reina, Cavallieri VS Van der Saar, Kusczak, Foster

 

Looks pretty even to me, though they may be a bit deeper in the case of injury.

 

Left Backs: Auerilio, Insua, Dossena VS Evra, Fabio, O'Shea

 

I'd take us here. Auerilio needs to stay fit, Dossena won't cut it, Insua and Fabio are a wash. Arbeloa can cover.

 

Centre Backs: Carra, Sami, Skrtel, Agger VS Rio, Vidic, Evans, Brown

 

They may have a better first choice pairing, but we are deeper. A wash.

 

Right Backs: Arbeloa, Degen, Darby VS Neville, Rafael

 

With the fact that O'Shea can play here, they clearly have a lead here despite Carra deputizing.

 

Left Midfield: Riera, Babel VS Giggs, Nani

 

Either one of ours would be a good backup. I like Babel's versatility. But this would be where we need to spend big.

 

Centre Midfield: Gerrard, Xabi, Marscher, Lucas VS Scholes, Carrick, Hargreaves, Fletcher, Anderson

 

We take them here, no question. I would not be averse to switching Lucas for a very versatile player.

 

Right Midfield: Kuyt, Benayoun VS Ronaldo, Park

 

Clearly they are better. A star RM and keeping the pair of ours would give us great quality AND depth.

 

Striker: Torres, Ngog VS Rooney, Berbatov, Tevez

 

We have the best striker in the world. They may have #'s 3, 5 and 7 (or thereabouts). Someone who can replace Nando in a 4-2-3-1 and who can play alongside him in a 4-1-3-2 is ideal.

 

Frankly I think if we sign Agger, we are in good shape in the back. Even though we need a right back, I think we could manage with the players we have. I wouldn't hesitate to get rid of Dossena though. I thought Sami might be finished, but after today, can you think of a better fourth choice CB?

 

Three players in the midfield right across the field would be preferable. Could we get all that in one summer? Doubtful. But players like Robben, Sneijder, Ribery, Diego, Barry, Young, Agbonlahor, Kuba, Srna, Zhirkov, Van der Vaart are what we need to get in. One definitely, two preferably, three hopefully.

 

Then up front, who would it be? Villa? Aguero? Santa Cruz? Luis Fabiano? Here's the thing though. Who would tip things would be us being complete ruthless b*stards and signing Tevez.

 

Now I'm going to take a nap...

[drdooom]

Gerrard isn't a midfielder anymore, he's King Kenny to Torres' Rush.

[New York Red]

Gerrard isn't a midfielder anymore, he's King Kenny to Torres' Rush.

 

Very good point. Two CM's?

[abc]

Very good point. Two CM's?

 

I want to see Barry here, paired with Xabi.

 

We need another forward, preferably one that can play on the left and/or right too.

 

Also, reckon we need a few more Benayoun type/level players, who have the ability to turn it on and play out of their skin and have enough skill and pace to add enough variation to our play.

[slapnuts]

keeping Torres fit.

 

keeping Gerrard fit.

 

Buying a better squad

[New York Red]

Ribery, Diego, Young and Tevez?

[Kvarme Ate My Food]

Ribery, Diego, Young and Tevez?

 

as if. s****hawk.

[MFletcher]

Villa to finish fifth. Sign Barry and Young.

 

Then use any leftover money to sign a right back to challenge Arbeloa.

[AmassiveSlot]

i would say the key to winning it next year would be to win every single game

[New York Red]

I think one great signing a year is better than three good ones.

 

I'd start with Ribery, Tevez or Diego next summer.

Edited March 15, 2009 by New York Red

[Hassony]

I think one great signing a year is better than three good ones.

 

I'd start with Ribery, Tevez or Diego next summer.

 

but what about the one great signing?

[New York Red]

but what about the one great signing?

 

Ribery

[John am Rhein]

We have the best team, but what we need is consistency so Benitez must bring a dictionary to training and spell it out to the players (with Spanish, Italian, Finnish, Portuguese, Slovakian and Danish translations):

 

con·sis·ten·cy

Pronunciation: \kən-ˈsis-tən(t)-sē\

Function: noun

Inflected Form(s): plural con·sis·ten·cies

 

1 aarchaic : condition of adhering together : firmness of material substance b: firmness of constitution or character : persistency

2: degree of firmness, density, viscosity, or resistance to movement or separation of constituent particles <boil the juice to the consistency of a thick syrup>

3 a: agreement or harmony of parts or features to one another or a whole : correspondence ; specifically : ability to be asserted together without contradiction b: harmony of conduct or practice with profession <followed her own advice with consistency>

 

However, I can see him being too stubborn to do that so it's time we sacked him and brought Alan C Rubishley in to take us to the next level.

[allawee]

I know we always talk about the various positions LB, RB, RW, LW etc., but when I look at our matches this season and regardless of who we played (except for Middlesborough when we had an off day), we always control matches, our defense is comfortable, midfield is bossing the game, and Reina is sleeping as he has nothing to do.

 

But where is the weakness? It has been unlocking tight defenses and converting draws to wins at home against lesser opposition. Everyone after Real's and Man U game admits that if we had Torres fit, then we wouldn't just be level with the scum, but probably ahead of them.

 

So surely the answer for next season must be a quality forward back up for Torres who can also play along side him and a top play-maker.

 

For me, I would like to see Van Persie and Ribery as the only 2 signings we make next year with our limited funds and resources.

Edited March 15, 2009 by allawee

[smithdown]

Catch them this year, that's the answer.

[Duncan Disorderly]

Ribery

Correct.

[Archangel]

I'm sorry I dont want another defensive midfielder unless one is on the way out

 

I think we need to focus beyond the squad and more to our atitude and approach to the game. We lost the title not because we couldn't match the quality of the top sides but because we failed to beat sides we were already superior to.

 

One player does interest me though, and that would be Joe Cole,

[Duncan Disorderly]

We need out and out wingers that can deliver great crosses and good defensively, so 3 at the back, 2 wingers, 3 in the middle and 1 off Torres up front.

 

Bye bye Derek!

[alias75]

We need to strengthen the squad by strengthening the first team.

 

I do think we have 13-14 players that are good enough, the results against the other top teams prove that when we're near to full strength we are as good as anyone. Torres and Gerrard have hardly played together this season and there's no doubt in my mind if they'd been fit for the whole season we'd be in a much stronger position in the league this season.

 

But that doesn't hide the fact that we're lacking at least 1 maybe 2 world class attacking players.

 

break the bank on a world class attacking player like Silva or Ribery and that would go a long way to turning those draws into wins. I think we could get Barry pretty cheaply given his contract situation and just those 2 signings immediately strengthen us quite a lot, and give us a few more options.

[John am Rhein]

We need out and out wingers that can deliver great crosses and good defensively, so 3 at the back, 2 wingers, 3 in the middle and 1 off Torres up front.

 

Bye bye Derek!

 

No, the idea is to get more points not less

[surf]

1. don't want barry and anyone suggesting a barry-alonso "dream-midfield" is obviously mad, cause we have one of the best midfielders in the world in mascherano. yes, barry would strengthen the team but we're not made of money

 

2. anyone wanting kuyt out is equaly mad

[Flight]

Xabi has been brilliant this term. But you have to look at what the whole team needs and not individual performances. Xabi spends more time linking the defense with the midfield. Barry (and Lucas) spend more time linking the midfield with the attack and become part of the attack.

 

Our problems now are not in defense. Mascha and Xabi are both brilliant players and I'd be sorry to see either of them leave. But I think Barry and Mascha - or Barry and Alonso - would be more effective at breaking down teams that park the bus, than Mascha and Xabi in front of the back two.

 

Barry would be a big step forward to us in achieving what we need to do more of and that is breaking down defending teams.

 

 

 

At the end of the day, how we catch them next year is to have less injuries to key players. To me that includes Arbie and Aurelio, who have been long underrated. Its not just Nando and Stevies injuries that have had a major effect on this term.

Edited March 15, 2009 by Flight

[Rimbeux]

Only way Barry makes any sense for me at least is if Lucas and Dossena leave to pay for him and make room for him.

 

 

Players to start on the left and right flanks and Owen for the bench is what I'm thinking.

[Flight]

Owen for the bench is what I'm thinking.

 

 

Good call. I've been amongst the most vocal of his critics, but its time to forgive the little Welsh turncoat and bring him back into the fold.

 

Is he out of contract this summer or down to 12 months ?

[Rimbeux]

Good call. I've been amongst the most vocal of his critics, but its time to forgive the little Welsh turncoat and bring him back into the fold.

 

Is he out of contract this summer or down to 12 months ?

 

 

Out of contract this summer. If he acts up we make money selling him to Man City. Suspect his advisers would see through it though and guess he might be on the bench more than starting and go for a big offer from a mid level club.