KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Areas Of Weakness?

Once the striker position is sorted, what needs to be addressed next? For me it has to be central defence and central midfield....

CENTRAL DEFENCE:
agger - could breakdown at any minute
skrtel - still not convinced about him
coates - no idea
carragher - his ship has sailed
kelly - plays more at RB but is actually a CB. how good he is though is anyone's guess

We need to buy someone as our main, 1st choice centre back. Someone better than what we've already got.

CENTRAL MIDFIELD:
henderson -
gerrard - past his best
allen - not sure if what he does is important or effective
shelvey - potentially a good player but very erratic at the moment
lucas - good ball winner but not as good as some like to think
suso - worshipped by some but hasn't impressed me yet

At the moment I don't see any of our midfielders as being great passers, great tacklers or great attacking threats/goal threats. In a nutshell, we need to somehow find the next Gerrard.

i agree careex a top class commanding centre half and a box to box hard tackling midfielder who gets goals would transform this team. We are not far away from champions league qualification 3 top players would do it. Pity kenny did not sin that guy from west ham who would have done a good job in midfield fpor us.

is that weaknesses or strengths?

ps suso is worshiped by one not some , on here anyway

Agree we need improving in the center of both midfield and defense (though maybe in the summer when Sahin loan deal ends and Carragher will be edging ever closer to retirement) but I thing the right wing/inside forward position would be the next priority after a striker as we've tried Downing, Shelvey, Cole, Henderson and Suso there at various points in the season but none of them have really made it their own or are better in other positions.

We lost Kuyt, Maxi and Bellamy from the wide positions in the summer but only bought in Assiadi who plays on the left and promoted Sterling so there is still a gap in the squad (or two if Downing or Cole leave). If the transfer rumors are to be believed it looks like it will be Ince.

After that I would look at defensive midfield and a left back if Enrique is going to continue playing a more advanced role although we could always switch Johnson and have Kelly/Wisdom as the right backs until the summer if needs be.

GK - Reina, Jones
LB - Enrique/Downing? Robinson, New Signing?
RB - Johnson, Kelly/Wisdom
CB - Agger, Skrtel, Coates, Carragher, New Summer Signing?
DM - Lucas, Allen? New Summer Signing?
CM - Gerrard, Allen, Sahin, Henderson
AM - Shelvey, Suso, Cole?
LW - Assiadi, Enrique/Downing/Borini?
RW - Sterling, Cole? New Signing (Ince?)
ST - Suarez, Borini, New signing (Sturridge?)

I posted this on another thread, but it has more relevance here.

The best part of getting in quick attacking players who can take on defenders is that it will actually improve our defense, + our attack.

If you analyse BR's Swans, and what he originally tried to implement here (with no success), is that they build up slowly, before attacking quickly in the final third. Having the quicker wide players who can take on defenders will not only encourage us to counter attack more but it will also mean we can attack more from the front and less from the back. This means that our left and right back will not be able to get forward as often as they are required to now in order for us to get past the defense as we dont have enough penetration. This will result in them not getting caught out of position (see Villa vs Liverpool)

The players that I am talking about are the ones that we are linked with e.g. Sturridge, Walcott, Ince. Sterling is alright, can beat defenders but then get's lost. Being linked with these players gives me relief as the boss understands where the problem is. We will see a marked improvement from March to May, albeit to late.

Source: Football Manager 08,09,10,11,12.

haha good source

Areas of weekness? Football perhaps...;) kidding of course. I think our defense is looking confused and unorganized at times and I believe it's down to te new style of play.

Come on Stanley, please don't trott out the three players away excuse, we have been using it now for near 25 years now, first we were three players away from winning the League, now we are three players away from Champions League Qualification, never changes. I honestly think the famous we are three players away excuse also applies to Everton, Newcastle, Stoke City, Fulham and West Brom...

well houllier managed to qualify

there was only two super clubs back then in United and Arsenal with one or two more places up for grabs, there is four super clubs now with no places up for grabs unless you match them pound for pound both on and off the pitch...