Hello lads.
As the new Liverpool manager, what would you do with the following players;
Joe Cole
Alberto Aquilani
Jonjo Shelvey
Jay Spearing
Raheem Sterling
Jesus Fernandez Saez (Suso)
Martin Kelly
Sebastián Coates
Danny Wilson
John Flanagan
Jack Robinson
Joao Carlos Teixeira
Who would you sell/loan/promote and in what competitions would you play them in?
I think one needs to consider what kind of football I intend to play before thinking about who to sell and keep. Our problems last season stemmed from defensive issues - conceding soft goals, and then trying to fix that by defending deep, which didn't stop the soft goals but did stop us scoring them at the other end. A higher line, a sweeper-keeper - these suggest our fullbacks will get forward more often. Therefore we do not need to stay with 4-4-2 as a way of having men up front - 4-3-3 is probably best, and we have the depth at CB (and especially Lucas who could easily drop back between the CBs the way Mascherano did at Barcelona), which makes 3 at the back a possibility (3-4-3, 3-5-2). As such I would want an extra midfielder, preferably a defensive one as Lucas is so central to our plans and has no able backup. I would definitely want another striker, and a backup at left wing (ie not Bellamy).
Cole, Spearing - sell. The former because he's a squad player on higher wages than practically every other player on our books, the latter because he just doesn't have it to be a Liverpool player.
Aquilani - keep if a central midfield 3 looks like the way forward in pre-season, as we'll need his creativity. If 4-4-2 is the only answer, then sell him if we can.
Shelvey, Henderson - keep as backups for Aquilani, Lucas and Gerrard (Hendo more defensive, Shelvey more attacking, able to play together in a 2-man midfield), play them together in the cups resting 2 of the other 3.
Kelly, Coates - squad players who will feature heavily in the Carling Cup and Europa League, but may see first team action if we go with 3 at the back for the whole season
Sterling, Flanagan, Robinson - occasional players against weaker opposition and in cups, with only the odd start if they impress during their run-outs. This is the first season they should be exposed to more than half a dozen games in order that they understand our system and our players so that when they get out there the following season they are not overawed and everything is already comfortable.
Suso, Wilson, Coady, Wisdom, Morgan, Teixeira, Amoo - stay with the reserve/youth squad, but get the odd look in with the first team, maybe even travel to a Europa League away game and just sit the bench - basically the same treatment that Sterling got this season.
We also omitted:
Maxi, Aurelio - sell
Kuyt - keep because we'll need the extra players in Europe
Backup striker, backup right wing, backup left wing - for now Kuyt and Bellamy fit these roles, or use the youth (Morgan, Suso, Sterling, Amoo). I think only the 3rd striker should be a priority if we play 3 up front (Downing (L) - Carroll - Suarez (R)), but if we go with 2 up top then we'll need a right winger to splash some money on as well.
Backup DM - without Spearing we lack a quality backup to Lucas, so we'll need to invest here because the 3rd player will be necessary over the season.
Backup AMC - just use Suso if we run into heavy injury problems
