There’s obviously been a lot of discussion already about how our team might look next season. With less than two months until our opening game against Stoke City those discussions are beginning to hot up.
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With three new signings already in the bag and more likely to come, we’ve challenged our writers to choose their ideal starting XI’s for our 2015-16 campaign.
You can see their choices and their explanations in the list below. Disagree? Tell us your team in the comment section at the bottom of the page.
Jordan Chamberlain:
4-3-3, for me. Brendan Rodgers needs to settle on a formation, and you feel this is the one he’s always favoured, although he’s impressively mixed it up with the diamond and the wing-back in the past. But I don’t think we’re signing a world-class striker to facilitate the diamond, and the wing-back formation eventually looked stale.
Adam Bogdan isn’t replacing Simon Mignolet, but it looks like Nathaniel Clyne is arriving to replace the departing Glen Johnson. Nice upgrade.
I think Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren should be competing to play alongside Mamadou Sakho – who is easily our best centre-back. Tiago Ilori should stay as 4th choice, ahead of Kolo Toure in the pecking order.
Alberto Moreno deserves one more season at left-back to prove himself, although it’d be great to see Jon Flanagan get back in contention when he’s fit. Lucas Digne? Meh.
Let’s give Emre Can, who is terrifically talented and the best of our 2014 summer signings, a key spot as the anchorman. He can spray passes from here, drive forward, and has all the attributes required to make it his own. Lucas can back him up effectively from the bench. Either side, a marauding Jordan Henderson (or James Milner) can provide the side legs and energy, while I’d love to see Miralem Pjanic arrive from Roma. He can slice open defences, take set-pieces and link defence to attack. He purrs in possession, and we’ve missed someone of that ilk since Xabi Alonso.
In the front three, I’ve given up on Raheem Sterling. He doesn’t want to be here anymore, so why bother worrying about it? Coutinho is a better player anyway and should be given the ball at every opportunity. A fit Adam Lallana can support him excellently, with Jordon Ibe and a hopefully improved Lazar Markovic backing up. Again, Milner provides another option on either flank.
Up top, I’m praying Daniel Sturridge can get fit and stay fit. Working under the assumption that he’ll never be available, which I’d never want to do, this team would look a lot different.
Fourth place. Just!
