16 Jun 2015 07:48:24
Gregorz Krychowiak (spelling) would be a great signing to replace Lucas. Excellent CDM with pace and power. Reading that he has a release clause of about £22m. This is the type of midfielder that would help the team instead of a Kovacic 'no 10' style. We have plenty of creativity already we need a shield. Both would be good 😎
16 Jun 2015 08:37:05
It would be nice Bosco but where would the money come from?
16 Jun 2015 09:20:58
Not sure about the "plenty of creativity" comment mate.
Without Suarez, Gerrard, Sterling and Sturridge what do we have?
Coutinho is a little hit-and-miss, Markovic has to improve his final ball and Can is shackled in defence. Adam Lallana is ok when fit and Allen, Milner and Henderson will contribute but we really do need to replace Gerrard's vision and the tenacity and magic of Suarez. To me, Strindl or Kovacic could provide "the spark" but who will be at the end of it? Sturridge? Origi? Ings? Balotelli? Borini? Sterling?
My hunch is to rule out 3-4 of the above as likely starters up front for our first game.
We really need to pull the rabbit out of the hat with deals for Sterling and the two Italians (plus Aspas, Alberto and Coates off the books) in order to facilitate the capture of a proven striker.
As far as the DM position goes, there has been nobody more vocal than me over the years about our need to replace Hamman/Mascherano etc. I've been like a broken record on the issue but BR (unlike Rafa) doesn't recognize the advantages of protecting the defence.which is strange considering the vulnerability of our defence.
Lucas Leiva has been a loyal and enthusiastic ambassador of Liverpool Football Club over the years and is a seriously decent bloke. I'm disappointed the fans never really warmed to him and gave him his own song. After all, he wasn't brought in as a Def Mid (Rafa saw his potential in the role and he's performed it without protest for years).
Now, he could be going (I hope not) and those supporters with any know-how will understand the absolute need for a replacement. Ideally (but not too realistic) we'll bring in Schneiderlin.
However, we don't really need to panic in this regard. after all, we are once again "in transition".
Kolo Toure, Jordan Rossiter, Emre Can, Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen could fill the gap (depending on the opposition).for 70% of the season we won't NEED a specialist, just a spoiler like Lucas. The other 30% of the season, against top teams, we rely on Rodgers and his coaching certificates.
ANFIELDPETE
16 Jun 2015 10:21:42
Sevilla only paid under 6m for him hows he worth 22m. I know were mugs but the handles not that big. Well hang on actually it is haha.
16 Jun 2015 10:52:48
You lost any credibility in your long post early on by saying Lallana is OK, the boy is class,and hasn't the legend Gerrard had an awful lot of games when he hasn't been " creative " if not entirely invisible. And Benitez did make us hard to beat, but awful to watch.
16 Jun 2015 10:57:44
a midfield/attack of
----------Milner-----------
---- Hendo ---- Couts -----
Ibe ---- Studge ---- Llalana
That's pretty creative in my book but agree it's a young side and Sturridge injury a worry. Perhaps we need one more proven striker but no more - Kovacic a bonus.
16 Jun 2015 11:07:20
Replace Gerrards vision? You mean his staggering 3 assists from open play in his last two seasons? In fact he only got 1 assist in total last season as his set pieces went to pot and that was virtually the only creativity he had left.
Then you criticise the creativity of Henderson and Milner who got 15 and 9 assists respectively last season whilst Coutinho got just 6.
Some people really do see what they want to see. Stats aren't always great but when it comes to scoring and creating goals it's pretty black and white. And last season Henderson and Milner created 24 goals whilst your esteemed Gerrard and Coutinho created 7. Less than 30% of Hendo/Millers collective total.
So by all means slate them because of the simplicity and ruthless effectiveness of their chance creation style, but don't spout utter tripe about them being on a similar creative level as Joe Allen.
16 Jun 2015 11:34:52
Top Top post EMS. players like hendo milner get nothing for their hardwork. compare the numbers and you will understand just how important a player hendo is for the team. also i Hope lallana contributes next season , he has had his 1 season for settling at anfield, now he needs to step up those performances to a level we know he can. also Ibe has to play at the wings now , he should the right sided winger/forward watever we play 4-5-1 or 4-3-3, no point in playing him RWB. Also i still hope for Kovacic to be signed. A midfield of kovacic hendo and emre can just makes me so hopeful for next season , coutinho/milner in front of them with ings/sturridge and Ibe upfront. i just hope next season we play with two upfront in a 4-3-1-2 , it would theoretically suit us. if we get a top striker maybe its good but i am happy if we only add kovacic over bodgan, ings and milner in the summer and get rid of a few italians and the left spaniards and a certain welsh guy,
16 Jun 2015 11:37:02
We've needed to replace stevie for 3 years, it's not because of his measly 3 assists last year, don't take it out of context ems
16 Jun 2015 12:42:03
Stevie (as in the great player from 2001-2010) has been replaced. He played in an attacking midfield role in which we now have Coutinho, Lallana, Teixeira, Brannagan etc.
Why would we want to replace the Stevie of the last 3 years? Injuries, inconsistency, defensive farilties etc. He hasn't been scoring or assisting much from open play for half a decade and it's just slowly got worse and worse.
So if we're replacing Stevie, we're replacing Coutinho. Kovacic if played in an nced role could be very similar to Stevie. But it'd mean pushing Coutinho out of the side or into a wide role. I am pretty sure Kovacic will partner Hendo in midfield next season if he signs. Which actually means he's replacing Lucas/Allen/Gerrard(of the last few years) none of whom have contributed anything i would consider to be exceptional vision.
Lucas is a great destroyer whom i'd be sad to lose, Allen is merely a metronome and nothing more than a squad player, and Gerrard has been shoehorned into a role he can't play just to save his legs and get him on the pitch to take set pieces. All of his best performances have come when he's been in advanced positions. To be quite frank, I'd have kept Gerrard as a back up to Coutinho. He never has been and never will be a good holding midfielder though and certainly doesn't need replacing. We replaced him years ago when we signed Coutinho.
16 Jun 2015 12:57:47
EMS what about their assists of assists and so. Pretty sure Gerrard would be high on that list.
16 Jun 2015 12:59:16
EMS, just because Gerrard hasn't been at his best in recent seasons, it doesn't mean that his vision hasn't been top class during his time with us. Also, good vision isn't just about assists, it's about picking out quality passes that other players wouldn't see. Not to mention that the season before last he was played as a cdm so shouldn't be expected to be getting bags of assists from open play. He still needs replacing, as does Alonso even after all these years.
And let's be honest we've seen you "spout utter tripe" about players being a lot better than they really are. So lay off the guy, he didn't slate them, he said they will contribute.
Red Rum
16 Jun 2015 13:15:50
Well said, particularly how creative hendo can be with movement ahead of him to feed
16 Jun 2015 13:37:56
Your clutching Rum, Gerrard needed to move on,
16 Jun 2015 13:47:32
I know he did Welsh. Where did I say he didn't?
Red Rum
16 Jun 2015 15:07:18
having vision isn't simply about assists and goals,it's about picking the right pass,the pass that opens up a team from deepin your own area. Spouting those stats was utter nonsense.