What we need part 2 – Midfield

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By Robert Magee

In the first part of this 3 part series on what we need to improve our team and squad, I talked about our defensive capabilities and where we needed to improve. In this article, I will talk of where we need to improve in terms of our midfield area.

Please bear in mind that these views are that of my own and not the sites. I’m also attempting to gain experience so positive feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Right Midfield –

Right Midfield is an area of much interest for myself and will be interesting to see what way things will pan out next season in regards to RM. For the last three seasons or so, Dirk Kuyt has occupied this position. Originally acquired as a striker, he was moved to right midfield by Rafael Benitez. Kuyt is a player who you either love or hate but one who’s work rate is respected and admired by all. I personally have grown to like Dirk Kuyt. Yes, he isn’t the most technically gifted player and that’s there for everyone to see. But he is definitely a menace in the sense that he chases every ball down and does a great job tracking back. However, with the recent signing of Jordan Henderson, Kuyt’s place on the team may be under threat. Although, this is where is gets more interesting. There is a lot of talk of Liverpool playing a 4 3 3 formation next season. This may be the be all or end all for Dirk Kuyt. I will discuss the implications of other positions on right midfield in the following sections.

Centre Midfield –

Centre Midfield is a position in which I am satisfied with the quality we have. We have a number of options in this area which is likely to increase. Jordan Henderson’s signing has shown the owner’s intent. I believe that he is a good player and has great potential to become a great player. I have read some views on Twitter of people expecting him to be the next Gerrard – that he won’t be and if you think that then you will be very disappointed next season. He hasn’t been that much of a goal threat in his short Premier League career so far but he is a player that he a great engine and will run box to box for 90 minutes. His actual transfer fee differs from sources but for £16-20m, I expect Henderson to be starting next season. His signing, and the likely signing of Adam, have led to speculation about who may be sold this season to make way for the duo. One name who has been mentioned is Raul Meireles. I am completely against selling Meireles and I expect him to stay this season. He, along with Lucas and Kuyt, was one of Liverpool’s best players last season and done great for it being his debut season in English football. I had previously thought that buying Henderson and Adam was unnecessary due to the amount of centre midfielders we currently have. However, yet again, talk of a 4 3 3 next season has made me see the necessity of depth in centre midfield. We definitely have a lot of talent in centre midfield and it is great for a change to be able to buy players without having to sell. I think it will be tough for the likes of Jay Spearing and Jonjo Shelvey to get a good run in the first team next season and they may be loaned out to get some first team football.

Left Midfield –

Left Midfield is definitely a position in which we need to improve. Left midfield has proved a problem area for Liverpool for a number of seasons and this summer, I’m hoping Kenny Dalglish finds the solution. A number of players have been linked with us including Young, Downing and Mata. Young is out of the question as he has agreed terms to join Manchester United. That leaves Downing and Mata. There has been more talk of Downing joining than Mata however I believe that Mata is our number one target for this position. I would prefer Mata to Downing as he’d give us well needed width on the left. Yes, Downing would also provide width too but Mata is the much more exciting prospect of the two. I believe that we will keep Maxi Rodriguez due to his consistency the past few months under Kenny Dalglish and he is good back up. The decider in who Kenny Dalglish buys for left midfield will be their delivery which will be key.

Keep an eye out for the next and final part of WHAT WE NEED – FORWARDS.

 

 

19 Comments

  1. There are a lot of rumours that Meireles is off. I can’t understand why we are selling him, i’ve heard its because of his age. We seem to keep buying Central Midfielders, you are right we need some width in teh squad!

  2. We will never sign Mata, he is going to be a star at the U21’s and will go to a champions league club, Downing is a proven premiership player and will do nicely. Adam is a replacement for Raul in opinion

  3. The only thing I would argue is that of Maxi. He preformed well for 4 or 5 games at the end of the year but does that have the quality that Kennys team needs. Mata would be the dream scenario but Downing is good and probable alternative.

  4. Kuyt is a player who you either love or hate but one who’s work rate is respected and admired by all. I personally have grown to like Dirk Kuyt.

    liked that one

  5. I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Raul has not settle that well in England and would like to move to a more Latin country (Italy or Spain). It’s a guess on my behalf but it would explain why we would bought Henderson and or linked with Adam as well. I really don’t think we need Adam as we already have Gerrard, Lucas, Henderson, Spearing, and Shelvey. Also we have still have Joe Cole who will hopefully get a decent pre-season and be back to something like his old form, Maxi who was brilliant at the end of last season and can play in the middle, and Aquilani who looks like he might be coming back whether he likes it or not (I think he is a pretty decent player as well).

    I would really like to see us get one out and out winger, preferably someone for the left side. A player who can make something out of nothing, in the mould of Nani. That type of player is normally quite up and down, but I think with the rest of the squad we have been quite one paced (apart from Suarez) and lacking any real trickery, we can afford to carry a player in some games if he is going to be able to break down a team in others. Mata does look like he fits the bill, but as Mañana said Valencia are in the Champions League next year and we’re not, so doubt he’ll want to come. It really is hard to think of anyone that fits the bill, I guess that’s why we’ve have so much trouble in filling that position.

  6. if you count up how many midfielders we currently have in the squad

    gerrard
    raul
    lucas
    spearing
    shelvey
    cole
    jovonavic
    maxi
    poulson
    aqaulani ( loan to return )

    thats 10 players

    but if we sell

    cole 3 mil ( attacking , winger )
    poulson 3 mil ( defensive )
    jovonovic 5 mil( attacking, winger )
    aqualini 8 mil ( attacking )

    and buy

    henderson 16 mil ( Defensive , attack or winger )( playing defensive for england in U21)
    adams 10 mil( attack or defensive )
    downing 15 mil or simular ( winger )

    We go from 10 to 9 players and save about 100k a week off the payroll and get better players. also looking to sell ngog for about 5 mil, so we will have a net spend of about 20 mil but save 5 mil a year in wages, All the players we buy will increase as they are young.

    all we need now is a left back and a central defender and we are about there.

    and i expect KK and DC to bring in those players this window as well and say good bye to kyi and fabio.

  7. sorry forgot to say i think shelvey will be loaned out as he is a good player for the future and needs playing time and KK likes to loan out like they did with spearing, if not this season then next season, so that takes us to 8 midfielders including wingers,

    for the prem, league cup and FA cup.

  8. I really think the only position left to fill is defensive midfielder. Henderson is not nearly experienced enough to do that and he is not wired that way anyway. Henderson could partner Lucas/DM behind the AM in the 4/3/3 but what would be better than bringing Adam in is finding a defensive midfielder like Blaise Matuidi or Javi Martinez that can step in right now.

  9. what liverpool really need now is to fulfill the leftback position…so pls concentrated to it..

  10. Personally i think selling raul meireles would be a mistake cause he seems to be a perfect combination of effort and technical ability. As far as wingers go i think either downing or mata would be good as downing is a well balanced player while mata brings pace and trickery. But I’ve been thinking recently that a diamond formation in midfield could be on the cards with lucas as the holding midfield and henderson, charlie adam, or gerrard used as the 2 centres and then either meireles or gerrard as an attacking spearhead. Cause i just don’t see why they would bring in 2 quality centre midfielders to sit on the bench as while henderson and adam are good they won’t be able to beat out gerrard and meireles to a starting place.

  11. With agger being fit, the central defence is ok but 1 problem at that back is always the hole at the left back which the opponent uses to lunch their attack. we also need a left winger seriously to cover most of our weakness.

  12. Meireles Must stay! He has the technical skill for cntral mid , excellent passer and has an eye for goal. The only player that can replace meireles in our current squad is aquilani. The only difference btn the two is that aquaman has better ball playing skills although Raul has better runs. We should keep both!
    On defence just get agger fit and our centre back problem would be no more. Then get insua back and buy a quality leftback -clichy would do.
    Again not even Gerard can bench Meireles!

  13. henderson shows the owners intent” does it? man utd have win the league and have now over taken us and they go out and buy young and jones in the space of a week!.

    Lets be clear we need much much more then a kid that has had maybe at best 2 years of steady progresion and thats that at best?.

    Its clear FSG, have been very unlucky, we have a list of 13- 14 players that need to go and they do, and we all know it;

    soto,degen,insua,konchesky,darby,ince,elzhar,brad jones, ngog,poulsen,ince,aquilani,cole,jovanovic and there is probably even more;

    I am well for adam coming to replace poulsen, and wickham coming to replace ngog and downing coming to replace maxi.

    And so son, but if these deals are the only ones and we end up with no mata or cissohko or sakho in the positions that we need filling then what a crap market yet again.
    It also really does remain to be seen that if we keep going for the cheap options like enrique or clichy and not try for sakho and cissohko and other left and center halfs then thats not good at all.

    Come on is Scott Dann what we wat for 10 mill, no way, lovern is far better, much more but thats my point, its hide TIME E STARTED PAYING OUT FOR BETTER TALENT.

    MATA OR DOWNING – MATA ALL DAY
    SAKHO OR DANN – SAKHO ALL DAY LONG
    CLICHY OR CISSOHKO – ALY CISSOHKO ALL DAY EVERY DAY.

    but we seem to going down that old crappy summer road that we have done for the last 5 years.

    HENDERSON – SO WHAT WHAT ELSE IS COMING IN AND I MEAN QUALITY?
    WAKE UP FSG AND THE WHOLE CLUB.

  14. Liverpool fans as they should be , if they are real liverpool followers would not want raul sold at all, we are not owned by hicks and that other clown anymore, so unless raul has said let me go or unless king kenny has had a turn for the worse than i cant even think we there is talk of raul going!! crazy if true.

    You just do not sell your better bigger players that have at least shown pedigree and in his 1st full season raul did just that.

    He said in full quotes about month ago that he would sign a contract for 10 – 20 years and he was very happy and that he would no wlike to sign a better deal. that was in the guardian so check that out.

    if we sell raul and he doesnt want to go then its back to old days, i thought sell to buy policy had long gone.

    carzola, mata, banega, cissokho sakho and lovern vargas, sahould be the players we are looking at, please dont tell me downing, johnson at city and the fat adam are the solution, they will not be, trust me?

  15. Sam, first of all your English is crap.

    Now onto your opinion of football. You were right about offloading some of those players and how we need to get talents such as Carzola, Mata, Banega, Cissokho Sakho and Vargas who are all world class players. Every fan would love to sign any of them but why would a player choose Liverpool right now over a club that can offer CL football. I would love to see any of those players in a Red jersey but the chances are that we will not be able to get players of this caliber until we have finished in the top four again.

    The key to success right now is to add depth to our squad. Dalglish gave us a view into what we are capable of with the current squad, defeating the likes of Chelsea, Manchester Utd an City. However, our lack of depth showed how depleted we were when we were outclassed by Arsenal, Wigan, Tottenham, and Aston Villa (those are the only ones that come to mind right now).

    Without Champions League football, we will be unable to compete with clubs such as Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, and Chelsea. Until we are back in the top 4, we must add depth to our squad with the likes of Dann, Adam, Henderson, Clichy, and Downing. These players will give us more than a fighting chance of reaching the top 4 and it is then when we will be able to challenge for world class signings.

    I apologize for the length of this and to you Sam, I meant no offence. And many of you may see me as a glass half-empty kind of person but I am being a realist. Depth is the key for now and this is what Kenny is going for. We may get the occasional world class talent but for now we must settle for players who will get the job done. Now those of you who disagree may rain hate on me

    (On a side note, I would much rather have Clichy than Cissokho as Clichy is a PL proven player and 2? years older than Cissokho.)

  16. clichy over aly cissokho – that is the clubs problem with fans wanting that deal over getting a proven young, fast quick, tall running up and down the flanks full back who will only get better.

    For god sake cissokho is miles better for the long term then clichy is,if we talk of re sale value end everything fsg then why would buy clichy for 8 – 10 mill who is older and not much better, and miss out on cissokho who is indeed a liverpool, who would give us 5 – 7 years, even give us a resale value etc.

    This is the problem with the whole club we just keep looking at the wrong deals, maybe banega wouldnt come, but i tell you all, he would be 100 times in the long run better than fat man adam’s- any day of sundays.

    Again the center half problem, we miss out on jones, now we have this birmingham dictating to us that they want 12mill for this player, are you kidding??? what a joke price the club should go after better players with more aggression – like lovern or sakho or hummels, or godin etc, we should be attacking these type of players with more aggression, and this is the problem that has been at the club for a decade now.

    its spend and go after targets or become second rate…

    wise up liverpool and fsg, its pay out of become nothing…

  17. I would be glad if the Management of Liverpool could do all that is possible to bring Aquilani back since his loan has expired. He will be a good addition to the midfield that needed fortification. The other important department is the defense especially the left full back, please get a quality defender.

  18. aquilani – there you go, another problem with this club, people like that wanting the club to keep paying the wages of a player that has said over and over that he does not want to come back to us? dear me, i give up at times, thsi guy has been treated well by us at liverpool and yet his agent tlaks about trying to get out of teh deal by bringing down the fee and the price that we had agreed with juventus? this player is a disgrace and if he doesnt want to play here then ship him out. id love to smack aquailani one to be fair,, he has shown a lack of class, and he has moaned about this club since he left on loan, get rid asap please,

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