Shoot me down in flames. I really don't care.
Next Season:
GK Reina
DR Johnson
DL Enrique
DC Skrtel
DC Agger
DM Lucas
CM Gerrard
Those seven players as a unit give Liverpool a firm base. Not much is going to get past that lot. So that leaves four more places on the park:
Four places depending on the formation:
Additional CM
Two Wingers
Two Strikers
Currently we have:
Wingers: Downing, Kuyt, Bellamy, Maxi
Additional CM: Spearing, Henderson, Adam, Shelvey
Strikers: Carroll, Suarez
As I said, shoot me down in flames, but not one of those have done what is required this season. Yes even Luis.
Downing: 20M quid. Performed brilliantly for Villa last year. Assists coming out of his ears. Here he has been played on the RHS of midfield far too often for my liking. His confidence isn't right. At Wembley, he was what we wanted to see. An inferior right back and lots of space, meant he was in his element. MOTM Almost every other game he has played for us has hardly ever beaten his man. Verdict Not Good Enough - Squad Player Perhaps
Kuyt: Bags of effort. Has never been a clinical scorer, in fact the opposite. Effort is probably as much as Dirk can muster for us. Verdict Not Good Enough - Squad Player Perhaps
Bellamy: Free Signing. Probably player of the season. If his old legs were young, this is the kind of player we need. Pace, Creative and an eye for goal. Verdict Squad Player due to dodgy legs.
Maxi: Tremendous fan of his. However this year has been missing most of the time and when he has played pretty non-effective except at Chelses in the cup. Verdict Squad Player but obviously not rated by Dalglish.
Spearing: Cover for Lucas. Verdict Squad Player
Henderson: 16M quid. Constantly played on the right where it is blindingly obvious he's shite. In my view, probably signed as a long-term replacement for Gerrard. Verdict Squad Player
Adam: 8M quid. Words fail me with Charlie. At Blackpool he was King of the Castle. At Liverpool he is a waste of space. Has great determination but lacks the quality of a player required of a Top 4 Side. His set pieces were legendary before he arrived. They are legenndary here too for the opposite reasons. Verdit Squad Player if being generous.
Shelvey: Hardly seen. Verdict Squad Player
Now to the reaaly controversial part; Strikers
Carroll: 35M quid Banged them in regular as clockwork for the Geordies. Came here and looked lost. Given the benefit of the doubt for a long time. When spotted at Wembley tying his hair up instead of supporting a Liverpool attack was enough for me. Just showed that the passion and desire isn't there for him. Perhaps he only gets that from playing for his home town club? He wouldn't be the first. Nothing at all about Andy's performances are worth documenting. He does everything good about him in such small amounts. He does everything abad about him in very large amounts. Verdict Squad Player
Suarez: 24M quid Banged them in for Ajax. Banged them in for Uruguay. Superb player to watch. Tremendous feet, possibly the best in the Premier League. So how come he scored for Ajax and Uruguay and can't do it for us? He gets plenty of the ball, is often led to lead the line, but misses hatfulls of chances. He is a very grreedy player too. Understandably so. He knows he has exceptional talent and wants to score. Perhaps in the PL he finds it more difficult as the quality is higher, no dodgy FC Groningen defences here, or no dodgy Chilean defences either. This is the top level. Can he do it here? Huge question mark? Verdict World Class or Liability?
Summary: We have 7 players of a successful 11 man team. The other 4 are the places that have cost LFC Champions League Football next season. Not one of the other players we have at the moment, hand on heart, can be relied upon to play regularly and make us a successful side. If you say Suarez has to be part of it, then fine. But he can't be relied upon to score the goals we need. Neither can he be relied upon to create for someone else as he is too greedy.
If we fail in the summer to find those 3 or 4 players, we will carry on as we are - Hard to beat but toothless. I doubt if that is good enough for anyone at this huge club. Obviously with the money spent, Comolli and Dalglish thought they had found those players. In my view none of them have delivered at the level reguired. It's Bellamy's we need - but Bellamy's that have younger legs.
