Liverpool legend John Barnes believes that manager Kenny Dalglish will have to buy at least 3 experienced players in the summer if they want to start competing for trophies again. Barnes believes the Reds can’t solely rely on youth prospects. He told talkSPORT:
“Kenny has maximised the potential of the squad. This team still won’t win the Championship, they’ll move forward [next season] but they still need two or three players. The youngsters inclusion is fantastic but I don’t think any other manager would have been able to include youngsters, because the fans will accept Kenny including them and they’ll support them even if they don’t win or don’t play well. We don’t want to put too much pressure on these youngsters though, playing Robinson and all these youngsters week in and week out, you’re not going to win the league. You need experience.”
On this season’s prospects, Barnes said:
“I think it’s too late for Liverpool to get fourth spot particularly with Manchester City’s victory at the weekend. Liverpool can finish fifth and next season they’ll look to make a push [for the title] but they still need investment. Kenny being there is not just a breath of fresh air he understands the philosophy and traditions of Liverpool, of how the fans demand they play. The fact that he’s not been at the club or in management for 15 years has no bearing on his ability. He’s a fantastic manager, who understands football and understands Liverpool. They are a perfect fit and if Kenny had gone to a different football club it probably wouldn’t have the same impact. Going to Liverpool where all the fans and everyone connected to Liverpool is behind him, you can see the immediate impact it’s had with everyone pulling in the right direction.”
Article courtesy of Live4Liverpool
wise up barnsey they need about 5 first team players (LB,CB,LM,RM,CM) and 3 or 4 good squad players
Liverpool must get the likes of Eden Hazard(18M) and Ibrahim Afellay(10M) on the team. Their speed, skills to break up the opposing teams defence and ability to supply crosses is much needed at LFC. As for our left-back crisis, I think Fabio Coentrao(20M) or Aly Cissokho(15M) would be the man for the job. They are both capable of solving all our problems at left-back. Lastly, we should get Mamadou Sakho(15M) or Simon Kjaer(15M) as our backline isn’t quite stable yet. Carragher and Kyrgiakos are both old. Hence, they are losing speed and they end up making rash tackles which might cause us some valuable points, points we wont want to risk losing. In addition, we only need to splash a sum of about 70M for 4 world class players. I say splash ! And with more quality coming in, we’ll need to start offloading players we wont need. I’d say J.Cole, M. Jovanovic, Konchesky, B. Jones, Aquilani, Insua, Degen and S. Kyrgiakos will have to go to. There ! A team capable of challenging for titles.
Starting XI :
Reina
G. Johnson – Skrtel – Agger – A. Cissokho
Kuyt – Gerrard – Mereiles – Hazard
Carroll – Suarez
Bench :
Gulacsi – Carragher – Sakho – Lucas – Afellay – Maxi – N’gog
No manager is going to pair Gerrard & Mereiles as a midfield combo. It unbalances the side. Gerrard is not disciplined enough to stay deep and with all his injury problems, all the hard tackles will do more harm, Merieles attacking strengh is wasted playing deep and although he was considered a good all round player, he himself has said he does not like the physical side to the premier league. Kenny has chosen to play Lucas and Spearing as his midfield duo and the reasons are above.
To compete with the top 4, they ‘ll need at least 8/10 players; it’s always easy to improve if you are sitting at mid-table. Being No. 1 or 2 ‘ll be different.
With the current team, let’s build a dream team of 25 (With 8 English) with possible recruits (I would love to have Messi, CRod & Roony in LFC shirt, but that’s …..)
GK (3) Raina, Gulasci & Green (Expecting West Ham to drop, a great English addition. If not, someone ENGLISH is a must for 2nd or 3rd keeper)
LB (2) Cissokho/Contero, Santon
RB (2) Van der Wiel (must go for him for <20 mn)/Jhonson (Honestly don’t want to keep him), Falangan
CB (4) Cara, Agger, Kelly, 1 of Shakho/Subtic/Skartel/Mertseker/Ronaldo
DM/CM (4) Mireles, Ma’ Villa, Willshire (Whatever required, he is worth another 35 mn) & Lucas. Next are C Adams, Matuidi or Henderson (to make the home grown cap)
AM/In the Hole (2) SteveG, Thomas Moller/Lavezi/Nasri (He hasn’t signed Arsenal extension yet)
LW (2) Gareth Bale (no compromise, must try to get him, even for another 35 mn), Sanches/Maravaux
RW (2) Kyut, Hazard/AYoung
Forward (4) Carroll, Suarez, Kuno Aguaero (AM is not UCL next year), Wickham
The rest dead-woods should be sold, even for some loss. We have to spend big once & it’s the earlier the better. Once the core team is built, in coming seasons, our academy can supply enough talents to replace aging stars & the likes of Starling, Suso, Coady ‘ll keep the first team on toes.
such a stupid stupid comment by M.you cannot build the team in a season you have start from somewhere and i say we open the transfer window with the signing of jose enrique.next we look for a left winger who will hug the by-line in the person of stewart downing or balacz dzudzack.A midfield pairing of Gerrard and Meireles would be the weakest midfield in the prem as both are predominantly attacking players. For the right wing i believe ezequel lavezzi and kuyt is enough cover and with the signing of sylvain marveaux our winger requirements are fulfilled.As far as i’m concerned we only need a centre back after that and Gary cahill would suffice.follow @thekidvirtuoso and tell me what you think.
Thanks Kiddo, for yours thoughts. Can u please spend some time to figure out how many starters of English, French,Italian, Dutch, German, Spanish & Portuguese national squad were part of the EPL winning team, every year?
Your squad players can be average, the likes of Maravaux, D’zack, Cahil, but starting 11 has to be top international starters with 1/2 iconic leaders, which we ‘ll not get from SG anymore at 31.
By the way, as I said, it’s a wish list to win the EPL or CL; not to qualify for Europe only. For that, I don’t think we need any purchase.
We seen what a huge impact Luis Suarez has had. So let’s be looking for quality like that and not average players.
We need a dominant, ball playing centre back. Carra is getting older and Agger is class, but made of glass. Skrtel is not top class. Ideally he is a sub.
Right back is Kelly or Flanagan. Left back is Johnson, Robinson or a new left back.
Centre midfield we need someone like Lassana Diarra at Real Madrid or Yann M’Vila. Physical but can pass it well. Spearing and Lucas have done well, but are not top class ball winners like Hamann and Mascherano were.
Wingers we could look at Menez, Hazard, Mata and Ashley Young.
Up front we need a better cover striker than N’Gog, who should be sold. Robbie Keane for 2-3m might be a good 4th choice striker behind Suarez, Carroll and Kuyt.
yes we need a left back, centre back, 1/2 wingers and a forward. for me i would love coentrao or leighton baines at left back and if we cant get one of them then gael clichy. for me cb either phil jones or gary cahill. wingers i would prefer alexis sanchez but doubt we would get him but would love ashley young/ eden hazard. and connor wickham as a cf. i have not seen afellay/sakho/aly sissoko so i couldnt say if they are good or bad.
what about turan,clichy lavezzi cahhil &hulk? do they fit in our dream winning team under king kenny .. ywna .wicky.nairobi
Three new signings :-
Afelley, Izaguirre and honda
Dude you don’t know what you talking about! You think its so easy to just sign players for that amount and not to mention most of the players you want are nothing special. What about aaron lennon matt jarvis gael clichy james milner gary cahill adam johnson john arnè risse arjen robben