[ENG] Premiership 2008/2009 (22 Viewers)

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Fred

Senior Member
Oct 2, 2003
41,113
Gerrard had 23 goals the year he played on the wing.
He'll always score goals, wherever you play him. But playing in the hole is where he excels most imo. I think you guys should focus more on getting a 2nd choice striker and a top quality winger so that you don't have to move Gerrard.
 

Enron

Tickle Me
Moderator
Oct 11, 2005
75,664
He'll always score goals, wherever you play him. But playing in the hole is where he excels most imo. I think you guys should focus more on getting a 2nd choice striker and a top quality winger so that you don't have to move Gerrard.
That's probably what we'll do. I think we're looking at Negredo and Pandev in addition to another left sided winger. I think our right is pretty straight forward (Benayoun and Kuyt). We also badly need a right back, probably Glen Johnson.
 

Fred

Senior Member
Oct 2, 2003
41,113
That's probably what we'll do. I think we're looking at Negredo and Pandev in addition to another left sided winger. I think our right is pretty straight forward (Benayoun and Kuyt). We also badly need a right back, probably Glen Johnson.

Glen Johnson won't be too bad. An upgrade over Arbeloa at least. Negredo is a decent player, won't be too bad for 2nd choice.
 

Fred

Senior Member
Oct 2, 2003
41,113
Silva would be hotness, seriously man, you guys would be set for a title challenge next year with Silva playing aside Gerrard, Kuyt and Torres, behind them a pairing of Alonso and Mascherano. Something like this


-------------------------Reina


-----G.Johnson-----Carragher----Agger----Aurelio


-------------------Xabi---------Masch


-------Kuyt------------------------------Silva


------------------------Gerrard

------------------------Torres


You'd have a very strong squad that can easily fight on all 3 fronts then.
 

Enron

Tickle Me
Moderator
Oct 11, 2005
75,664
That's what I thought, but apparently we may be playing poor. Either way Negredo and Johnson won't cost much. Johnson is a priority, then it comes to whether or not we promote from within to help Torres or bring in a new face. We can easily do what we need to do with 25-30m. But if we have 65+ like Boz said, upgrades could be very nice. I doubt it though.
 

Fred

Senior Member
Oct 2, 2003
41,113
At worst, we sell Xabi to Real or Barca and buy Barry. Still doesn't make much difference.
I think it will.

Barry is a good player, but he cannot organize the midfield and dictate the tempo like Xabi can. Xabi's absence has been felt whenever he's been injured this year, largely because you don't have any other midfielder with a similar skill-set. Barry is a good box to box midfielder, and he's versatile and can play more than one position. But after the season Alonso has had, i think it will be a stupid move by Rafa to sell him.

For me he has been the top central midfielder in the league this year. You don't go selling players after performances like that.
 

Enron

Tickle Me
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Oct 11, 2005
75,664
I think it will.

Barry is a good player, but he cannot organize the midfield and dictate the tempo like Xabi can. Xabi's absence has been felt whenever he's been injured this year, largely because you don't have any other midfielder with a similar skill-set. Barry is a good box to box midfielder, and he's versatile and can play more than one position. But after the season Alonso has had, i think it will be a stupid move by Rafa to sell him.

For me he has been the top central midfielder in the league this year. You don't go selling players after performances like that.
Hopefully.
 

Firestarter

▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄
Jul 15, 2006
25,642
I think it will.

Barry is a good player, but he cannot organize the midfield and dictate the tempo like Xabi can. Xabi's absence has been felt whenever he's been injured this year, largely because you don't have any other midfielder with a similar skill-set. Barry is a good box to box midfielder, and he's versatile and can play more than one position. But after the season Alonso has had, i think it will be a stupid move by Rafa to sell him.

For me he has been the top central midfielder in the league this year. You don't go selling players after performances like that.
Meh, it's a risk for Liverpool because Xabi already has experience of winning the Champions League, and winning EURO 2008 unlike Barry who didn't even catch the boat. Experience like that is invaluable when it comes down to a knockout stages in a cup, or penalty shootout. It's true, Benitez relied on Lucas Leiva who hasn't really lived up to his hype, when it came to filling in for Xabi. It's true that Xabi is less of a box to box in comparison than Barry, like Secco would say 'Xabi is slow', but then again the ball moves faster than the player. It's would be ludicrous for him to replace Xabi with Barry, especially if it would make Gerrard 'happier' and being more of an 'English' team, not worth it.
 

mikhail

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2003
9,576
I don't think Rafa will ever play Gerrard deep. He'd rather stick him on the wing than play him deep. He's never been too fond of Gerrard's positioning and defensive skills.
He's totally correct on this. Gerrard might have started out as a DM, but he has too much of a hero complex to play there well.
 
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