By Brian Reece
twitter @oldfattoad
Liverpool v Sunderland will be the start of our Premier League campaign, our first season with Dalglish in charge, our first season in pursuit of happiness.
Now before will start booking tickets for the title party just hold on and listen, its not going to happen this season my friends and maybe not next season either, yes admittedly it is not what you all want to hear right now but we have to be realistic about our current squad and our financial position within the premiership.
Man City are on a quest to buy Premiership glory as did Chelsea a few years ago and will not stop spending until the rest of the premiership are blown away buy their millions, but money does not always guarantee success and City’s obsession with glory may be their undoing, Liverpool on the other hand have owners who know nothing other than winning buy putting in place a winning formula which consists of strong financial management, correct player development and squad improvement.
Liverpool simply don’t have the squad to win the title right now, this does not mean we wont but for now its just how it is, we have to focus on getting back into the Champions League, then we can start bringing in players which we should expect to be in the position to bid for, we need players in defence and other striking options to really challenge the top four right now.
We also have to clear out our unwanted players such a Jovanovic, Cole, Polusen, N’Gog and Aquilani, yes Aquilani the player who does not want to be at Liverpool Football Club and has told the club as such, the same Aquilani who Dalglish values so much he has not even given him a squad number, yes people that Aquilani.
It has been vastly debated about should Aquilani stay or go but its down to Dalglish and on the evidence before us it looks like Dalglish will clear him from Liverpool if not am sure he would have been given a squad number by now, in the defence of Aquilani, Hodgson should have given Aquilani a full season to prove his worth but sadly that type of decision was far too intelligent for the former manager to comprehend given he believed Polusen was a better player than Aquilani.
We need to invest in a CD & a LB with the uppermost urgency, our defensive situation needs dealing with now, not in January when we could of already been punished for the lack of quality cover, if we are going to get back in the top four we must have strength and depth in the squad and in all positions.
We also need extra cover in the striking area, N’Gog is not that, we need a quality young forward, am sure Dalglish knows what he needs and so do FSG who have supported Dalglish in every move in the transfer market he has made, but we must still improve the current squad and once we do am sure we will be a force in the Premiership, just like we should be now.
As for this season well its a case of aiming for a top four slot and then with the extra incentive of Champions League football to offer players am sure we will really be back In pursuit of happiness.