In my opinion if the club followed these 5 realistic steps we would significantly improve our chance of top 4 qualification. Why 5? Because we won it 5 times
1) Bring God back as a striking coach/training assistant. He said hes looking for a managing job and might teach a thing or two to our strikers about finishing as well as show as working as an idol for our young players. Hell we would be really daring and have him striking coach/player still if he still has something to offer. Maybe worth trying to get Barnes in a training role as well for similar reasons.
2) Sell Aurelio, Maxi and possibly Kuyt depending on fees. These players are getting on and will only get worse, as well as 2/3 of them having injury problems and therefore unreliable (Kenny mentioned Maxi needing rest). This will also give us (few unless perhaps Kuyt) funds and free up the wage bill which is not really being used in the current set-up. I would also retire Carragher or keep him last choice CB, eitherway his attitude and leadership would be good on the training ground.
3) Buy a young dynamic midfielder to replace Meireles that may be available. This may include Ricardo Alvarez (Inter are hardly flying) Axel Witsel (Better league but no CL for now), Matias Fernandez (same as Axel) Marvin Martin (available but perhaps not cheap) Wijnldum (pace) or my personal favourite Moutinho, but we gotta fork out for him.
4) Buy a pacey striker who can play in forward 3/is versatile. The main objective here is pace and finishing ability, as well as having a knack of popping up, think a faster Kuyt but maybe less industry. They dont have to be young either as i think Sterling will become something special. Off the top of my head Remy,Gameiro, Lavezzi, Lopez, Abel Hernandez, Donovan (unlikely), Kazim-Richards and Pedro would all do wonders for our attacking and for the most part are realistic/fit in with our youth policy
5) Harsh words. Keep all the current buys, but tell them that they have had their chance to settle in now, but its time to start delivering or you're out the door. No one will be picked on merit, and youth will be given more of a chance no matter what your name is.
Therefore we would start the season with the following.
-------------------Reina----------------------
Johnson----Skrtel------Agger-----Enrique
--------Gerrard----Lucas-----Moutinho---
Suarez---------New St-------Bellamy-----
Bench: Kelly, Coates, Henderson, Downing, Spearing, Carroll, Kuyt/Sterling
The front 3 will be incredibly fluid, as all 3 can swap around while Gerrard and Moutinho feed them with Lucas mopping up as he usually does. This would be much more effective breaking down the 'park the bus' teams and increase our points total. Against the bigger teams i would be tempted to put Spearing/Henderson in the middle to give our defense a bit of help. Oh and make Adam fight for his place by learning to be a more intelligent midfielder.
Spend: £35-50 million
Thoughts? What would your 5 steps be?