I do not think there will be enough money to plug all the holes. Therefore we must decide what we are going to do next season, and how we are going to go about it. We are used to being a well-oiled machine, but we've run out of oil, and the hard questions need to be asked an answered. What formation will we use? Who are we bringing through as captain? And, most importantly, when will we appoint a full time manager? For the last question I think the correct answer is "the day after the last match involving that manager's team this season". Whoever he is he must be involved at the earliest moment possible. If it's Kenny, I still believe forcing the players to play for his contract is the best way to keep them focussed until the end of the season.
I'm starting to feel that 3-5-2 is likely to be the easiest transition for us. We have defensive holes regardless of whether Reina stays or not; LB, DM, CB. If we go with 3 at the back then we may need to buy 2 CBs - one front-liner and one backup, and I say that because I dislike Skrtel, feel it's time to put Carra to pasture, great servant that he's been, and think the Greek will surely exceed his sell-by date before his automatically extended contract expires. Our other CBs play at fullback.
I'm not interested in whether or not we sign players of world class, given that we have no European competition to distract us (or them) next season. Having said that, anyone we sign will more than likely be here because he wants to play for Liverpool more than he wants to win things, and those are the kind of players we need (but obviously they must exceed a minimum standard well above that set by the incumbents in their positions).
I can't see 4-4-2 holding much promise, simply because it gives us a headache as regards Meireles and Gerrard, unless we play a diamond formation the same as Chelsea do (and in which case we will need Aquilani to stand in as we don't have a million CMs, regardless of whether you rate him or not). It (non-diamond) also forces us to splash on at least one winger.
LB, DM, CB, plus either winger or another CB. Note that I'm talking about 4 players who are ready-made first team quality - not players with potential, not bargain basement gambles (Marveaux sounds good on a free, but so did Jovanovic and Cole). If we manage to sign that many players and still have some money, then a backup striker will provide some necessary cover.
