How many new players do we need & which areas of the squad need strengthening?

[Il Fenomeno]

Roy hasn't had sufficient time or money to address the situation. We are light years behind Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal, and possibly even Spurs and Man City too.

 

Truly depressing.

 

Rafa had one summer to replace Xabi Alonso, he failed, surely Roy has had a summer aswell?

[WrongIslander]

Reina

 

Johnson ? Agger Konchesky

 

Poulson Gerrard

 

Cole Meireles ?

 

Torres

 

3.

 

WINGER/Tricky AM

Back up striker

CENTREBACK.

[StevieH]

Rafa had one summer to replace Xabi Alonso, he failed, surely Roy has had a summer aswell?

 

Rafa had 6 years to build a squad and spent significant sums of money. Maybe not as much as he would have liked, but he still spent well. Roy probably won't be afforded the same time or money.

[StevieH]

Reina

 

Johnson ? Agger Konchesky

 

Poulson Gerrard

 

Cole Meireles ?

 

Torres

 

3.

 

WINGER/Tricky AM

Back up striker

CENTREBACK.

 

Sadly I think we need more than 3 players.

[Juan Galonso]

Rafa had one summer to replace Xabi Alonso, he failed, surely Roy has had a summer aswell?

 

He had a fucked up summer of upheaval trying to persuade players to stay, World Cup late arrivals back, he didn't arrive until July himself, players refusing to play etc. Next summer you could judge him on that and comment on it but not this summer surely?

[Il Fenomeno]

He had a fucked up summer of upheaval trying to persuade players to stay, World Cup late arrivals back, he didn't arrive until July himself, players refusing to play etc. Next summer you could judge him on that and comment on it but not this summer surely?

 

I'll admit, the summer was far from ideal with Spain/Holland going so far in the tournament but, he did know those things would happen when he accepted the job.

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

I think we are pretty much ok when it comes to the goalkeeper. Remaining areas need major improvements.

[Irishlad]

For the title. Phhw

 

-------------Reina

 

??-------??--------???-------??

 

??-------Meireles---Gerrard-----??

 

--------Torres-----???

 

Quite a few good enough for the bench of a title winning squad.

 

 

We've a squad capable of challenging for 4th, if everything clicks and we get lucky with injuries. Talk of a title is well off and will always be until the two at board room level fuck off.

[nani112]

Reina

 

Johnson ..... Agger ....

 

 

 

 

.... Merieles Gerrard ....

 

 

Torres ....

 

 

 

 

thats around 5 players!

[StevieH]

A massive clear out of the squad is needed and wholesale changes made.

 

If a new manager is appointed before Christmas, then would like to see the squad rebuilding process start in January so that any new arrivals have time to settle in and become accustomed to the club/premiership prior to next season.

 

January is probably not the best time to bring in new recruits but we can't afford to stand still any longer.

 

It is imperative that we get the new managerial appointment right and he needs to be prudent in the transfer market.

[withnail71]

Lets put it this way, the yanks have put us back 10 years. One or two seasons ago we were one or two world class players short of a title winning team. I look at the squad now and we need at least six. We need a striker, LB, RB,DC,DM, AM,and at least one winger.

More important though, is getting shot of the shit we have bought , ie Poulsen, Brad Jones, Jovanovic, Lucas,Konchesky, Johnson (who we could keep as a winger) Agger (good player but never fit),and babel.

[Mr T]

Replacing Mascherano with Poulsen is a bigger disaster than replacing Alonso with Aquilani was.

 

Priorities have to be a midfield enforcer, a new centre back, a winger and a striker.

 

If we stick with Hodgson we'll need a new goalkeeper and two new strikers as well.

 

Any new coach should build from the back IMO. I'd look to start with a new central defence partnership. One of Agger and Skrtel with another. Carragher should be told he's playing a bit part role as a utility player, like he did with England. I'd give Johnson another year to sort his shit out, if he's still putting in half-arsed performances and generally being a liability I'd move him on. Konchesky would be bombed out immediately, he's an average player who shouldn't be anywhere near this club, he found his level at Fulham which is no disgrace.

 

Get some industrious athlete in the mould of Sissoko for DM but ideally someone who can also pass a ball. These are the priorities first and foremost.

[StevieH]

As a bare minimum, I would say that 5 new players are required.

 

Centre Back - Gary Cahill (Bolton) / Ryan Shawcross (Stoke City)

Left Back - ?

Right Winger - Lee Chung-Yong (Bolton)

Left Winger - Ashley Young (Aston Villa) / Balázs Dzsudzsák (PSV Eindhoven)

Striker ?

[Guest davelfc]

Liverpool to stay clear of big-money signings in January transfer window - Telegraph

[Best Believe It]

Liverpool to stay clear of big-money signings in January transfer window

 

Roy Hodgson will not target any marquee signings in the January transfer window as Liverpool's new owner, New England Sports Ventures, looks to put a stop to the profligate spending which it believes has hampered the club's progress in recent years.

 

By Rory Smith

 

NESV is believed to have been concerned by the millions of pounds haemorrhaged on transfer fees and wages by the club in recent years as it examined Liverpool's finances as part of the due diligence process carried out before the £300 million purchase of the Anfield side was completed.

 

Under Rafael Benítez, Liverpool spent more than £230 million in six years on fees alone – though much of that was recouped in sales – while the purchases of the likes of Raul Meireles, Christian Poulsen, Brad Jones and Paul Konchesky totalled £25 million in Hodgson's first summer at the club.

 

Though NESV's takeover freed up £36 million a year of revenue that had previously been used to service Liverpool's £282 million debts to be reinvested into the club, and though its offer did make provision for an immediate injection of funds into the playing staff, the American consortium has made it clear it expects value for money, both from fees and salaries.

 

"We have to be smart," John W Henry, NESV's principal backer, who will assume a place on Liverpool's board, said after the deal was completed.

 

"We have to be more efficient. When we spend a dollar it has to be wisely. We cannot afford player contracts that do not make long-term sense. We have to be smart, bold, aggressive. It's a great challenge."

 

Henry will take an active role in football matters at Anfield, assessing both Hodgson's suggested transfer targets and setting budgets for contract renegotiations of players already at the club.

 

The 61 year-old has already expressed his concern at the wages earned by older players on long-term, high-value contracts.

 

NESV's approach – applied with great success at the Boston Red Sox – is likely to rule Liverpool out of the glamour signings which many fans hoped would follow the eviction of previous owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

 

Instead, the club's recent scouting activity suggests they intend to follow the Arsenal model – for which NESV has been keen to stress its admiration – or, perhaps more pertinently, institute on an informal basis the transfer policy employed at Manchester United, where premium fees are only paid for younger players with resale potential.

 

"At the Boston Red Sox, we invested a lot in management and the scouting system," said NESV chairman Tom Werner.

 

"We believe the foundation of any good sports club has to be the experience, valuation and understanding of scouting, so we will invest in that as well."

 

Those players assessed by Hodgson and his scouting team in recent weeks include Steven Defour, the Standard Liège captain and a long-term target for the Liverpool manager.

 

At 22, and around £12 million, Defour represents minimum risk for maximum reward.

 

Likewise Ibrahim Afellay, the PSV Eindhoven winger Liverpool whom have assessed on several occasions.

 

Already a Dutch international at 24 and heralded for several years as one of the brightest prospects in Europe, Afellay would fall within Liverpool's budget, while his wage demands would remain comparatively modest.

 

More expensive would be Eden Hazard, Defour's Belgian international team-mate, currently with Lille.

 

The 19 year-old has attracted interest from Barcelona, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Chelsea and United, and could cost as much as £18 million.

 

However, Liverpool believe they can tempt the player – who is likely to be advised by his agent to seek a move to a club where he will play regular first-team football – and Kenny Dalglish was watching when the French side played Levski Sofia in the Europa League last Thursday.

 

Hodgson will not be allowed to add any players, though, without first trimming the squad. Liverpool boast the fourth-highest wage bill in the Premier League – standing at £107 million in 2009, according to football finance analysts Deloitte – but find themselves marooned in 18th place in the table, having finished seventh in Benítez's last campaign.

 

NESV does not blame Hodgson for that poor performance so far this season, but rather interprets it as evidence that many of the squad do not warrant either their reputations or their earnings.

 

Henry's experience as a futures trader, as well as his noted obsession with both sporting and financial statistics, put him in a perfect position to analyse such information.

 

He is acutely aware that figures suggest that, with almost unerring accuracy, a club's league position is defined by their wage bill. That Liverpool's key statistics are so discordant suggests the money is not being spent wisely.

 

He is also a devotee of Sabermetrics, the statistical analysis of the value of baseball players, pioneered by Bill James and which led Henry to appoint Theo Epstein as a general manager of the Boston Red Sox in 2002 at the age of 28.

 

Epstein applied James's principles – which are designed to help poorer teams identify value-for-money acquisitions – to lead the franchise to two World Series with a squad largely composed of bargain purchases.

 

Initial impressions of his time at Liverpool suggest he retains his faith in the method.

 

 

Seven deals that would not have happened under NESV regime

 

Fernando Morientes

The Spanish international, signed for £6.3 million as a 28 year-old in January 2005, failed miserably at Anfield, scoring just 12 goals in 61 appearances. NESV’s belief in signing young players would have precluded the deal.

 

Robbie Keane

Signed as a 28 year-old for £20.3 million in 2008, the Irish international would also have been judged by NESV to be too old to warrant such a premium fee.

 

Alberto Aquilani

Though the Italian international’s age (26) and pedigree would have still made him a legitimate target, concerns over his injury record would have ruled out a £17 million move for the Roma player, now on loan at Juventus.

 

Jamie Carragher

John W Henry may have been concerned by the sight of a 32 year-old being handed a lucrative two-year contract just before NESV completed its takeover.

 

Maxi Rodríguez

The Argentine international, age 29, came on a free transfer from Atlético Madrid boasting a fine pedigree, but his wages, believed to be around £70,000 a week until June 2013, may have discouraged NESV from such a long contract.

 

Paul Konchesky

A four-year contract for a 29 year-old – as well as a £5 million fee – does not match the profile of deal NESV believes can help Liverpool develop in the long-term.

 

Christian Poulsen

He's a bag of shit.

[beejay]

I hope NESV aren't scapegoating Benitez and letting Hodgson off the hook. On that list of "players they wouldn't buy" are Konchesky and you can add 2 of Hodgson's other signings in Poulson & Brad Jones. That's a pretty fucking awful start for a new manager.

 

I like the sound of the players the article has associated us with but first on the list should be a new manager, followed by a striker

[Tyler Durden]

Well where I can understand not giving 29 year olds massive longterm contracts at the same time if you don't pay the going rate for players at their peak then they will fuck off, it's all well and good going down the Arsenal road but

A. They havent won fuck all in years, and

B. there is one Massive difference in that they have Arsene Wenger who is unmatched in the fucking world at buying and creating young teams.

[Whelan]

Surely the right signing is what matters!

 

Maxi Rodriguez has been a good little signing for very little outlay.

[Trucker Paddy]

A winger ,a centre half and striker of real quality a must in January. Babel and Agger I wouldn't be to dissapointed to see the back of tbh.

If we bring 1 in we have to let 1 go for the squad restrictions so hopefully we go for real quality

[billypilgrimnz]

A FOUR YEAR CONTRACT for Konchesky is a mind-bogglingly retarded move for a club as skint as us.

 

I say it's fair enough. I hope we do think things through a little bit more in the transfer market. And hopefully Roy's not the one in charge of it.

[camdenred]

I've been really impressed with Fulhams Moussa Dembele so far this season.

[Whelan]

I'd fuck Skrtel and the Greek off before Agger!

 

And Babel should bring in about 7-10 million, more than enough for Turan, hopefully Juventus decide they want to keep Aquilani and pay us the money for him in January.

[Trucker Paddy]

I'd fuck Skrtel and the Greek off before Agger!

 

And Babel should bring in about 7-10 million, more than enough for Turan, hopefully Juventus decide they want to keep Aquilani and pay us the money for him in January.

 

The greek is our best centre half this season, I hope he gets a new deal

[Whelan]

The greek is our best centre half this season, I hope he gets a new deal

 

That doesn't really say much though in all fairness!

It certainly doesn't warrant another deal for a 32 year old, who is still an accident waiting to happen, anyhow we shouldn't be offering new terms to players who play well for a few games, it should be for players who have played well for at least a full season, I would argue a longer period.

[Guest PurpleNose]

That doesn't really say much though in all fairness!

It certainly doesn't warrant another deal for a 32 year old, who is still an accident waiting to happen, anyhow we shouldn't be offering new terms to players who play well for a few games, it should be for players who have played well for at least a full season, I would argue a longer period.

 

So you're saying we need four new centrebacks?