Whats Missing?

[CharlieMansonsSquint]

Wanted at Anfield: A team who'll have the courage, belief and ability to pass the ball.

[Gaz]

A couple of full backs with the ability to overlap and whip some dangerous crosses in. A winger who can carry the ball and beat players and offer a genuine goal threat would be good. I'd like to see a creative forward in the Robinho mould who can create out of nothing and who carries the explosive pace to get round the back of the defence.

I suppose this will mean a fair chunk of money being spent which i am unsure that Hicks and Gillett are willing to do.

I think your right there, so many times the ball goes out to the wings and lets say finnan picks up the ball and as soon as he is confronted with a defender he stops and passes inside as there is no decent outlet infront of him on the touchline or he doesn't look to play a one two and go past the man in front of him. Look at Arsenal, United or Chelsea and they all have full backs who constantly look to get forward and put in crosses and have out and out wingers infront of them. The wingers we have bought i.e Benayoun and Babel look to come inside far too much and our play becomes really narrow and predictable.

IMO We need to break the bank for players like Quaresma and Alves as they'd give us the attacking balance we're looking for.

[Armchairkopite]

I agree with you there 100% but do you not think we need at least one more striker as Veronin and Kuyt aren't up to it?
I'd keep Crouch no problem btw. One of few who played well today i thought.

I aint ready to give up on Kuyt yet Marky as for Voronin

[Gaz]

We have most of the spine of an excellent team in:

Reina
Carra
Agger
Gerrard plus either Mascher or Alonso in CM
Torres

So we are missing two quality fullbacks who can overlap and attack as well as defend, two wingers who can consistantly beat a man and deliver a quality cross and another striker of Torres's quality.

All that and cover for same.

Not going to come cheap though is it.

[Kilteragh]

Not going to come cheap though is it.

Nope but it is the reality unfortunately.

[andyinswinton]

We have most of the spine of an excellent team in:

Reina
Carra
Agger
Gerrard plus either Mascher or Alonso in CM
Torres

So we are missing two quality fullbacks who can overlap and attack as well as defend, two wingers who can consistantly beat a man and deliver a quality cross and another striker of Torres's quality.

All that and cover for same.

With those 5 or 6 in the team, you wonder exactly what the problem is. I mean, I could justify any of them getting a game in any team in the Premiership.

As for the rest, would anybody be upset if any were sold now or in the summer? Babel and Lucas may well be for the future but for the others surely if a reasonable offer came in we should look to cash in on them?

I think the other thing we are missing is some belief, confidence and stability on the pitch which has got to come from Rafa. He can't do much when the boys cross the line on match day but he has got to instill that confidence that we have had but for some reason have lost recently.

[Gaz]

Nope but it is the reality unfortunately.

Fully agree with you mate

[vonk]

One or two quality players will make no difference. If we were playing good, penetrating football and just missing chances, I would agree. The players seem to have no belief, we have no consistent way of playing and we have no plan B once plan A fails. A set of 11 world class players will not win anything unless the system employed works. Basic flaws in our approach to games need to be addressed first. Then we can start to think about players which will give us the slight edge. We are not even close right now.

[Kilteragh]

With those 5 or 6 in the team, you wonder exactly what the problem is. I mean, I could justify any of them getting a game in any team in the Premiership.

As for the rest, would anybody be upset if any were sold now or in the summer? Babel and Lucas may well be for the future but for the others surely if a reasonable offer came in we should look to cash in on them?

I think the other thing we are missing is some belief, confidence and stability on the pitch which has got to come from Rafa. He can't do much when the boys cross the line on match day but he has got to instill that confidence that we have had but for some reason have lost recently.

I think players like Crouch, Arebeloa, Aurelio and Benayoun should definitely be retained as backup as well as the young 'uns for the future.

I always remember being frustrated with Fowler and Owen up front when the opposition cut out the supply to them on the ground there was no way they would win the majority of balls in the air as they weren't the tallest and we had no plan B - a player in Crouchy's mould provides this.

[Kilteragh]

One or two quality players will make no difference. If we were playing good, penetrating football and just missing chances, I would agree. The players seem to have no belief, we have no consistent way of playing and we have no plan B once plan A fails. A set of 11 world class players will not win anything unless the system employed works. Basic flaws in our approach to games need to be addressed first. Then we can start to think about players which will give us the slight edge. We are not even close right now.

Rafa has proved the system works. He has won the Spanish league on two occasions and embarrassed us home and away in Europe as well.

[Armchairkopite]

I think your right there, so many times the ball goes out to the wings and lets say finnan picks up the ball and as soon as he is confronted with a defender he stops and passes inside as there is no decent outlet infront of him on the touchline or he doesn't look to play a one two and go past the man in front of him. Look at Arsenal, United or Chelsea and they all have full backs who constantly look to get forward and put in crosses and have out and out wingers infront of them. The wingers we have bought i.e Benayoun and Babel look to come inside far too much and our play becomes really narrow and predictable.

IMO We need to break the bank for players like Quaresma and Alves as they'd give us the attacking balance we're looking for.

Why do you think hes right? Queresma is not a full back. Attacking full backs my arse, we need at least one top class winger pronto.

[vonk]

Rafa has proved the system works. He has won the Spanish league on two occasions and embarrassed us home and away in Europe as well.

The system works in Europe where when we playing against higher rated opposition on the counter attack and keeping it tight. Lesser teams simply park the bus and we have no answer. We've seen nothing of Rafa's Valencia in this Liverpool team. They were like Arsenal, we are not even close.

[vonk]

Why do you think hes right? Queresma is not a full back. Attacking full backs my arse, we need at least one top class winger pronto.

A top class winger would have stepped onto that pitch today and changed the way we played that game.

[bigfooty]

Rafa has proved the system works. He has won the Spanish league on two occasions and embarrassed us home and away in Europe as well.

Spanish league is completely different to the Premiership. You can make more mistakes, you can have lower ambitions in terms of results in certain matches. You need about 10 points fewer per season to win it.

And as for European football, we pretty much uniformly accept that he's very skilled when it comes to that.

[Kilteragh]

Spanish league is completely different to the Premiership. You can make more mistakes, you can have lower ambitions in terms of results in certain matches. You need about 10 points fewer per season to win it.

And as for European football, we pretty much uniformly accept that he's very skilled when it comes to that.

Well who do you replace him with then if that is what you are advocating? If you can't hire somebody based on their CV abroad and there are no good English managers around what is your solution?