Topic: Comolli: Only 1or 2 adjustments in the summer

[Matt8Pie]

Jovetic would cost big money though. Would he not be considered more of a second striker/AM/"hole" player?

There's around 20 clubs interested in Jovetic according to Freddie Boswell and personally, I highly, highly doubt we'll be in for Robben or he would even come here. I expect a couple of marquee signings this summer, but neither of those 2 names.

[HariLFC]

Do we expect any departures ? Even out of the new signings?

[Suarez7Carroll9]

Reina

Johnson
Skrtel
Agger
Enrique

Lucas
Martinez

Kuyt
Gerrard
Lavezzi

Suarez

Doni, Kelly, Coates, Adam, Henderson, Hoilett, Texeira/Hernandez

Spearing, Downing, Bellamy, Carragher also... With all cup competitions, there will be opportunities for everyone, also fatigue will kick in, possibly injuries. Plenty of room for squad rotation.

[Suarez7Carroll9]

Would look to sell Carroll, Maxi, Aquilani, Cole, Aurelio... Loan Shelvey, Robinson and Wilson out.

[El_Pistolero]

Would look to sell Carroll, Maxi, Aquilani, Cole, Aurelio... Loan Shelvey, Robinson and Wilson out.

Robinson won't go out, he'll be second choice left-back and we have European footy.

[PIPA23]

a lot of you are very pesimistic, we made a big mistake smashing 35 m. on Carroll, only other signing that didnīt look to improve a lot is Downing.. Adam was bought for fair price for what he offers, Henderson only will grow and no single english or british player in his age and his skills would be cheaper...  English players are two time more expensive than others...

with decent CF who needs one or two chances to score, we would be second in league with the squad we have... even without Gerrard and Lucas...

[PIPA23]

Reina

Johnson
Skrtel
Agger
Enrique

Lucas
Martinez

Kuyt
Gerrard
Lavezzi

Suarez

Doni, Kelly, Coates, Adam, Henderson, Hoilett, Texeira/Hernandez

Spearing, Downing, Bellamy, Carragher also... With all cup competitions, there will be opportunities for everyone, also fatigue will kick in, possibly injuries. Plenty of room for squad rotation.

Suarez for me is not a CF, definetly not a player to lead the line..he always looks more dangerous being second striker to partner someone, not a single player upfront... just my thought.. he needs someone to play with if you plan 442, in 433, he and "Lavezzi" could share the wings upfront, but neither of them are CF.. they are supporting strikers slash wingers...

[Bob Loblaw]

Suarez for me is not a CF, definetly not a player to lead the line..he always looks more dangerous being second striker to partner someone, not a single player upfront... just my thought.. he needs someone to play with if you plan 442, in 433, he and "Lavezzi" could share the wings upfront, but neither of them are CF.. they are supporting strikers slash wingers...

Isn't that exactly what he does for Uruguay, lead the line? I like the idea of Luis coming from wide, but i think you'd need to then adapt a very fluid and free moving attack, because he's not going to sit on the wing and track back the way you'd want a tradition wide player to.

[Zelnaga]

Isn't that exactly what he does for Uruguay, lead the line?

Forlan leads the lines. Suarez plays just behind him usually.

[PIPA23]

Forlan leads the lines. Suarez plays just behind him usually.

mostly Cavani this days...except i think in world cup they played like this in front

--------- Forlan --------
Cavani -------- Suarez
--------- midfield ------

in Ajax he was more a LW, but also CF, but Holland league is not as difficult to score goals as international cups or english PL..

[downtown]

My worry is Johnson going. He is one of the very few players we have who can create something outta nothing, and this report that Comolli thinks 90K a week is too much for him pisses me off. We need more creative players, and yet we are looking to get rid of one ?


I think we need 3 things:

1) A top class striker
2) A good wide player
3) A young CAM who can also play deeper if required.


I don't think Klaas is unrealistic. He plays for Schalke, and they are in EL now, and no matter what, we have pulling power of Dirk and Luis to attract him. I wasn't a big fan of him before, but his record in the past 18 months is absolutely mind blowing. I can see Schalke selling for close to 20M. German clubs always sell low. Unfortunately, I don't think Cavani is realistic

As for Winger, I still maintain someone like Hoilett will be absolutely ideal and a steal.

for CAM, we either trust Shelvey, or we out there and buy.


Our defense is immense as long as we don't act like idiots and offload Glen.

As for players going, I think Maxi is a shoe-in, and one of Kuyt/Carroll will surely go if someone like Klaas comes, and I'd think it'll be the latter.

[liverpooll]

Well, his signings have definitely not worked well, so is his position currently under threat? or are we still under the illusion that everything would be alright suddenly.

[Aido LFC]

Well, his signings have definitely not worked well, so is his position currently under threat? or are we still under the illusion that everything would be alright suddenly.

I really doubt that Charlie Adam was his signing.

[Camarero25]

a lot of you are very pesimistic, we made a big mistake smashing 35 m. on Carroll, only other signing that didnīt look to improve a lot is Downing.. Adam was bought for fair price for what he offers, Henderson only will grow and no single english or british player in his age and his skills would be cheaper...  English players are two time more expensive than others...

So perhaps we shouldn't buy English players?

[Sat1]

We'll probably go for Bent cattermole and NZogbia

[Solomon Grundy]

Those around us will improve their squads in the summer and some will consider their current seasons a disaster. I can't believe many are happy with 7th spot considering the competition this season. I worry that unless we know what is needed to challenge then we will fall even further behind or risk being over taken by even more clubs.

I dont know of any Liverpool fan happy with us being 7th.

[Camarero25]

My worry is Johnson going. He is one of the very few players we have who can create something outta nothing, and this report that Comolli thinks 90K a week is too much for him pisses me off. We need more creative players, and yet we are looking to get rid of one ?

Where's that? I'll tell you who 90k a week is too much for: Carra.

[Camarero25]

We'll probably go for Bent cattermole and NZogbia

They are prem proven.

[PIPA23]

the problem is that... lot of the form and goalscoring depends on our manager ideas to continue playing, what formation we will see as the one to build on... with Rafa we had 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 but he had Torres and Gerrard in top form... and he had Mascherano and Alonso to hold the midfield....

we canīt play 442 without having a TOP WORLD CLASS player like Alonso or Mascherano to play with him in midfield, Gerrard is most effective as that AM - SS player, not as a CM... there is to much borders there for him... he needs free role, as Rafa gave him...

Then we have in our situation problem with Suarez, yesterday and basicly any match we play on him as lone striker, he underachieves.. He needs someone to play with who he can support with balls (Man United goal for Kuyt...) or to play with someone who can support himself and work on him (Carroll header for Suarez goal against Brighton...) Suarez naturally is best playing to score on his right foot... (Magnificent goal against Stoke...) or even left foot, but he barely played as RW/SS for us...

My point is, i think if Kenny continues to play 442 or 451, the first formation we need to play Suarez with other CF, only Kuyt for me... but for this we would need to have a better CM than Adam, and better - actually real winger to play as RM - not Henderson... Maybe Henderson will grow in to a Alonso type of CM one day...but he is not a winger or side midfielder...  he needs to create in that midfield position backed by Lucas behind...

So all in all, with players like Shelvey, Henderson and Adam, again without any danger from wings except Bellamy (wich is realy sad - considering he was free...) we are again not a side to perform 442... we are best suited to play 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1

we have no CF capable of scoring and leading the line for 442, or even 433
we still donīt have a winger or two wingers for 442 capable of beating oponents and scoring goals.... this for more than 15 years now..
we donīt have a CM in class of Alonso or Mascherano to play with Lucas once he is fit... if we wanīt continue 442...

this season for me is a big mistery in the terms how our team or manager thinks for us to continue.. i still donīt have the feeling we are using Suarez well + without a man he can play with up front he is isolated... Player like him - who is capable of making big pressure on oposite defenders and who can get 2 of oposite defenders to mark him, we just need someone to play with him and take advantage...We had Crouch in past who was nightmare to mark, and he usualy get the other striker a good ball to score...just becouse many CB needed to mark him...

i am confused of this season to be honest... i have no idea what we will play and many of our players like Kuyt who is CF, Adam who is AM or Henderson who is CM are playing out of position they are best in...including our captain who is not best at any other position than SS/AM...

[Flying_Blind]

the big problem is that downing and adam were bought to "get the best out of carroll" (funny how that turn of phrase has now disappeared) - that whole little 'project' has been an absolute, unmitigated disaster. my fear is that, we missed the chance to build the team around the right player; suarez. its so frustrating watching him toil away with scraps, on account of a nothing midfield (stevie / lucas aside) - when was the last time you saw a nice one two between luis and downing? or a flick on from adam for him? its pretty fucking embarassing to think that he's been more prolific for every other team he has played for - and that's because he's been paired with intelligent , ball playing footballers, not mediocre gutless trash like downing or hoof and run in a straight line fare like adam.

two quality signings - say a gaston ramirez or javi martinez - would get the best out of luis and i'm surewould  convince him to stay here another season.... if we persist with this whole "getting the best out of carroll / best of british" BS , say bye bye to suarez and the champions league for a very , very long time.


+ i agree re: the points on henderson above - why spend 17 million on a CM , only to play him RW - where he is totally ineffective? the whole spending spree makes no sense at all... we still need a CM, Winger and CF!!

[JamesLS7]

I think Henderson, Adam and Downing will be good squad players. I think Henderson as he gets older will turn into a great first team player, but next season just a squad player.

I would say Joe Allen would be a good buy for small price.

I hope Wolves get relegated aswell, so we can try get Steven Fletcher as a squad player, he would be good coming from the bench IMO.

[The possimpible]

Lets be honest unless we take the man city approach and spend big for top quality players! then we won't close the gap our scouting department is quite poor we won't unearth gems or value buys like tottenham and newcastle have done. Were just going to have to pay big bucks, or adopt a 5- 10 year model carefully spending and slowly building we know how that has turned out for us in the past.

[maqu006]

If we persist with the same strategy next year, we'll not improve. I agree with Comolli that we do not need a squad overhaul but we do need 2-3 MAJOR signings in order to be able to challenge for CL places. We need a central midfielder who can start games, a player with flair who can play in one of the two wide positions, and a goalscoring striker. In all the other positions in the field, we're reasonably covered, even taking into account that the following players will probably move:

Aquilani (6 million)
Cole (1-2 million)
Aurelio (0-end of contract)
Maxi (0-end of contract)
Doni/Jones (0- no one will pay a penny for them)
Kuyt (3-4 million)


 

[Camarero25]

the big problem is that downing and adam were bought to "get the best out of carroll" (funny how that turn of phrase has now disappeared) - that whole little 'project' has been an absolute, unmitigated disaster. my fear is that, we missed the chance to build the team around the right player; suarez. its so frustrating watching him toil away with scraps, on account of a nothing midfield (stevie / lucas aside) - when was the last time you saw a nice one two between luis and downing? or a flick on from adam for him? its pretty fucking embarassing to think that he's been more prolific for every other team he has played for - and that's because he's been paired with intelligent , ball playing footballers, not mediocre gutless trash like downing or hoof and run in a straight line fare like adam.

two quality signings - say a gaston ramirez or javi martinez - would get the best out of luis and i'm surewould  convince him to stay here another season.... if we persist with this whole "getting the best out of carroll / best of british" BS , say bye bye to suarez and the champions league for a very , very long time.


+ i agree re: the points on henderson above - why spend 17 million on a CM , only to play him RW - where he is totally ineffective? the whole spending spree makes no sense at all... we still need a CM, Winger and CF!!

Agreed. Annoyed me in the summer that almost every signing seemed to be aimed at "getting the best out of Carroll". We should have been building on the style we had towards the back end of last season, quick pass and move with players buzzing around Suarez and making the most of the havoc he creates. Instead we seemed to rip up that plan and attempt to go for a more "British" style of play, and it hasn't really worked.

[liverpooll]

if we persist with this whole "getting the best out of carroll / best of british" BS , say bye bye to suarez and the champions league for a very , very long time.

+ i agree re: the points on henderson above - why spend 17 million on a CM , only to play him RW - where he is totally ineffective? the whole spending spree makes no sense at all... we still need a CM, Winger and CF!!

This

[RK7]

I dont know of any Liverpool fan happy with us being 7th.

There are some,the ones that compare progress only again what roy hodgson managed, a man who was so poor he got the boot in less than a season. That is the danger,going from finishing 2nd to being happy with 5th with a challenge for 4th the ultimate aim. 

[Flying_Blind]

Lets be honest unless we take the man city approach and spend big for top quality players! then we won't close the gap our scouting department is quite poor we won't unearth gems or value buys like tottenham and newcastle have done. Were just going to have to pay big bucks, or adopt a 5- 10 year model carefully spending and slowly building we know how that has turned out for us in the past.

that's the problem - we, CAN compete without spending like man city - the likes of Huntelaar, Cavani, Lavezzi, Ba, etc etc were bought by their respective clubs for relatively little, great players are out there - we just have to pull our trousers up and stop wasting money on overpriced english players. Look at how well Napoli are doing in the CL - they've done it on a fraction of the money we've pissed away over the last 12 months - its not impossible. That's what makes our transfer activity so gutting, what a wasted chance to get fourth - one quality player would have lit up our attack and gotten the best out of suarez, and you could have guaranteed fourth. tragic.

[Melbred]

I think Henderson, Adam and Downing will be good squad players. I think Henderson as he gets older will turn into a great first team player, but next season just a squad player.

I would say Joe Allen would be a good buy for small price.

I hope Wolves get relegated aswell, so we can try get Steven Fletcher as a squad player, he would be good coming from the bench IMO.

We have enough "squad" players as it is. Pretty much all the players brought in this season are "squad" players - maybe bar Enrique.

What we need is proven quality, that can take us to the next level. Of course this is all easier said than done. I don't buy into the logic of "we are Liverpool", we can buy anyone. Fact is, this is our third consecutive season out of the CL, and this is what players will want. The only other option is to offer massive wages like City and Chelsea, but this is clearly not viable.

[hide5seek]

His shopping list need only comprise 3 lines.
A goal scorer.
A right sided player.
A CM.

Then he can go on holiday.

And all top quality and we will challenge.

[Solomon Grundy]

There are some,the ones that compare progress only again what roy hodgson managed, a man who was so poor he got the boot in less than a season. That is the danger,going from finishing 2nd to being happy with 5th with a challenge for 4th the ultimate aim. 

Honestly were are these people? I dont believe for one minute any Liverpool fan is happy with the way the league season has gone so far.

[rawcusk8]

The annoying thing is that this season has been a great chance to get into the champs league again.. Our two main rivals arsenal and chelsea have been shit and inconsistent but unfortunately we've matched them. I dont think we are a million miles off getting into the top four again, our play at times this season has shown we can match anybody. But, chelsea wont be as poor next season, surely arsene will strengthen as he goes another season without a trophy. So my point like many of you on here is that we either splash out on top top talent or buy smart and not just squad fillers.. The likes of adam and downing will make good squad players theres no denying that but now we need upgrades on them, players that can do the unexpected. Lets see what happens eh, this summers transfer activity will show us what the clubs targets are in terms of finishing in the league.

[scouse29]

Interesting to see where these 1 or 2 adjustments might take place. There have been times this season when we have been missing a few players and the bench looks very weak. Some games we have had 3 or 4 defenders occupying he bench.

For me only one or two of our summer recruits look fruitful, offensively we have not had a player have a purple patch in front of goal. There are arguments for Adam, downing an Carroll all being moved on but if they became squad players next year, why would they offer? Ģ60 million quid spent and we are looking to go again.

Interesting summer ahead.

[firing squad]

I really doubt that Charlie Adam was his signing.

Charlie Adam is not the problem.

[Jetmir M.]

I don't believe for a second that we won't make more than '1 or 2 adjustments in the summer'.

We will have to find replacements for Maxi, Kuyt and Aurelio (unless Kenny thinks Robinson is ready to be the understudy of Enrique).

Imho we need 3 marquee signings (CF, RW/LW and CM) and a couple of young, squad players when Kuyt and Maxi are moved.

[Camarero25]

Charlie Adam is not the problem.

He's one of them. And we let better players than him go to get him in. But let's not get into that again.

[G1 Jockey 4(betfair)]

Forlan leads the lines. Suarez plays just behind him usually.

or rather forlan plays behind him and suarez leads the line.

the problem with us is the appraoch from the wings and behind him.

i will say uruaguays midfield is far more mobile and combative than ours and also good distribution wise.

[Melbred]

Charlie Adam is not the problem.

He is most definitely part of the problem.

[firing squad]

He's one of them. And we let better players than him go to get him in. But let's not get into that again.

he was payed according to his quality. A decent player with the occasional good cross or a long pass and that's it. On the other hand, Carroll, Downing and Henderson...

[PIPA23]

i agree with point above that we can compete and letīs face it...this season was a joke so far for Arsenal, Chelsea and even United in the way how they played..itīs only our fault not to take this massive advantage and move higher in table...we had so many oportunitis this season... i canīt even imagine how many times we were the better side but lost..or hit the bar more time than all top teams combined...itīs just becouse of this one piece going wrong, that piece is Andy Carroll...i donīt hate him, i like him in fact... but the amount and everything around that transfer is just wrong timing and very panic buy..

it affects whole team...

this is realy clishe but, imagine Llorente/Gomez/Soldado playing with this formation yesterday, that is capable of creating a lot chances...but thatīs where it usually ends...

[JamesLS7]

We have enough "squad" players as it is. Pretty much all the players brought in this season are "squad" players - maybe bar Enrique.

What we need is proven quality, that can take us to the next level. Of course this is all easier said than done. I don't buy into the logic of "we are Liverpool", we can buy anyone. Fact is, this is our third consecutive season out of the CL, and this is what players will want. The only other option is to offer massive wages like City and Chelsea, but this is clearly not viable.

Joe Allen would be good enough to start for us IMO, he is a very talented little player.

Fletcher would be good as we do not have a goalscoring striker from the bench, he could be that.

I would not want Fletcher instead of a big name striker, it woukd be in addition.