Liverpool: Who to get in a near-fantasy transfer window

Article by Red Phil

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After spending several weeks bemoaning the lack of activity on the part of Liverpool FC’s transfer gurus, of both inwards and outwards transfers, suddenly there seems to be movement with several relatively high profile players supposedly being touted as being on their way to Anfield. Obviously, most of it is still rumours, and you know how much faith I have in most rumours, but let’s look at how some of the top rumours would leave our squad, if they happened to come about in a mass of incoming transfers . . .

It almost certainly won’t happen but, with no footie to look forward to and a lousy first six or seven away games when it does start, it’s nice to dream, is it not?

Firstly, I’d like to state my annoyance that it seems City have agreed to sign Patrick Roberts from Fulham when I was hoping and praying he’d bring his talents to Anfield! Probably a missed opportunity there, one of many over recent years.

Anyway, being what I hope is realistic, we need to look at the players we’ve got who are good enough and, as most of the potential signings are midfielders it is sensible to begin there. Jordon Ibe, Coutinho, Can and Henderson deserve to be in the squad next year (although I still have my doubts as to the merits of Jordan Henderson) and, obviously, we’ve signed James Milner from City.

Strangely, if the rumours are to be believed, we are also still trying to sign Kovacic from Inter, Sissoko from Newcastle, Firmino from Hoffenheim and Illaramandi from Real Madrid. Today’s press even suggests that we are considering bids for Mertens and Konoplyanka, two wingers! Call me on old fuddy-duddy if you wish but wouldn’t that leave us with about twelve midfield players, each of whom, with big egos, finding it very nauseating to be on the bench? Obviously, it would mean the end for players like Lukas and Allen, at LFC, but we’ve got to seriously wonder about the mentality of anybody at the club who could sanction all of those incoming deals.

Kovacic - Liverpool Target?

Common sense and basic sanity dictates that we wouldn’t get all of them but the rumour mill doesn’t seem to be jettisoning any of them so who do we need to ditch from that list of potential players? I think we still need a strong defensive midfielder and Asier Illaramandi certainly fits that bill. Mind you, Sissoko could play that role and, of course, he has vast experience of our league, which is more than could be said for any of the others. He has stood out in our league whereas so many foreign players can’t hack it when they finally get here.

Sissoko looks superb rampaging forward, box to box, so could play that role as well as and when needed.

Don’t know much about Kovacic but the press still refer to him as being as near to another Gerrard as we are going to get, he’s only about 21 and seems to have a great deal of experience for one so young. Apparently he’s got a good range of passing skills and is a strong runner! Sounds good to me! Then you’ve got Firmino, the Brazilian who has been a big star in Germany . . . which isn’t an easy thing to do. He scores a lot of goals for Hoffenheim as a ‘Number Ten’, or attacking midfielder playing just off the striker, just as Stevie G. used to do. Again, he’s young and a current Brazil international. That ticks most of the boxes, for me!

Emre Can is ripping up the trees in the Germany under-21 team at the moment and is the star player of the tournament so far in MIDFIELD, and NOT in defence. I think we can safely say that he is going to be playing in midfield next season or Brendan Rodgers will have the entire fan-base of LFC on his back the moment a team-sheet suggests Emre is going to be wasted again in defence. Even this manager couldn’t be that stupid, surely? Either that ludicrous experiment is now dumped, for ever, or I think we can safely say the manager will be dumped very soon after he tries that tactical switch again. Who is right, the manager . . . or, seemingly, every Liverpool fan? Emre Can could be a legend at Liverpool if played in his correct place! As a defender, he’s second-rate, so far.

So, who do we have as our optimum midfield next year? Playing with a lone striker, as I think we’ll do next year, we could have Illaramandi as a defensive midfielder, along with Sissoko, and with Ibe on the right and Coutinho on the left, with Milner and Can in central midfield. I’d also get Kovacic AND/OR Firmino in the squad, with Firmino able to play just behind the striker, as and when required, and Kovacic there for creative central midfield duties.

I like that balance, even though I’ve hardly seen some of them play!!

Milner has the mobility and aerobic capacity that we need, not to mention his experience, so I’d be keen to start next season with him in a central role. Coutinho started here as a left-sided player and I think he’d be quite happy switching back there to accommodate the changes I’ve mentioned and especially the inclusion of Firmino as the ‘number ten player’ that Coutinho currently is. Not sure about Markovic, he didn’t play enough last year to make me sure either way, so I might be tempted to keep him.

Jordon Ibe is still young and wouldn’t play in every game, hence the inclusion of Firmino in the squad, but Jordon would still get, in MY team, to play thirty-odd games a year, sometimes off the bench. He is a player, though young, of RARE talents and is a Sterling with bulk and size!

No team can hope to succeed with the minimum of players so that’d give us the balance we need and a bit of depth as well, in midfield. Sadly, it doesn’t look good, from my perspective, for Henderson and I don’t rally think we need more direct wingers so Mertens and Konoplyanka needn’t get their tickets to John Lennon Airport!

The press seems to think we may be after somebody called Carlos Bacca! What I know about him could be mentioned on a pin head but he is, apparently, a good striker for Sevilla. Mind you, we’ve already got Sturridge, Ings and Origi for potentially the one slot so I’m not sure how high on our list of priorities a new striker would be, surprisingly? After whinging for weeks about needing a new striker am I changing my mind?

If we are to play with TWO strikers, yes, get a top one, but if we are going to play with one striker and a VERY creative midfield, as outlined above, I think we could score a lot of goals and especially if Firmino arrives here. The problems with my much-loved two striker system would be that we’d lose a midfielder and, at the moment, whilst I’m almost picking my ‘world eleven’ I don’t want to do that unless Vietto signs for us.

I know I’ve said, several times, that strikers hunt best in pairs – Keegan/Toshack, Rush/Dalglish, Suarez/Sturridge, Hunt/St John – so it would be nice to know what tactical set-up the manager has in mind for next year? Let’s decide and then stick to it without the ludicrous chopping and changing we had last years, with some games starting with four at the back, going to three and ending up back at four! As if that wasn’t bad enough we had several players, Moreno and Can playing hopelessly out of position for too much of too many games. THAT must not happen again! Our two managerial greats, Bill and Bob, had the same tactical set-up for decade after decade and let the opposition worry about how to stop us . . . which normally they couldn’t do!

We can’t sign Danny Ings and then not give him a crack at the top spot, we can’t pretend that Sturridge isn’t a great player, when fit, and Origi was the dog’s b******s when playing for Belgium about eighteen months ago . . . before he was voted one of the very worst players in the French league last season, strangely. From what I can remember of him, that Origi might be the best bet for a lone-striker role as he was very mobile and powerful playing up-front, alone, for Belgium!

The reason I’ve gone for TWO defensive midfield players, when I constantly say one is enough, is that our defence is crap! Literally CRAP!!!!! With so many playing in midfield – and remembering how our manager likes to control games by dominating possession in midfield – we can only have three at the back with the squad I’d like. Now, and this might be a shock to the manager if is ever reads this (I’m not overly optimistic, I must admit) but Toure and Sakho are USELESS and shouldn’t get into a Liverpool squad, let alone the team. With doubts till remaining about Lovren it appears we are almost bereft in defence when it comes to quality and the ability to head a ball more-or-less in the right direction. Martin Skrtel excepted, of course!

I think Moreno is a fine player but isn’t tall enough to be in a three-man defence when we are susceptible to high balls played into the box, towards a nervous keeper. How tall is Clyne, although I think he’s played a back three so should be okay, if he signs? So, excluding Can from that position, for EVER and a day, we need a dominant centre back to play alongside Skrtel and possibly Lovren, depending upon how he begins next season. Who could we get? Is that Gomez a possibility or is he too raw to be played yet? Don’t know, never seen the lad? Some youngsters can hack it from being very young, some can’t. That Illori played well for Portugal against England so he’s a potential option, if we think he can cope with the hustle and bustle of English football!. He’s got good poise, apparently, and is more of a Hansen than a Tommy Smith! That might be acceptable if he can play! It’s not all brute force and ignorance, is it?

Ashley Williams, of Swansea, is a very good organiser and a good passer of the ball out of defence, lacking in height possibly, and is well-known to the manager. As he’s nearly thirty, or possibly IS thirty, he’d be a good player to get until Gomez gets the experience he needs on loan somewhere or as a squad player, for cup games, at LFC.

Skrtel and Lovren plus A. N. Other, protected by Sissoko and Illaramandi might just make us look as if we can defend beyond Stockport Sunday League standard next year . . . but they’d all need to have more confidence in their keeper’s ability to come out and catch the bloody ball than we experienced last year. That game at AFC Wimbledon still haunts me. They just lumped the ball into our box and the defenders we played that evening just couldn’t cope . . . and the keeper was a disaster. It looked like a ball hurtling round a pin-ball machine at time in our penalty box. I’ll never forget the pictures on TV of the Wimbledon fans laughing at our inability to cope with high balls.

I don’t trust Simon Mignolet, I’d rather see Butland or Begovic of Stoke brought in to try to give more height for such high-ball tactics. Butland deserves a chance as a top club’s keeper!

How do we afford all that?

Fifty million quid for Sterling, a great wedge of dosh from the TV deal, a few million for each of Balotelli, Lambert, Borini, Allen, Toure, Sakho, Markovic (possibly) and Lukas leaving and we’d still have a bit of money left to give me a quick back-hander for the advice given! Nah, that’s never going to happen, is it?

My squad for next year : Butland, Bogdan, Moreno, Ashley Williams, Lovren, Skrtel, Illori, Gomez, Clyne, Illaramandi, Sissoko, Milner, Can, Kovacic, Firmino, Henderson, Ibe, Markovic (possibly) Coutinho, Ings, Origi, Sturridge and Vietto (I can dream!!!!).

Probably contradicted myself a dozen times in the above but we need enough talent to allow for injuries, bans, etc., and a few tactical switches when injuries or bans (and not the manager’s weird changes of mind, sometimes several times per game) dictate that we can’t play our normal way. My captain would be Skrtel.

Chances are we may not get any, or very few, of the people RUMOURED to be arriving but if anybody thinks my squad and tactics are anywhere near being right, or simply horrendous, give me YOUR selections. In an ideal world I’d always go for 4-4-2, as I love strikers hunting in pairs, but with so few top strikers around and us supposedly interested in a few top midfielders – always remembering as well how we like to control midfield possession – I’ve gone for swamping the midfield and giving the defence some support. As we are so poor at the back, and with TWO tall defensive midfielders helping them, I’ve gone for three at the back – with a great deal of anguish – mainly because we haven’t got a clue about heading the ball away with two centre backs and two small full-backs. If we had two excellent central defenders, both dominating in the air, I’d like four at the back . . . but that luxury eludes us!

The squad I’ve picked might just miss one or two good players we’ve already got and I’ve simply forgotten. If that is the case, I humbly apologise for any such omissions. It is also small enough for another couple of players, perhaps another defender and a wide-playing forward, so who else would fit in? A late, very late, bid for Patrick Roberts might just do it for me . . .

RED PHIL

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