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First 11 for next season

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Ideal world
........
........
Skrtel
........
........
Gerrard
Allen
Henderson
Sterling
Suarez
Sturridge

I think its just the shambles at the back we need to focus on.
Anyone seen much of Ilori by the way?

I would like to see full backs come in. Im not reaally expecting Mignolet, Johnson, Enrique and Sakho to be replaced but it wouldnt be the worst idea in the world.
Then onviously Griezmann and fucking Iturbe to come in.
 
I've never been so embarrassed and disgusted by a Liverpool performance than I was with that second half collapse against Palace. It made me so angry I spent the whole of the week avoiding even a mention of football. If you're going to be that gutless and brainless, then I don't care if you get to the top of the table in August and stay there until May, you'll blow it, because you just don't have the sense and composure to see it through. And if that's how you crumble away against Palace, god help you in somewhere like the Bernabéu. As for next season, well, you have a dodgy keeper, no genuinely solid centre back, an ageing midfielder and a striker who may leave. So no spine. Very apt for a spineless team.
 
Herr Onceared said:
Ideal world
........
........
Skrtel
........
........
Gerrard
Allen
Henderson
Sterling
Suarez
Sturridge

I think its just the shambles at the back we need to focus on.
Anyone seen much of Ilori by the way?

I would like to see full backs come in. Im not reaally expecting Mignolet, Johnson, Enrique and Sakho to be replaced but it wouldnt be the worst idea in the world.
Then onviously Griezmann and fucking Iturbe to come in.
Click to expand...


Yeh I'd go along with that squad. Sakho has potential to come good, so let's see there.

Not sure on Luis staying or going, but either way, I'd want to know ASAP. It'll be A nightmare to have to wait for the wc to be over to then have to wait for a suitor to agree a deal, leaving us then with little time to sort out buying the right players to rebuild with. Obviously, we can't know who to buy until we know whether he's going or not. No point buying good players when we could have bought even better ones with the extra funds released by his sale.
 
gkmacca said:
I've never been so embarrassed and disgusted by a Liverpool performance than I was with that second half collapse against Palace. It made me so angry I spent the whole of the week avoiding even a mention of football. If you're going to be that gutless and brainless, then I don't care if you get to the top of the table in August and stay there until May, you'll blow it, because you just don't have the sense and composure to see it through. And if that's how you crumble away against Palace, god help you in somewhere like the Bernabéu. As for next season, well, you have a dodgy keeper, no genuinely solid centre back, an ageing midfielder and a striker who may leave. So no spine. Very apt for a spineless team.
Click to expand...


And how we've missed you.
 
First Eleven ? There won't be a 1st XI. It will be a squad, hopefully bringing in at least 5-6 more '1st team quality' players who will be rotated in as starters or subs throughout the matches as required. On that basis it becomes near impossible to say who would be in a fixed 1st XI.

On that basis (and assuming we need a squad of at least 25-26 players not the 21 we used this season and with youngsters being given an odd match here and there) :

GK - Mignolet / NEW GK
RB - Johnson / Flanno / NEW RB
CB - Skrtel / Sakho / Ilori / NEW CB / Toure
LB - Enrique / Johnson / Flanno / NEW LB
DM - Gerrard / Lucas
MF - Henderson / Allen / Konoplankya* / NEW MF / Sterling / Ibe / Rossiter / Lallana
AM - Sterling / Coutinho / Lallana*
CF - Suarez / Sturridge / NEW CF / Borini

* Fingers crossed.
 
We should sign Mario Mandzukic.

He's on his way out now that Bayern have Lewandowski on their books.
 
I think weight put Ilori out on loan for another year - keep Agger & sign someone new.

That way he'll get more experience & can replace Toure when he's released at the end of next season.
 
Frogfish said:
On that basis (and assuming we need a squad of at least 25-26 players not the 21 we used this season and with youngsters being given an odd match here and there) :

GK - Mignolet / NEW GK
RB - Johnson / Flanno / NEW RB
CB - Skrtel / Sakho / Ilori / NEW CB / Toure
LB - Enrique / Johnson / Flanno / NEW LB
DM - Gerrard / Lucas
MF - Henderson / Allen / Konoplankya* / NEW MF / Sterling / Ibe / Rossiter / Lallana
AM - Sterling / Coutinho / Lallana*
CF - Suarez / Sturridge / NEW CF / Borini

* Fingers crossed.
Click to expand...

Posted this in another forum but I'll repost it here...

I was looking at the rotations that City and Chelsea used this season, and the observation basically is this:
  • Take a core of 18 or 19 outfield players - all the Premier League games will be handled by this group.
  • Take a group of 2 to 4 outfield players - add these to the core group, and all the cup games (CL, FA, League) will be covered; this group usually plays just a couple of games.
If you look at the City and Chelsea core groups below, you'll see that they are filled with players who are at least dependable. A few of them won't be considered that good by most fans, but at the very least, their managers probably know they could put them in the squad and they'd not be a serious liability. Maybe one or two of them will come in for more pointed criticism throughout the season, and a lot of them won't be good throughout the whole season, but in general, you don't get a team with players who incur the fans' ire almost throughout the season.

City:
FB: Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov, Gaël Clichy, Micah Richards
CB: Vincent Kompany, Martín Demichelis, Matija Nastasic, Joleon Lescott
CM: Yaya Touré, Fernandinho, Javi Garcia
AM: Samir Nasri, David Silva, Jesús Navas, James Milner
FW: Edin Dzeko, Álvaro Negredo, Sergio Agüero, Stevan Jovetic

Chelsea:
FB: Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, César Azpilicueta
CB: John Terry, Gary Cahill, David Luiz
CM: Ramires, Frank Lampard, Nemanja Matic, John Mikel Obi
AM: Eden Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Mohamed Salah, Andre Schürrle
FW: Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto'o, Demba Ba

On the other hand, look at our squad:
Liverpool:
FB: Glen Johnson, John Flanagan, Aly Cissokho
CB: Martin Skrtel, Mamadou Sakho, Daniel Agger, Kolo Touré
CM: Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, Lucas Leiva, Joe Allen
AM: Philippe Coutinho, Raheem Sterling, Victor Moses
FW: Luis Suárez, Daniel Sturridge, Iago Aspas

I've omitted Luis Alberto because he hasn't played any meaningful minutes - as such, he's really in the non-core group. We'll have Enrique back next season (hopefully), and he should take Cissokho's place. Other than that - look at how many passengers we were carrying through the season. I don't mean guys who've had a few bad games by that - I mean guys who've been consistently chastised from start to end of the season. Johnson might be a more contentious pick there, as I think some still regard him as a decent player; that's okay, we can differ on one or two individuals.

The immediate concern we have should be to replace these deadweights in the core team with proper players, as this core of 18 to 19 guys is what helps you compete on all fronts. Then you look at improving on the non-deadweight individuals and see if we can get better. The additional 2 to 4 non-core players can just easily be drawn from the U-21 ranks or loan returnee pool.
 
studsup said:
Posted this in another forum but I'll repost it here...

I was looking at the rotations that City and Chelsea used this season, and the observation basically is this:
  • Take a core of 18 or 19 outfield players - all the Premier League games will be handled by this group.
  • Take a group of 2 to 4 outfield players - add these to the core group, and all the cup games (CL, FA, League) will be covered; this group usually plays just a couple of games.
If you look at the City and Chelsea core groups below, you'll see that they are filled with players who are at least dependable. A few of them won't be considered that good by most fans, but at the very least, their managers probably know they could put them in the squad and they'd not be a serious liability. Maybe one or two of them will come in for more pointed criticism throughout the season, and a lot of them won't be good throughout the whole season, but in general, you don't get a team with players who incur the fans' ire almost throughout the season.

City:
FB: Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov, Gaël Clichy, Micah Richards
CB: Vincent Kompany, Martín Demichelis, Matija Nastasic, Joleon Lescott
CM: Yaya Touré, Fernandinho, Javi Garcia
AM: Samir Nasri, David Silva, Jesús Navas, James Milner
FW: Edin Dzeko, Álvaro Negredo, Sergio Agüero, Stevan Jovetic

Chelsea:
FB: Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, César Azpilicueta
CB: John Terry, Gary Cahill, David Luiz
CM: Ramires, Frank Lampard, Nemanja Matic, John Mikel Obi
AM: Eden Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Mohamed Salah, Andre Schürrle
FW: Fernando Torres, Samuel Eto'o, Demba Ba

On the other hand, look at our squad:
Liverpool:
FB: Glen Johnson, John Flanagan, Aly Cissokho
CB: Martin Skrtel, Mamadou Sakho, Daniel Agger, Kolo Touré
CM: Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, Lucas Leiva, Joe Allen
AM: Philippe Coutinho, Raheem Sterling, Victor Moses
FW: Luis Suárez, Daniel Sturridge, Iago Aspas

I've omitted Luis Alberto because he hasn't played any meaningful minutes - as such, he's really in the non-core group. We'll have Enrique back next season (hopefully), and he should take Cissokho's place. Other than that - look at how many passengers we were carrying through the season. I don't mean guys who've had a few bad games by that - I mean guys who've been consistently chastised from start to end of the season. Johnson might be a more contentious pick there, as I think some still regard him as a decent player; that's okay, we can differ on one or two individuals.

The immediate concern we have should be to replace these deadweights in the core team with proper players, as this core of 18 to 19 guys is what helps you compete on all fronts. Then you look at improving on the non-deadweight individuals and see if we can get better. The additional 2 to 4 non-core players can just easily be drawn from the U-21 ranks or loan returnee pool.
Click to expand...

So. By this analysis, we need 5 new players? I'm adding Lucas in there. That's not so bad.

Iago aspas: he as a maniac in the pre season friendlies!
 
localny said:
So. By this analysis, we need 5 new players? I'm adding Lucas in there. That's not so bad.

Iago aspas: he as a maniac in the pre season friendlies!
Click to expand...


Well, more like an observation based on how City / Chelsea have coped this season. It's probably the same case for seasons past as well though I haven't checked.

As for Lucas, well, I know opinion is very polarized on here, but if I were in charge, I'd prioritize the replacement of the guys in bold first. For all his poor recent displays since returning from injury, he did contribute pretty well in the first third or half of the season IMO. My first priority would be to have proper players in place of the deadweights. The next step would be to replace the "iffy" ones like Lucas and Toure.

I know our centreback situation doesn't get prioritized highly enough in this process, but the risk of waffling on the prioritization is that you start to stray and then look at improving "iffy" players first instead of fixing the urgent areas. I do think / hope that having proper fullbacks would immediately improve our defensive record. I don't think we can address all the gaps in one window anyway - realistically, it could take one summer to replace the deadweights and another winter + summer to improve on / replace the "iffy" players.

That's my Football Manager thinking cap on anyway. 😉
 
I'm in broad agreement with Studsup - although I don't agree that Johnson should be replaced as such.

Like I said elsewhere - he should be treated like Cole at Chelsea - he can provide valuable cover while a new FB is bedded in.

I include Enrique & Toure in that category - no-ones really going to buy them - so they stay while new players are phased in and their contract runs down.

The clear priority has to be replacements for the 2 players in on loan - so a LB & a left sided AM.

There are question marks over a series of youngsters - Ibe, Borini, Suso, Texeria, Robinson, Coady, McLaughlin, Ilori & Wisdom.

By question mark, I mean, are they ready to positively impact the team and hold down a position or would they be best served spending another year out on loan getting valuable experience. For some it might be the end of the road, but for all, sitting on the bench, not playing will do more harm than good.

Once that's been sorted out we have what's left - which could include a GK, CB, RB, AM & forward.

It will be important that we blend new players in slowly with as few as possible being key first team regulars till they prove their worth.

We can be pretty confident the Reina will go and there looks to be little point keeping Coates & Kelly.
 
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