Is our team capable to challenge the title that we do no need any new player?

[dww]

To be fair it is all comparative. Gerrard does get better with increasing fitness - as in many ways does our team which is why we tend to finish strongly as I believe Rafa tends to try and get us to peak physically then (he certainly did according to Ballague when he first came and the trend seems to continue).

The idea that any player doesn't have peaks and troughs in form to some extent seems a bit odd. Gerrard was probably one of the most consistent performers in teh league though in the last couple of seasons.

In the original list Yossi in his time with us has certainly had peaks and troughs but they seem to last quite long - so I wonder if there is a factor we don't know about at play. After Xmas he was consistently very good.

Riera I don't think dipped as much as popular wisdom has it he did. He was less conspicuous but I think he continued contributing.

[BrianF80]

You really need to watch Liverpool play a little more.

You could be more constructive you know.

[BrianF80]

I see we've polarized on subjective details.

The point was we have some players whose performances are more obviously cyclical. If we can manage them right, there's no reason to think we can't continue where we left off last season, but let's not delude ourselves into expecting, for example, Yossi to perform all season as he did at the tail-end of last.

[dww]

I see we've polarized on subjective details.

The point was we have some players whose performances are more obviously cyclical. If we can manage them right, there's no reason to think we can't continue where we left off last season, but let's not delude ourselves into expecting, for example, Yossi to perform all season as he did at the tail-end of last.

I do agree with your original point in the sense that I do think that ensuring that the things that worked well last year (I'd say that Riera on the left making space for Kuyt and Gerrard in the middle worked very well, as did the option of Yossi in a number of position second half of the season) are as effective and supplemented is key.

The Yossi issue is an interesting one as he did seem to find his feet at the level we need him to (in his first season I thought he was a bit of a flat track bully). It could be that everything else conspired to make him look good, he was managed well or that he just genuinely developed as a player. If it is the latter then we will have gone a long way to fixing a lot of our problems.

The players I most worry about being inconsistent would be those in defense Agger and Skrtel in particular. Players like Babel were inconsistent but were not regular so it's unfair to count them (and in his case I hope he is sold).

[BrianF80]

I do agree with your original point in the sense that I do think that ensuring that the things that worked well last year (I'd say that Riera on the left making space for Kuyt and Gerrard in the middle worked very well, as did the option of Yossi in a number of position second half of the season) are as effective and supplemented is key.

The Yossi issue is an interesting one as he did seem to find his feet at the level we need him to (in his first season I thought he was a bit of a flat track bully). It could be that everything else conspired to make him look good, he was managed well or that he just genuinely developed as a player. If it is the latter then we will have gone a long way to fixing a lot of our problems.

The players I most worry about being inconsistent would be those in defense Agger and Skrtel in particular. Players like Babel were inconsistent but were not regular so it's unfair to count them (and in his case I hope he is sold).

Good point, I seem to have rather polarized on the attacking the "park the bus teams" problem.

TBH I'm not sure what conclusions to draw about the forward line as for the last few games last season we seemed to be playing a very fluid lineup with Kuyt, Gerrard and Yossi all taking turns at playing off Torres and the others adjusting accordingly. If we continue to be that fluid, performances where each has played in a more restricted role are less relevant for me.

On the defence, I see your point, again at the back-end of the season Mascherano was used in a more progressive role and there was less of a screen so they did come under more pressure than usual, I think a lot of that was down to tactical naivety though. I think that can be ironed out in pre-season though.

[wiw]

Definitely. It's been said a million times but with Torres in the team more and had we not had trouble fitting Keane in, we really could've pissed the league. We also hit the bar about 57 times (19 I think, 3 times more than any other team or there abouts) which surely won't be repeated and we'll stick a few more chances away

Players like Yossi and Riera seem like half-season players, which isn't a bad thing if they're as ****-hot as Yossi was this year. As long as they have good competition the team can only benefit. When we've got people like Kuyt consistently performing well it helps also

[kop-al-74]

You could be more constructive you know.

Sometimes it's just not clear who comes on here with genuine comments rather than being a WUM.

Riera had a great debut but was a little more dissapointing as the season went on.Benayoun had a great end to his season but Gerrard is one of the most consistent players we have and it just seemed a liitle odd to mention our club captain and our best player as one of those players.

[JohnDoe]

We finished 4 points off the top with Gerrard and/or Torres unavailable for more than half of our PL games. Add Mancs losing the "one man" in their "one man team" and you could argue that we'll be favourites if we keep our team intact.

I can understand Rafa being careful about signing a player who could disrupt our first team like Keane did.

In the wide areas we've got Kuyt and Benayoun who have had great seasons and deserve their first team spot at the start of next season. Babel should be Torres' back up as the lone striker, I feel he's a bit underrated in that role and as frustrating as he is, he's still a good finisher.

Riera and El Zhar are good options to have in the wide areas. N'Gog and *gasp* Voronin aren't bad 3rd/4th choice strikers considering we play one up top most of the time. Central midfield cover is pretty good with Lucas, Plessis and Spearing. We could be a little light at right back if Arbeloa leaves but maybe Degen will end his injury nightmare and it also looks like Rafa has faith in Darby. At CB we're fine. 3 top players and a youngster to possibly step up as 4th choice.

Yes, we're good enough to win the title.

[BrianF80]

Sometimes it's just not clear who comes on here with genuine comments rather than being a WUM.

Fair enough. You should be aware though that if your treat people like they are WUMs, a WUM is most likely what they will become. Certainly my first reaction was less polite than what was posted.

Riera had a great debut but was a little more dissapointing as the season went on.Benayoun had a great end to his season but Gerrard is one of the most consistent players we have and it just seemed a liitle odd to mention our club captain and our best player as one of those players.

Pretend I didn't mention Gerrard then.


We were lucky at the tail-end of the season that we had a fair few players operating at their peak. If we can continue that and if squad players are at their peak when they replace first team members who are flagging, then yes we can win without getting any new players.

[BrianF80]

We finished 4 points off the top with Gerrard and/or Torres unavailable for more than half of our PL games. Add Mancs losing the "one man" in their "one man team" and you could argue that we'll be favourites if we keep our team intact.

I can understand Rafa being careful about signing a player who could disrupt our first team like Keane did.

In the wide areas we've got Kuyt and Benayoun who have had great seasons and deserve their first team spot at the start of next season. Babel should be Torres' back up as the lone striker, I feel he's a bit underrated in that role and as frustrating as he is, he's still a good finisher.

Riera and El Zhar are good options to have in the wide areas. N'Gog and *gasp* Voronin aren't bad 3rd/4th choice strikers considering we play one up top most of the time. Central midfield cover is pretty good with Lucas, Plessis and Spearing. We could be a little light at right back if Arbeloa leaves but maybe Degen will end his injury nightmare and it also looks like Rafa has faith in Darby. At CB we're fine. 3 top players and a youngster to possibly step up as 4th choice.

Yes, we're good enough to win the title.

At times last season, I looked at the bench and thought, hmmm, wish we had a matchwinner there. I think that's still true. I was also worried about cover in CM and now Rafa is talking about using three at the back more to have more "attacking power", three proven center backs seems light. Yes we can win, but the margin for error is very very slim.

[dww]

At times last season, I looked at the bench and thought, hmmm, wish we had a matchwinner there. I think that's still true. I was also worried about cover in CM and now Rafa is talking about using three at the back more to have more "attacking power", three proven center backs seems light. Yes we can win, but the margin for error is very very slim.

I thought he was saying we had done that in the past? To me the point was that now he felt we were capable of building from the back without it. I might have got the wrong end of the stick there though as I only saw partial quotes.

I agree that we need more threats in the squad. That said we have a number of people who could step up like Babel, El Zhar, Ngog and even Voronin (some of which I have more faith in than others). At the minute I think your underlying point that we need an improvement in that area remains sound whether the improvement comes from new players or those already here.

For me at the minute a lot relies on whether adding attacking options deeper has the intending enhancement effect on the efforts of the Kuyt and Benayoun against the lesser teams. It is unlikely we will do quite as well against the other top 4 sides as last team which means we will probably have to pick up more points elsewhere.

That said I still think that we lost as many points last year in games that we were one up in and then drew through loosing control of midfield and allowing counter attacks (I remember games against Wigan and Everton in particular that cost us and the 4-4 with Arsenal contained many of the same failings). For me this pointed to needing more midfield cover as you can't expect Mascher and Alonso to be 'on it' every game and that Agger and Skrtel still have progress they need to make. I also think some of our attacking players (particularly Benayoun and Babel but in different ways Lucas too) need to improve their intelligence in terms of defensive play and to some extent the physical aspects of their game.

[tommyg]

Harry Kewell!

[PTP]

I certainly think we will challenge as we are now! - though it is vital we keep a happy mascher and alonso. In an ideal world we would add say Silva and cover for torres, i'd then think we would be more than capable of going that extra mile and go all the way.

But if we lose either mascher or xabi or worse both - it's going to be difficult.

[Guest]

We won't lose Mascher and Xabi as it's too late now.

[PTP]

We won't lose Mascher and Xabi as it's too late now.

dya reckon! there is still over a month left of silly season!!!!!!

i suspect a very stressful and nervy last 3 or 4 days of the transfer window