Topic: Some 'tweaking' to the team is still going to be necessary

[Elysian Fields]

Dalglish has always been very good at having a clear idea of the type of players he wants in the team, and the shape of that team but at the moment, I just wonder whether we quite have the personnel for the shape of the team that he wants.

Defence - it seems pretty clear to me that Dalglish will play a normal back four, with two 'normal' fullbacks on the correct sides - which I think we have in Enrique and Kelly/Johnson, and a commanding centre back pairing (whether it be a Hendry or a Hansen type of player) which I'm not sure we do have. Let's hope Carra cuts out the errors or Coates starts forcing himself into the team and makes himself undroppable, because someone like Agger needs someone physically dominant alongside him. The same with Carra too.

FBs - sorted
CBs - verdict still out

Midfield - again, it seems pretty clear from Dalglish's first managerial stint with us and his success at Blackburn, that he likes a fairly standard midfield four with a winger, whether it be Barnes/McMahon/Whelan/Houghton or Wilcox/Sherwood/Ripley etc. At the moment, you'd expect the starting four to be Downing/Adam/Lucas/Gerrard with Henderson coming on as a sub, but are there really enough runners and flair players in that group now that Mireles has gone? Henderson's a good player and will be an even better player in time but I don't think he's going to be dominating the RM position like Beckham did, just yet. Gerrard was exceptional when he played at RM under Benitez, but back then, he was in such exceptional form, he could have played anywhere. You look at City yesterday and you have to admire how well the likes of Silva, Nasri and Aguero linked and moved the ball from midfield into attack. It will be interesting to see how Dalglish sets our own midfield four when Gerrard returns from injury.

LW - sorted
CMs - sort of sorted but is there enough flair?
RM - verdict still out. Is there enough flair and creativity?

Attack - Suarez is exceptional, no question. But what he really needs is a Fowler type out and out goalscorer ahead of him, or more support from midfield, or Carroll to become the second coming of Alan Shearer, which on current form, is a big ask. That said, Shearer didn't really come into his own until he was about 24 or 25, so here's hoping that Carroll will improve in time. Until then, the attack is a bit of a work in progress in my view because its not fair (or realistic) to expect Suarez to do everything. I just wonder whether we'll see Bellamy on the left of a forward two or three at times this season.

It does annoy me when you watch .tv and the interviewers constantly keep on asking the players/fans/pundits whether we can win the league this year. How clueless are these interviewers? The team is pointing in the right direction, but it is a work in progress, and is one for the future as things stand at the moment. If Carroll starts getting his act together and the midfield begins to gel, then I'd say we'd be aiming for a top 4 finish.

[Fiasco]

Of course it is. The squad was never going to be complete this summer, or even next. I'm not actually sure you can ever have a ' complete ' squad actually, and if you can it would only be for a few seasons. We're still in a process of rebuilding, it's coming along at a fast, but efficent pace and we will get there soon. The squad have now is more than capable of getting top four, no doubt about it.

However, a little bit of patience is required and we can't allow ourselves to get greedy. Players do need replacing still, we do need to bulk up in some positions with quality and I'm sure we will do that. Henderson, Coates, Carroll, Adam, Enrique are all under what 26? They are here for the next 5, maybe ten years in some cases and we are building well.

The idea next summer, I'd imagine, would be sign maybe three or four top bracket players if we could in order for us to move onto the next, and elite level. Big decisions will be made over certain players, and Dalglish will not be scared to oust anyone he feels won't contribute or move the club forward. It's exciting times for us, even a weekend defeat at Stoke won't dampen spirits too much, and I think everyone should and already is trusting the people at the club to deliever success the right way.

[Beninger]

A lot has been made about statistics and their context recently.  I think the same goes with winning a game doesn't always coincide with how well you played.  That's football.  There will be infinite tweaking of this squad, but I think it's pretty damn good even now.

[Milly]

depending on champions league next year, depends on the tweakage level is my guess!

[buzzing]

We still lack a tricky player in midfield IMO. Hopefully Gerrard coming back can provide that extra level of creativeness

[RotoruaRed]

patience and time.

We are and will be a work in progress this year of that there is no doubt. Kenny is not the sort to panic and nor should he. Yes it was a bit of a downer to lose at Stoke. But on reflection we went to probably one of the very hardest venues against a very big and robust opponent playing there own tough style and in all honesty they hardly had a shot in anger. In the 2nd half there penalty area resembled the alamo. In fact at 1 stage we were moving the ball around in front of the Stioke area and they had 10 or 11 players behind the ball, not enough room to park the bus!!!!!.

Yes players did make errors, Henderson should have scored and we all know it, he will know it. But I do think it was a terrific pass from Enrique and a belter of a run down the middle by Henderson to be in a position where sadly he did botch it. Do you think Kenny will blame him, castigate him or lift him up for the fine work he had done in getting there?

Adam is a good  playmaker, not great. A couple of poor passes does not make him a bad player. Again he will learn and will continue to learn when the big passes should be played and when he should play the percentages.

Kenny is a brilliant manager and will know how to lift the players after this but I would swear that the players learned a lot from this loss and learnt and awful lot from it. Not many go to Stoke and boss them.

It's a fine work in progress this and yes it does need tweaking but lets enjoy the ride......bumps n all

[shanks_legend]

depending on champions league next year, depends on the tweakage level is my guess!

If we make the champions league, next summer will see us spend more than we did this I reckon.

[Litmanen10]

By signing Christian Eriksen and Eden Hazard next year we'd be alright 

[bailey90]

Champions league is huge, which is exactly why our target this year is to get back into it. If all goes well and we do, next summer we'll be able to bring in that next tier of player who will take us to the next level.

[fernANDDDo]

I think we're pretty much sorted for depth of the squad, so like Utd have done in the last few summers we just need to add one or two quality, big signings. We have the money, and hopefully next year we will have Champion's league to offer. Hazard's flair absolutely fits the bill for me. We might as well just go all out and spend £40m on him.

[DanA]

Think we're fine for this year. Bellamy adds that bit of extra pace we needed and once Gerrard's back we'll have the midfield creativity we've been missing. We'll need to strengthen if we play champions league though. Cahill and Hazard would be two very nice additions.

[FernandoTourettes]

We still lack a tricky player in midfield IMO. Hopefully Gerrard coming back can provide that extra level of creativeness

Agree with this. The only area we haven't strengthened actually. We don't have a player that unlocks a tight ( Stoke-esque) defence in the mould of Nasri, Silva, Modric, even Rooney. Benayoun would do this for us back in the day but as mentioned above, Gerrard would give us this added creativity when fit again.

[MolbyLovesGravlax]

We were never the best 11 players we were the best team. That is how we did it, and that is how we will do it again, because we are not going to be able to buy players every year for 30 million plus and pay them 200,000 plus and have two world class players in every position.
We lost against Stoke, and there is much to be learned from it by the new boot room, but Stoke never managed to bully or intimidate us one iota. The didn't outplay us and they didn't out fight us. The defended like madmen and we had an off day. But we were a team.
Have faith, this is a team capable of top 4 and it is the basis of a title challening team.

[Fat Scouser]

The time any team stops "tweaking" is the time it's done for. Kenny knows that. He'll keep trying to upgrade the team and squad as and when he can. No passengers will be allowed. He won't be going for this we won't win the title malarkey, either. He'll be looking at winning every game we play. That's the way it should be. Anyone who can't see the great strides we've already made under Kenny in such a short time, must be watching a different team to me. We just have to show a little patience. Things are back on track and headed in the right direction. Well, I'm off to work but I wanted to say that before I went. I used to call for patience with Rafa. It's no different for Kenny. He needs some time and us all supporting him in what he's doing. It's the way it used to be. It's the way it should be again.

[SuperSub77]

The team constantly evolves, forever being tweaked and he's done marvellously well this summer with personnel.

I have a different perspective on Dalglish's setup, if we are comparing to his last LFC Side. Although he sets up as a 4-4-2, it's not balanced or rigid:

3 x CM's : he likes his box to box, quick passing midfeilders who will get stuck in. Movement is everything. One of them must be more defensive minded, biting the tackles all over the pitch, good defensive intelligence but won't just sit in front of the back 4. This why we have a dearth of CM's, as well as the fact that he likes to keep the CM fresh. One of the 3 covers the right side, but is not a set RM. In the old days (as far as I know - correct me if I'm wrong) the players called this "the graveyard shift" as there was no set player for the RM slot. Houghton used to cover this a lot of the time. All could defend positionally and all could attack the box. If one marauded forward, one would be ready to support and the other would defend if the attack broke down. Houghton-McMahon-Whelan = Henderson-Lucas-Gerrard

LW - The LM is more of a left winger, the quick and skilful outlet and another attacking dimension. The LW is the key from the balance switching from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3. A great deliverer of crosses and creater of chances. Barnes = Downing

SS - The second striker is quick, skilful and tenacious. Never stops running, never gives up. Never lets defenders rest. Creates chances by the clever final pass. Unselfish. Movement a nightmare to mark. Weighs in with the goals. Beardsley = Suarez

CF - In the case of our big number 9, he doesn't really fit the mould of the old CF. Kenny had CF's who were quick off the mark and could finish well, finding that final pass, first few yards in the head. Carroll is a different beast and I'm unsure that he has some of the qualities that made Rush and Aldridge great (I wish he did). He does have his qualities of course, but if we're comparing the 2 eras, he doesn't fit the Dalglish CF mould. That's evolution I suppose and I'm really interested to see how a CF of his type fits after a long run of games, despite the obvious.

[killer-heels]

No positions are ever 'sorted'. Teams and squads are evolving all the time and very rarely do the best supposed starting 11 be the same at the start and then at the end of the season.

We have good options but there are still a couple of options missing, such as a goal scorer, a top centre back and someone who is natural off the right wing.

[readybreck]

Think we ll see the more settled team after xmas, its easy to forget that this aint far off new side which is growing with each game.