Topic: Will Kenny or Comoli be scouting any players at the international matches

[Picklez]

Young up and coming defenders who might be available:

Hummels
Subotic
Dede
Gabriel Silva
Sakho
Mario Fernandes

Anyone know if we're scouting the Brazil league? Some great names coming out of there...

[Cpt_Reina]

How is this lad Sakho? I know he's boss on FM, but I've never really seen him play. Don't follow french football to be honest

He's very athletic. Can run all day, has a fair amount of pace and at 6"2 he's a bit of a unit as well. Bit like an older version of our own Andre Wisdom, or Thuram of old. Been playing for PSG since he was 17 and has represented France at just about every age group including now at senior level. He's also captained PSG quite often and will captain France U21s at this summers euro tornament, so seems to have a decent head on his shoulders.

On the few occasions ive seen him, not that many at all, he's looked to have everything needed to become a top class CB. Defensively he's pretty sound, and has the pace needed to recover if he finds himself out of position. Not in Aggers bracket when it comes to playing with the ball at feet but he's no hoofer. Can also play LB I hear although ive only seen him at CB.

So in short, he's class. And will only get better.

[Ryan M]

Talking of defenders;

SiClancy Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten says that Kenny + Comolli are planning to "personally secure signature of Wolfsburg CB Simon Kjaer"

[Alpherah]

bensmith_Times: From everything I hear, #LFC have, for the first time in a long time, a very clear transfer strategy for the summer

[El_Pistolero]

bensmith_Times: From everything I hear, #LFC have, for the first time in a long time, a very clear transfer strategy for the summer

Thank God for that.

[MKelly34]

Talking of defenders;

SiClancy Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten says that Kenny + Comolli are planning to "personally secure signature of Wolfsburg CB Simon Kjaer"

Agger + Kjaer would be AWESOME

[James Mac]

bensmith_Times: From everything I hear, #LFC have, for the first time in a long time, a very clear transfer strategy for the summer

Wooooo!

[No666]

bensmith_Times: From everything I hear, #LFC have, for the first time in a long time, a very clear transfer strategy for the summer

The obvious stated as news. What the hell did you think Comolli was appointed for, Ben?

[James Mac]

Agger + Kjaer would be AWESOME

Aren't his injuries just as bad as Agger's though? Haven't seen him play in a long long while

[No666]

& we never established how reliable that paper is, just that islamists aren't keen on it.

[MKelly34]

Aren't his injuries just as bad as Agger's though? Haven't seen him play in a long long while

I don't know, is he injury prone? I heard he's great.

[Alpherah]

bensmith_Times: The likes of Gary Cahill, Jose Enrique, Ashley Young, Mamadou Sakho and Connor Wickham have all been identified as targets by #LFC

[peachybum]

United have played about a dozen different partnerships and still might win the treble.

I wouldn't class the current United team as 'great' though. Worst United team i've seen for years even though they may well win the double. We takes the piss!

[Khal]

Gary Cahill should be our number one target. Only problem may be this;
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6870502,00.html

[MKelly34]

Going into the Bundesliga web site and seeing Wolfsburg's statistics.

Kjaer is their second defender to play the most, with 2381 minutes on the pitch, just behind Schäfer with 2610.

Must not be injury prone then? 

[James Mac]

Going into the Bundesliga web site and seeing Wolfsburg's statistics.

Kjaer is their second defender to play the most, with 2381 minutes on the pitch, just behind Schäfer with 2610.

Must not be injury prone then? 

Haha, fair enough. Don't know where I heard that from then.

[Khal]

Agger + Kjaer would be AWESOME

How good is he, having a bad season is he not?

[James Mac]

bensmith_Times: The likes of Gary Cahill, Jose Enrique, Ashley Young, Mamadou Sakho and Connor Wickham have all been identified as targets by #LFC

Talk about stating the obvious. He's just looked at BBC's gossip column this morning.

[Zverko]

I saw that too. Interesting list of targets, all very possible I would say.  Strange that there are two cb, and only one winger.

[MKelly34]

How good is he, having a bad season is he not?

Wolfsburg is 16th, their defending must not be good. But their attack is hardly great too, Dzeko was their savior. Diego is their best player atm, and I'd say Kjaer is their second best.

[Didi_ram]

bensmith_Times: From everything I hear, #LFC have, for the first time in a long time, a very clear transfer strategy for the summer

bensmith_Times: The likes of Gary Cahill, Jose Enrique, Ashley Young, Mamadou Sakho and Connor Wickham have all been identified as targets by #LFC

Talking of defenders;

SiClancy Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten says that Kenny + Comolli are planning to "personally secure signature of Wolfsburg CB Simon Kjaer"

Very positive.

[Ryan M]

It is hilarious the amount of players we have been linked with for the summer, some I can imagine being realistic. However since January here's my list.

Defenders
Richards
Kjaer
Cahill
Enrique
Coentrao
Baines
Sakho

Midfielders
Adam
Young
Hazard
Sanchez
Downing
M'Villa
Bale

Forwards
Wickham
Benzema
Aguerro

They are just off the top of my head. I believe we do need a summer similar to 1999. Hyypia, Henchoz, Camara, Meijer and Westerveld. Not all success' but major changes. Maybe more needed for 2011.

[Aristotle]

Young up and coming defenders who might be available:

Hummels
Subotic
Dede
Gabriel Silva
Sakho
Mario Fernandes

Anyone know if we're scouting the Brazil league? Some great names coming out of there...

Hummels just signed a contract extension and has repeatedly gone on record he wouldn't swap Dortmund for anyone.

The obvious stated as news. What the hell did you think Comolli was appointed for, Ben?

Comic relief of "Holy Comolli"?

Gary Cahill should be our number one target. Only problem may be this;
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_6870502,00.html

If he's waited that long, another season shouldn't be too hard to sell.

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

Cahill is nowhere good enough in terms of ball playing ability in my opinion and is quite overrated , as good a player he is. We should be aiming for better(technically). As many have said before , the foundation of a good passing side is a defence that is comfortable on the ball and has decent ball playing ability.

Vertonghen is very good on the ball but I am not convinced by him defensively.

In any case , CB is not a priority, we have  a multitude of options there.

What we need is a winger or two and a good LB.

Cahill is good on the ball, how good are Vidic or Terry? They don't have to like Xavi just good enough to move the ball and make a pass without panicking

[Picklez]

Hummels just signed a contract extension and has repeatedly gone on record he wouldn't swap Dortmund for anyone.

ah, didn't see that 

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

Too risky for me. We need a solid defines next season and Agger is unreliable. I am not saying get rid of any of them, but we need a decent starting CB imo.

we def need to get rid of 1 to buy another

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

You think so? Cahill isn't one who'll bring the ball forward and drive at goal like Agger do at times, but I'd say he's quite composed and calm on the ball, and he doesn't dwell on it. I'm sure there are even better options around Europe, but he's better than any of our CBs on the ball, bar Agger of course. Add stronger in the air than everyone except Kyrgiakos, and pace comparable to Skrtel. Think he'd be a clear first choice player for us, but that, sadly, doesn't tell much.

This and he scores lots of goals foe a CB

[Azzandro]

bensmith_Times: The likes of Gary Cahill, Jose Enrique, Ashley Young, Mamadou Sakho and Connor Wickham have all been identified as targets by #LFC

All those would be good additions to the squad...but i think to be really challenging we need to have at least one marquee signing as well (sanchez/hazard level)

[Fuzion6]

Tell you one thing...Ben Smith of the Times is excited bout Liverpool haha.

[Moldyman]

Gary Cahill and Ashley Young would be two great signings. reckon Hazards going to Madrid and Sanchez will sadly end up at Yernited I think.

[Fuzion6]

All those would be good additions to the squad...but i think to be really challenging we need to have at least one marquee signing as well (sanchez/hazard level)

In the current Man U team they have two "marquee" players - Rooney and Vidic. We already have Suarez, Carroll, Reina and Gerrard. Marquee players are great but we can be successful next year without any more marquee types...build with that list and then go all out for another marquee player the next year if you want. The other thing about foregin marquee players is that they rarely settle straight away (look at Man City) - we have been spoilt by Suarez...

[Aristotle]

ah, didn't see that 

No worries. I'm with you on that though. For my money Hummels and Subotic have everything in their arsenal to be the best CB pair in the world. Only issue I have is that Subotic is pretty much Agger 2.0 and I feel they are too alike to function effectively together. That being said, there's no one else on the market I'd rather have here in the summer.

[Gmol]

bensmith_Times: The likes of Gary Cahill, Jose Enrique, Ashley Young, Mamadou Sakho and Connor Wickham have all been identified as targets by #LFC

 

Would be happy with that group as long as we attempt M'Villa too. Interesting Charlie Adam not mentioned

[Fordy]

All those would be good additions to the squad...but i think to be really challenging we need to have at least one marquee signing as well (sanchez/hazard level)

Challenging for what though?

Our current 1st team can beat anyone bar Barca the problem is we do shit against the lower placed teams and away from home.

So for me the squad isn't right and the 1st team against lower league teams doesn't have the right balance or mind set-The likes of Adam, Cahill, Enrique etc are good players who know what it takes to beat the lower teams as them games are their current cup finals.

We have big match players at the moment but we we need now is a squad that can cope with all kind of games.

I do think we will sign 1 Marquee player in the summer but at least 5 squad players the will play for the shirt, want to improve and have the right mind set.

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

To be honest,Skrtel has found a lot of his form back recently.
WOuld like him as a squad player.Soto out,a new CB in,with Dagger almost always injured,the youngsters can also get a chance.
And Carra cant play every game next year,his legs just wont permit that.

We need a stable back line

[itsgunnabebarnes!]

Challenging for what though?

Our current 1st team can beat anyone bar Barca the problem is we do shit against the lower placed teams and away from home.

So for me the squad isn't right and the 1st team against lower league teams doesn't have the right balance or mind set-The likes of Adam, Cahill, Enrique etc are good players who know what it takes to beat the lower teams as them games are their cup finals.

We have big match players at the moment but we we need now is a squad that can cope with all kind of games.

I do think we will sign 1 Marquee player in the summer but at least 5 squad players the will play for the shirt, want to improve and right mind set.

great post, and has been the problem for a while. its why united are winning the league, they beat lower teams with ease. our players cannot. simple.

[Didi_ram]

Thought Benedikt Howedes was pretty decent to be honest.

[careful on these streets, I've heard stories]

It is a negative influence no doubt, but if we can buy one outstanding CB, one we can build our defence on for the next 3-4 seasons, we can still have a very good defence. Outstanding even, for the times Agger is fit, but even without him, the likes of Carragher, Skrtel, and Kelly, could get by alongside such a player and we'd be better than most others.

To take an horrible example, Vidic is the one who, right now, holds United together at the back. Of course they were even better when Ferdinand was at his peak and not injured every other game, but they still use Ferdinand at times and he's played more minutes than Smalling alongside Vidic. In terms of minutes on the pitch, Skrtel is our equivalent to Vidic, but he isn't at that level. Our number one CB needs to be, and then we don't have to rely on Agger. But, like with Ferdinand, Agger's still a good option to have. He's also much younger, and there always the chance (however small) that he can put his injuries behind him. Not likely perhaps, but we'd gain very little by letting him go. Unless his wages are what stands in the way of a new CB coming in, I'd keep him. 

Ferdinand is no where near Agger in terms of injury, look at it this way if we replace Agger with a top class defender he and Skrtel could form a strong partnership like Agger and Skrtel have and we have young players coming through to fight Skrtel for his position if he slips up but the important thing is for most of the season you have a settled back four

[James Mac]

Gary Cahill and Ashley Young would be two great signings.

I really hope we don't sign Cahill and Young as our big ones. They're both painfully average. If we have to sign a British duo, Shawcross and Johnson for me. We have so many ball-playing centre-backs coming through, but not enough tough tackling ones. And Johnson is the best winger in England.

[PJG]

So for me the squad isn't right and the 1st team against lower league teams doesn't have the right balance or mind set-The likes of Adam, Cahill, Enrique etc are dood players who know what it takes to beat the lower teams as them games are their cup finals.

True.  We have a mindset that has been detrimental for us against the lower teams, and for whatever reason we can't shake it. However, I really really doubt that getting Adam, Cahill and Enrique would solve the problem.  The mindset is deep into the core of the squad.  If they come, then they will assimilate in my opinion.  It's kind of similar to the torres situation described by Jonathan Wilson here. Torres can't fit in because Chelsea are stuck playing the 4-1-2-3, and can't get away from it (even though they have tried) because it's been built into the squad.  It ingrained in the team as the inability to break down lower teams is for LFC.   I honestly think the best solution is Suarez and patience from the supporters.  A man not afraid to take the number 7, and be able to play his own game (someone, who's also capable of the final pass which we've lacked for a while in my opinion)This is also why I've been so in favour of bringing Aqua back.  The other solution is to completely dismantle the squad and start again ...which we won't do.