I don't know anything mate (and likewise as you know!) - I just had a dig via Dan and joined dots based on things Andy Heaton and Neil Jones said (or said and wrote in Neil Jones's case).
For me Josh Williams on the Echo's Analysing Anfield podcast has it right. If you plugged in two semi defensive-minded midfielders with the right amount of brains and legs, we guarantee a top 4 finish comfortably and probably win something. We're so good everywhere else we don't need whistles and bells - the problem is legs and availability and the ability to fill a space and close a man down when we lose the ball.
If we'd signed Tchouameni the season would look a lot different, but boy did we not sign a backup eh? It stands out like a sore thumb.
What do you reckon?
Thanks for the reply, Roy. What do I reckon? Well, it was almost inevitable that an injury glut - similar to the recent centrebacks one - would, as is the case with Sod’s Law, strike when an ageing and increasingly unathletic midfield wasn’t safeguarded with new legs, but perhaps more tellingly, against Sod.
Nobody’s perfect, and our recruitment team has a remarkably good overall record of success with their principle of ‘waiting for the right player’. And hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Keita, Ox and Jones have had too little playing time due to injury, and the consequent load carried by the remaining midfielders has impacted their fitness and form.
I haven’t a clue whether realistic yet viable (as in ready, and capable of fitting in and firing from the off) targets are actually available and prepared to pitch up. I also have no idea what the situation is regarding funding, seeing as the club is on the market.
So in summary, it would be no surprise if the long-injured players, being fresh and hopefully champing at the bit, are utilised until the season’s close, with more ‘long term’ targets recruited in the summer - when the result of the ownership saga might be clearer. (whether Keita figures in any of this is moot, there’s something odd there).
