Our Squad

[Toni]

I thought that we lacked more depth, but when you compare our squad to that of chelski and manure we dont really lack depth

 

Goalies

Van der Sar		 Cech		Reina
Foster			Hilario		Cavalieri
Kus



Right-Full Backs

Gary w*****				   Ivanovic		Johnson
Brown			Bosingwa		Degen
Rafael			Ferreira		Kelly
O shea			Belletti



Left Full-Backs
Evra					 Cole			Auerlio
Fabio					 Zhirkov						Insua	   									 												Doss								
De Laet



Central defe
Vidic		Carvalho		Carra
Ferdinand		 Terry		Agger
(Brown)		  Alex		Skrtel
(o shea)				Kyriagos
Evans




Central Mids
Anderson		Essien			Mascheran
Hargreaves		Mikel			Aquilani
Carrick		Ballack			 Lucas
Scholes		Lampard									(Gerrard)
Fletcher								Spearing
Gibson



Left Wing
Giggs		J. Cole			   Babel
Park		Malouda			   Riera
Tosic					(Yossi)

Right Wing
Nani		 Kalou			Kuyt
Valencia		 Deco			(Yossi)
Obertan					El Zhar


Strikers
Ronny				Drogba			Torres
Berbatov				Anelka			Gerrard
Owen			   (kalou)			Vog
Welbeck			   Sturridge			 Ngog
Macheda

Edited November 2, 2009 by Toni

[Toni]

fecked up with this code thing... however either we are unlucky with injuries or our squad players lack the necessary quality

[David Hodgson]

fecked up with this code thing... however either we are unlucky with injuries or our squad players lack the necessary quality

 

The truth is that we're not miles off them, and arguably have a better 1st 11 than either. Where people get confused on this issue, IMHO, is because our squad could/should have been so much stronger than it is, if G & H had played fair in the summer. Had they provided the extra £30m they pulled in in sales (inc Keane) then we'd have £30m more talent in our squad and look even stronger, on paper.

 

However, disregarding what might have been, in absolute terms, we still have a monster of a squad that is comparable to anybody's.

[Stevie H]

The truth is that we're not miles off them, and arguably have a better 1st 11 than either.

still think this is a big misnomer and coloured massively by our own fans' bias. ask united and chelsea fans to pick an XI from the three clubs and more than likely it'll only have gerrard and torres in it.

[Toni]

We just need another quality winger and a striker in order for us to have the necessary penetartion. Investments in babel, doss, pennant proved too much of a liability. It s not totally Rafa s fault as it is impossible to get it right everytime in the transfer market. Other managers have the luxury of hiding their transfer market mistakes by buying new ones. rafa does not have that luxury. most time he had to sell the likes of bellamy to be able to fund other players.

 

However given the current financial situation, i cant understand why rafa doesnt seem to consider loan options more often saviola when he was at barca, pavlyuchenko at spurs is a current possibility...surely there are plenty others lying around.

 

 

However a Ribery and a Bellamy and we may have gone to win the title this year...

 

so near yet so far.

Edited November 2, 2009 by Toni

[Falconhoof]

Our squad is some considerable distance from either of those 2. We are struggling to keep up the standard because we aren't investing enough.

[Leo No.8]

Our first team:

 

-----------------------Reina-------------------------

 

 

Johnson-----Carragher------Agger---------Aurelio

 

 

--------------Mascherano--Aquilani----------------

 

 

Kuyt------------------Gerrard-------------Benayoun

 

 

-----------------------Torres-------------------------

 

 

Is for me the best first team in the premier league, problem is f*ck knows when we're likely to see them all playing at the same time, 2015 or something. Our major problem is quite simply an appalling run of injuries.

 

People may not agree with the way Rafa is managing them, but that's exactly what he's trying to do - manage a very difficult situation as best he can, and people should also bear in mind we don't have all the medical reports.

 

Having said that, our squad players have had the chance to step up and have failed. I think Babel, Voronin and a few others' time was very clearly up at the end of last season and it was time for them to be replaced.

 

Why they weren't we don't actually know. If Rafa decided to give them another go, then he's to blame. If he couldn't be sure whether he'd get the money from their sales then its more a symptom of the current owndership situation.

 

I think its probably the latter, but having said that Rafa did sign those individuals in the first place. I think we just have to get on with it at the moment, as need a bit of luck on the injury side.

 

The frustrating thing is that team above is well capable of winning 10 games or more on the bounce, but by the time we actually get to field them all we'll be too far behind. Interntional breaks have a lot to answer for.

Edited November 2, 2009 by Leo No.8

[Jarg Armani]

they have a couple of good enough players at least for every position. we don't have enough centre halves or centre mids.

[Falconhoof]

they have a couple of good enough players at least for every position. we don't have enough centre halves or centre mids.

 

Or strikers, wide midfielders or fullbacks. Other than that we match them punch for punch.

[Leo No.8]

they have a couple of good enough players at least for every position. we don't have enough centre halves or centre mids.

 

The above chart tells me Krygiakos and Yossi are trying to move to Chelsea, and Insua and the Doss have set up their own radical splinter clubs in different parts of the country.

 

It also tells me my brain hurts every time I look at it.

[Toni]

The above chart tells me Krygiakos and Yossi are trying to move to Chelsea, and Insua and the Doss have set up their own radical splinter clubs in different parts of the country.

 

It also tells me my brain hurts every time I look at it.

 

sry abt that. looked good before i posted it, then presumably many of our players got injured in the process and resulted in this mumbo-jumbo...however numerically we do not lack depth...

[Falconhoof]

sry abt that. looked good before i posted it, then presumably many of our players got injured in the process and resulted in this mumbo-jumbo...however numerically we do not lack depth...

 

Its not just about numbers. Its quite clear that the lower order of our squad isn't up to the job.

[PaulM]

We dont lack depth, we have loads of players

 

We just lack quality

 

Say our first 11 is

 

Reina

 

Johnson Carragher Agger Insua

 

Kuyt Gerrard Mascerano Aqialini Riera

 

Torres

 

With the exception of Skirtel, Aurelio and benayoun all the others that could come in are not really good players. Thats where our problem is, that team above is the best in the league but we are f'cked when we lose a few players because the ones that come in are rubbish

 

Especially up front, it was madness to go into this season with ngogg and voronin as the only back up for torres, madness. In all other seasons we have had the likes of crouch or keane to back up the striker

[Leo No.8]

We dont lack depth, we have loads of players

 

We just lack quality

 

Say our first 11 is

 

Reina

 

Johnson Carragher Agger Insua

 

Kuyt Gerrard Mascerano Aqialini Riera

 

Torres

 

With the exception of Skirtel, Aurelio and benayoun all the others that could come in are not really good players. Thats where our problem is, that team above is the best in the league but we are f'cked when we lose a few players because the ones that come in are rubbish

 

Especially up front, it was madness to go into this season with ngogg and voronin as the only back up for torres, madness. In all other seasons we have had the likes of crouch or keane to back up the striker

 

In a nutshell - spot on.

 

I guess the really frustrating thing is that we all knew the players who aren't up to it weren't up to it by the end of last season and in some cases even the year before. Quite likely Rafa knew that himself this summer.

 

I think a mixture of whether the owners would f*ck Rafa over for the money if he sold them, and the ridiculously inflated transfer market making it hard to sign replacements resulted in the likes of Voronin and Babel staying.

 

Now we're being crucified for it because of injuries. Its pretty f*cking unfortunate to be honest.

Edited November 2, 2009 by Leo No.8

[kop205]

Where people get confused on this issue, IMHO, is because our squad could/should have been so much stronger than it is, if G & H had played fair in the summer. Had they provided the extra £30m they pulled in in sales (inc Keane) then we'd have £30m more talent in our squad and look even stronger, on paper.

 

Ain't that the truth.

 

If you look at the sides we've lost to this season then - with th exception of Fulham - they all fielded sides which cost a comparable amount to ours to assemble.

 

Chelsea go without saying, but the same is true of the line-ups that Villa and Sunderland put out. Spurs was just crazy - their starting line up cost about £100 with £25m worth of srikers coming off the bench and Bentley (£15m) as an unused sub. It is just astonishing and shows what a task Rafa has.

[Zoob]

We came incredibly close to winning the league last season, and yet because of the s*** our great custodians have put us in, our squad is actually worse than it was at the start of last season. - Keane, Alonso, Arbeloa, Hyypia, Pennant - around 65 million pounds worth - have been replaced by Johnson, Aquilani and Kyriakos, around 35 million pounds worth.

 

Not saying Penant was a great loss to the team, because obviously he wasn't, but we're still in a situation where we have an 18 year old (Ecclestone) coming off the bench for us, because our squad - albeit ravaged by injury - is so thin.

 

5 senior players out, and 3 senior players in, and of these 3, Kyriakos - no where near as good as Hyypia - was only signed because we couldn't afford anyone costing more than 1.5 million. And I'm sure Rafa would have sold Babel / dossena / and or Voronin had he been told he'd actually get to spend the money but after the disappearing Keane money (one of the maddest things about this whole fiasco), it's not surprising that they're all still here.

[GWistooshort]

Well Rafa's not sure at the moment whether he'll have any money in Jan for any additions............

 

"We are making plans but it depends on the situation whether you go to Plan A or Plan B – sometimes that depends on money. At this moment I don’t know [what will be available in January] so I have to keep doing my job and wait.

 

"At this moment I don’t know if I will have some money. I just have to keep trying to do my job, to win games and I’m sure that I will have some discussions with [managing director] Christian Purslow and we will analyse the situation but at this moment it is just carry on.”

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...-in-Europe.html

[Sion]

Well Rafa's not sure at the moment whether he'll have any money in Jan for any additions............

 

"We are making plans but it depends on the situation whether you go to Plan A or Plan B – sometimes that depends on money. At this moment I don’t know [what will be available in January] so I have to keep doing my job and wait.

 

"At this moment I don’t know if I will have some money. I just have to keep trying to do my job, to win games and I’m sure that I will have some discussions with [managing director] Christian Purslow and we will analyse the situation but at this moment it is just carry on.”

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...-in-Europe.html

 

Why am i imagining the South Park scene from Scott Tenorman must die

 

Purslow: How much did I say? Uh, oh yeah. £20m. You got change for £50m?

Rafa: Oh. Uh, lessee. [pulls out some money] I only got six million and twelve thousand.

Purslow: Oh. well... that's okay. Here. Just... give me the six million . [done.] And then I'll... give you the £20m.

Rafa: ...Okay.

Purslow: Now, give me Torres and Gerrard, and I'll give you back two million.

Rafa: Right.

Purslow: Now, give me Mascherano and Reina, and I'll give you the rest of your change back.

Rafa: Cool.

Purslow: And then give me the £20m, and I'll give you a new contract for Voronin. [walks back in the house with his money back]

Rafa: Sweet! [the door closes] Uh. Oh, God-damnit!

[GWistooshort]

The Daily Mirror this morning says we'll have to either qualify for the CL knock out rounds or bring in new investment if we're going to have anything to spend in Jan

 

 

"Benitez will be told there is no money available for new signings – unless he can produce a miraculous Champions League recovery to guide Liverpool into the knock-out stages of Europe’s top club competition.

 

But he believes that Premier League salvation is still achievable without January recruits if he can keep his squad injury-free.

 

Benitez said: “If I have no money in the New Year it will not be a problem.

 

Benitez has already held talks with managing director Christian Purslow about the consequences of an early Champions League exit.

 

Circumstances will change if Purslow can bring in investors to work alongside owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

 

And Benitez admitted that five Premier League defeats and a losses to Lyon and Fiorentina have instigated the most stressful period of his five-year reign – even though Purslow has given him assurances that his job is safe this season.

 

Benitez added: “At Liverpool, this has been my most stressful time, but you have to carry on with your job.

 

“I have been working with Christian Purslow and I know the situation. Together we will work to find what is best for the club and best for the team.

 

“Not staying in the Champions League will not be a big problem financially because the budget was set only for the group stages. Anything after that would have been a bonus.

 

“Of course there will be problems if we are not in the Champions League next year – but I believe we will be."

 

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Liver...icle214391.html

[GWistooshort]

Rafa also said the following according to Sky...............

 

"The finances are being questioned. But I am assured that we did not budget for a last 16 place this season, only to reach the group stages.

 

"The problem will come next season if we cannot arrest this situation. But the commercial department is earning us more money and the position of the club is very healthy.

 

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_5684246,00.html