is rafa's priority still a centreback?

[reds123]

After showing us that he has minimum faith in voronin, crouch and even Kuyt (the wasted 10 million), rafa is in search of a centreback. Oh my God!!!

No wonder our attack is so terrible, god help us when torres does not play!

Rafa should sell the wasted average players he bought including pennant sissoko and kuyt. . That's why we will not win the premier lg coz creatively we are not good enough!

[AFII]

We need a new central defender but we also need more high quality creative players.

If Rafa want Villa then G&H should give Rafa the money to sign him IF he also allow one of our strikers to leave.

From now on, except in the central defender case, Rafa should sell a player when he signs one. We already have a massive squad.

[Red_Al_77]

It's a CB, proper wingers and a proper 2nd striker. Same old story.

[kev776]

It's a CB, proper wingers and a proper 2nd striker. Same old story.

in a nutshell.

[flyboy]

i really dont know what his priorities are at the moment!!!!

[JohnDoe]

If we had a proper CB last night partnering Carragher, we might not have panicked every time Wigan punted a crap ball into the box, including that free kick.

[Kopite_Colin]

It's a CB, proper wingers and a proper 2nd striker. Same old story.

Spot on. We've ignored this for nearly 4 Tfer windows now (Torres excepted). It HAS to change.

[Joe King]

Yep. We can score goals but we concede as well. Poor goals as well. Arbeloa is poor at centre back. Not as commanding as Hyypia and Agger. We just need a ****ty 1-0 and the run will be back on.

[Howard_lfc]

Notice nobody mentioned a holding midfield player.

[AFII]

Notice nobody mentioned a holding midfield player.

Maybe because we already have the best in the world, Mascherano.

Played excellent yesterday and could with a little bit of luck scored two goals. He must be signed up on a long term deal but he is still our player.

[carheex]

Spend money where it's needed.

If we're going to play 1 up front, even against lowly teams, then we can afford to sell a striker and use the cash for a winger/centreback. We don't need 4 or 5 forwards to cover 1 position. Crouchie's going nowhere so hopefully it's bye-bye Dirk Diggler - thanks for bugger all!

[AFII]

I think that you soon need to visit a tranny but I agree with your post.

[Dhav]

Carheex, are you criticising the players we have or the tactics Rafa employs?

I have no real bones to pick with the one-man up against Wigan, but only if Gerrard can do a proper job of being a support striker or whatever you want to call him playing between the lines. In my mind he cant, whereas someone like Garcia could.

What baffled me last night is Pennant floating crosses to the far post with only torres in there or no one in there at all. If the idea is for Gerrard to be breaking into the box from deep then get to the by-line and pull the ball back. Either the tactics were poor or the execution was poor.

I agree with you that the strikeforce needs to be shaken up and we need to get a quality player in. I'd say sell two strikers (Crouch and Kuyt), use Babel as a forward and put the money towards a top class winger who can get crosses in, beat a man, and be a goal threat (if such a player exists and/or is available).

[Howard_lfc]

Maybe because we already have the best in the world, Mascherano.

Played excellent yesterday and could with a little bit of luck scored two goals. He must be signed up on a long term deal but he is still our player.

Best in the world. Not sure he's better than Hargreaves myself. It's open to debate.

Last night he wasn't excellent. He gave the free-kick away for the goal. Failed to clear the free-kick for the goal. Misplaced passes all over the pitch. Missed a simple chance to score with a side footed effort when clean through.

Having said that - he was probably the pick of the bunch of our players - but that's not saying much is it?

[tomasjj]

Best in the world. Not sure he's better than Hargreaves myself. It's open to debate.

Last night he wasn't excellent. He gave the free-kick away for the goal. Failed to clear the free-kick for the goal. Misplaced passes all over the pitch. Missed a simple chance to score with a side footed effort when clean through.

Having said that - he was probably the pick of the bunch of our players - but that's not saying much is it?

Unfair. Did you see how SG cleared it right into him where he was stood facing his own goal, crowded out? Not an easy one.

He should have put away that chance though. That was poor.

As for Rafas priorities, I think he wants to sign Mascher and a centre back first and foremost.
But hopefully it dawns for him that he needs to chance more than that...