Alberto Aquilani

sciacca wrote:

Irish_Catalan_Scouser wrote:

sciacca wrote:

Irish_Catalan_Scouser wrote:

sciacca wrote:

Irish_Catalan_Scouser wrote:

sciacca wrote:Well fellas, it's almost confirmed, even if Aquilani doesn't stay with Juve, he's going to say in Italy. Rumors have it that Inter, Napoli and Milan are all favorites for him. Not to mention he declared himself that he's prefers to stay in Italy.

Better not try to rip us off. Hopefully we'll get 12-15 for him

Were not trying to rip you off. But ofcourse, if we do sign him, Liverpool have already agreed to 12m according to his agent.

12m would be fine by me. Talk about a disaster of a singing for us. Even though it's finally getting him fit and then deciding to send him on loan. That's the real disaster.

haha I know, he has not been injured once this season, it's like a miracle.

Seriously? I thought he had been out for a while.

Nope not once. He missed on game due to some muscular pains, but that happens to every player and was at risk being injured after he received a knock on his leg, but it was nothing serious.

Interesting. When I was considering his future at Liverpool a while back, the fact that he's made of glass was a big negative. I thought he had got injured again and didn't want us to have a player that's always on the treatment table.

If I had known if had stayed fit all season my opinion might have been different. Doesn't matter now anyway that we have Henderson.

Regarding the Adam speculation and the myth people are coming up for with Raul's future:

Alright, let me get one thing straight about this whole If Adam comes, then Raul is off myth:

Here are some facts:

1)At this moment of time, our club owns 6 players who CAN play DM/RCM/LCM(doesn't mean will play there) in: Lucas, Spearing, Gerrard, Meireles, Henderson, Poulsen, Aquilani, Shelvey

2) Aquilani and Poulsen are almost certain to leave. That means 6 players for 3 positions 3 of which are under 22.

3) Adam comes in. He is the only left footed of the lot with a quality which is lacking among all bar Gerrard (long range passing), now that is 7 players for 3 positions.

4) Shelvey just turned 19 3 months ago. Considering we are not in Europe and will play 50 games Max next season, I am sure there will be suitors for him for a season long loan. We send him on loan for a year, which leaves us with 6 players for 3 positions. Hopefully next season we will be back in Europe, and a more experienced Shelvey will come back as we'll need that extra body for the added 10-15 games a season because of Europe.

5) Love him or hate him, TOMMO knows some stuff about the club that most of us don't. He's got a lot of things right, and a few wrong too. But from day one that Kenny took over, He's mentioned numerous times how Raul is one of Kenny's favourite players and how much Kenny loves Raul in trainings.

Consensus:
We'll most likely start 3 of those 6 players (Lucas, Spearing, Gerrard, Adam, Henderson, Meireles) in each game according to Kenny's game plan, with 2 sitting on the bench. (Notice the 2 on the bench for majority of this season were Poulsen and Shelvey. now for example it could be Adam/Henderson..see the difference), and probably Jay missing out. It's not the end of the world though. Stevie is quite injury prone, and we'll have suspensions and other niggling injuries meaning Jay will get his chances too. We'll have 6 competitive players for 3 positions:

DM: Lucas/Spearing
RCM: Gerrard/Henderson
LCM: Meireles/Adam

While our talented CM in Shelvey gains more game time and experience at another club to come back as a more complete player.

Kenny Happy, Fans Happy, Depth sorted

Irish_Catalan_Scouser wrote:

sciacca wrote:

Irish_Catalan_Scouser wrote:

sciacca wrote:

Irish_Catalan_Scouser wrote:

sciacca wrote:Well fellas, it's almost confirmed, even if Aquilani doesn't stay with Juve, he's going to say in Italy. Rumors have it that Inter, Napoli and Milan are all favorites for him. Not to mention he declared himself that he's prefers to stay in Italy.

Better not try to rip us off. Hopefully we'll get 12-15 for him

Were not trying to rip you off. But ofcourse, if we do sign him, Liverpool have already agreed to 12m according to his agent.

12m would be fine by me. Talk about a disaster of a singing for us. Even though it's finally getting him fit and then deciding to send him on loan. That's the real disaster.

haha I know, he has not been injured once this season, it's like a miracle.

Seriously? I thought he had been out for a while.

I've followed Juventus a good amount this last season and this is why this transfer pisses me off. We got him fit and he has had no injury issues this season. Had Hodgson kept him, this season he would've gotten used to the PL and been in a good position for the coming season. Though being the PL, god knows if he'd get injured.

Anyways, good riddance to him.

@Sepi - That is a decent thought process.

My issues with Adam - He seems to only bring the long range passing to the game. Thing is Alonso worked for us under Benitez' game plan. Kenny won't necessarily get the best out of him. There is a risk there. Add to that he doesn't have the best discipline record on the pitch, and he is rather lazy when it comes to defending. If we get him, then we get him. I won't complain much. But if we are looking to add someone else to the middle of the park, I'd rather someone more like Masch. A proper DM.

Sepi wrote:Regarding the Adam speculation and the myth people are coming up for with Raul's future:

Alright, let me get one thing straight about this whole If Adam comes, then Raul is off myth:

Here are some facts:

1)At this moment of time, our club owns 6 players who CAN play DM/RCM/LCM(doesn't mean will play there) in: Lucas, Spearing, Gerrard, Meireles, Henderson, Poulsen, Aquilani, Shelvey

2) Aquilani and Poulsen are almost certain to leave. That means 6 players for 3 positions 3 of which are under 22.

3) Adam comes in. He is the only left footed of the lot with a quality which is lacking among all bar Gerrard (long range passing), now that is 7 players for 3 positions.

4) Shelvey just turned 19 3 months ago. Considering we are not in Europe and will play 50 games Max next season, I am sure there will be suitors for him for a season long loan. We send him on loan for a year, which leaves us with 6 players for 3 positions. Hopefully next season we will be back in Europe, and a more experienced Shelvey will come back as we'll need that extra body for the added 10-15 games a season because of Europe.

5) Love him or hate him, TOMMO knows some stuff about the club that most of us don't. He's got a lot of things right, and a few wrong too. But from day one that Kenny took over, He's mentioned numerous times how Raul is one of Kenny's favourite players and how much Kenny loves Raul in trainings.

Consensus:
We'll most likely start 3 of those 6 players (Lucas, Spearing, Gerrard, Adam, Henderson, Meireles) in each game according to Kenny's game plan, with 2 sitting on the bench. (Notice the 2 on the bench for majority of this season were Poulsen and Shelvey. now for example it could be Adam/Henderson..see the difference), and probably Jay missing out. It's not the end of the world though. Stevie is quite injury prone, and we'll have suspensions and other niggling injuries meaning Jay will get his chances too. We'll have 6 competitive players for 3 positions:

DM: Lucas/Spearing
RCM: Gerrard/Henderson
LCM: Meireles/Adam

While our talented CM in Shelvey gains more game time and experience at another club to come back as a more complete player.

Kenny Happy, Fans Happy, Depth sorted

Except that, despite your instance otherwise, Spearing is NOT good enough to play DM consistently for a side with trophy winning aspirations, especially without a partner like Lucas. Gerrard, Meireles, and Adam have all been known to neglect defensive duties. Henderson is a bit of an unknown in this department as he's rarely been asked to do much work in defense. Frankly, Shelvey is a more well rounded midfielder and would fit a 4-3-3 better. I cannot see a use for Adam or a reason to be pursuing him, especially when we have LB, LW, RW, and CB all that need more focus currently.

Spearing is the perfect back up DM for any team. you've never liked him fair enough.

may I ask who is United's back up DM?
or Arsenals?
or Chelsea's?
or City's?
or Spurs?

Answers:
Gibson
Frimpong
They have to move Essien back
Barry
Palacios

but yea, Spearing is not tall and he doesn't have a pretty face = shit.

United won the league with Carrick-Giggs CM partnership.... DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER is a myth. a big one.

If we've got Gerrard, Meireles, Henderson and Adam I think that's a little too much quality on the bench in any case, no matter how many games we play.

Art Morte wrote:If we've got Gerrard, Meireles, Henderson and Adam I think that's a little too much quality on the bench in any case, no matter how many games we play.

Haven't we been crying for quality on the bench though man?

Finally, we are in a position to have depth on the bench to change a game...and we're saying..but it's too much

as I said..having 2 of Gerrard/Henderson/Raul/Adam on the bench each game will give us plenty of options.

Adam hasn't joined anyways, but discussion remains valid. here is how the bench or next year will look like IMO:

KEEPER
BACK UP CM
KELLY (BACK UP AT BOTH FULLBACKS)
ADAM
WICKHAM
KUYT/HENDERSON
NEW SIGNING/RAUL

all before injuries and depending on the game we're playing

and that's before Injuries.

Seriously, Sepi.

Learn to discuss and debate without the random, unnecessary fallacies or simply stop. This is far from the first time you've tried to portray someone who disagrees with you as inherently biased and its not even the first time you've attempted to put words in my mouth without any evidence or support whatsoever.

Frankly, I'm growing tired of it.

Sepi wrote:

Art Morte wrote:If we've got Gerrard, Meireles, Henderson and Adam I think that's a little too much quality on the bench in any case, no matter how many games we play.

Haven't we been crying for quality on the bench though man?

Finally, we are in a position to have depth on the bench to change a game...and we're saying..but it's too much

as I said..having 2 of Gerrard/Henderson/Raul/Adam on the bench each game will give us plenty of options.

Adam hasn't joined anyways, but discussion remains valid. here is how the bench or next year will look like IMO:

KEEPER
BACK UP CM
KELLY (BACK UP AT BOTH FULLBACKS)
ADAM
WICKHAM
KUYT/HENDERSON
NEW SIGNING/RAUL

all before injuries and depending on the game we're playing

and that's before Injuries.

I don't think anyone will complain if we have quality on the bench. The worrying thing at the moment is that rumors suggest we are more focused on areas where we don't really need more depth. Areas like LB and LW should be our priority. I understand the continental window hasn't opened up yet though.

As mentioned above, I don't think Adam is a smart purchase. If we are going to buy yet another central player, I'd rather an out and out defensive minded one. You mention the DM is a myth, but we saw what happened in one of our first games when City played against us with a 5 man midfield.

From all accounts Henderson is more of a central midfielder. Putting him on a list as a sub/backup to Kuyt is just stupid. We have been crying out for proper wingers. Henderson is not one of those unfortunately. He may have a decent cross in him, but we need proper width. And as you say, we have the money.

Mate.

I know from our previous conversations whether here or on Skype, that we disagree on pretty much everything, no matter it's about football or life...but this time I just addressed your notion that a team with Spearing as back up DM can't challenge for titles.

No fallacies or nothing involved and I gave examples as well.

RedOranje wrote:Seriously, Sepi.

Learn to discuss and debate without the random, unnecessary fallacies or simply stop. This is far from the first time you've tried to portray someone who disagrees with you as inherently biased and its not even the first time you've attempted to put words in my mouth without any evidence or support whatsoever.

Frankly, I'm growing tired of it.

I don't mind it, it's his style sometimes

Anyway, I'm just feeling it's not only a waste of talent & skills a bit, its also a waste of money; Someone like Real Madrid can afford to have 15m+ players on the bench regularly, but can we? If we've got "£ 30-50m sitting on the bench", so to speak, that could have been invested in other areas to improve our First XI.

poolsupporter wrote:

Sepi wrote:

Art Morte wrote:If we've got Gerrard, Meireles, Henderson and Adam I think that's a little too much quality on the bench in any case, no matter how many games we play.

Haven't we been crying for quality on the bench though man?

Finally, we are in a position to have depth on the bench to change a game...and we're saying..but it's too much

as I said..having 2 of Gerrard/Henderson/Raul/Adam on the bench each game will give us plenty of options.

Adam hasn't joined anyways, but discussion remains valid. here is how the bench or next year will look like IMO:

KEEPER
BACK UP CM
KELLY (BACK UP AT BOTH FULLBACKS)
ADAM
WICKHAM
KUYT/HENDERSON
NEW SIGNING/RAUL

all before injuries and depending on the game we're playing

and that's before Injuries.

I don't think anyone will complain if we have quality on the bench. The worrying thing at the moment is that rumors suggest we are more focused on areas where we don't really need more depth. Areas like LB and LW should be our priority. I understand the continental window hasn't opened up yet though.

As mentioned above, I don't think Adam is a smart purchase. If we are going to buy yet another central player, I'd rather an out and out defensive minded one. You mention the DM is a myth, but we saw what happened in one of our first games when City played against us with a 5 man midfield.

From all accounts Henderson is more of a central midfielder. Putting him on a list as a sub/backup to Kuyt is just stupid. We have been crying out for proper wingers. Henderson is not one of those unfortunately. He may have a decent cross in him, but we need proper width. And as you say, we have the money.

Of course we need depth. I fooking love Andy Carroll and hate to see him get zzero service from wide areas. hence our interest and bid of Downing who is an out and out winger with second most crosses in PL. and I am not Adam's biggest fan at all, but I would understand the purchase at 7M and 40K a week if it happened. Risk free but it could turn out to be very successful.

I think Wickham, a CM(Adam probably), CB, LB, and Downing/Mata or both will be our other signings. We'll see though.

We are only a week into transfer window but 3 months left, but Comolli said today that he wants to get the deals done quick so new players can go to pre-season which is the ideal scenario for me

Art Morte wrote:

RedOranje wrote:Seriously, Sepi.

Learn to discuss and debate without the random, unnecessary fallacies or simply stop. This is far from the first time you've tried to portray someone who disagrees with you as inherently biased and its not even the first time you've attempted to put words in my mouth without any evidence or support whatsoever.

Frankly, I'm growing tired of it.

I don't mind it, it's his style sometimes

Anyway, I'm just feeling it's not only a waste of talent & skills a bit, its also a waste of money; Someone like Real Madrid can afford to have 15m+ players on the bench regularly, but can we? If we've got "£ 30-50m sitting on the bench", so to speak, that could have been invested in other areas to improve our First XI.

A lot of people will disagree Art, but I believe our first XI is as good as any in the league. It's our depth that lets us down and usually leaves us with a crap bench. Just take a look at our bench after beating United 3-1. Laughable!

The fact is Spearing has never played as a DM for us . Also Lucas is going to Copa America this year and needs to be managed properly . Otherwise he will suffer burnout so decent cover. Going into next season with unproven Spearing as DM is a huge risk we cant afford .

My gut feel is that we will buy Adam and a CB who can cover DM when needed . Also Meireles has played as DM for Portugal if am not mistaken . Maybe he can provide cover too when needed .

Sepi wrote:

poolsupporter wrote:

Sepi wrote:

Art Morte wrote:If we've got Gerrard, Meireles, Henderson and Adam I think that's a little too much quality on the bench in any case, no matter how many games we play.

Haven't we been crying for quality on the bench though man?

Finally, we are in a position to have depth on the bench to change a game...and we're saying..but it's too much

as I said..having 2 of Gerrard/Henderson/Raul/Adam on the bench each game will give us plenty of options.

Adam hasn't joined anyways, but discussion remains valid. here is how the bench or next year will look like IMO:

KEEPER
BACK UP CM
KELLY (BACK UP AT BOTH FULLBACKS)
ADAM
WICKHAM
KUYT/HENDERSON
NEW SIGNING/RAUL

all before injuries and depending on the game we're playing

and that's before Injuries.

I don't think anyone will complain if we have quality on the bench. The worrying thing at the moment is that rumors suggest we are more focused on areas where we don't really need more depth. Areas like LB and LW should be our priority. I understand the continental window hasn't opened up yet though.

As mentioned above, I don't think Adam is a smart purchase. If we are going to buy yet another central player, I'd rather an out and out defensive minded one. You mention the DM is a myth, but we saw what happened in one of our first games when City played against us with a 5 man midfield.

From all accounts Henderson is more of a central midfielder. Putting him on a list as a sub/backup to Kuyt is just stupid. We have been crying out for proper wingers. Henderson is not one of those unfortunately. He may have a decent cross in him, but we need proper width. And as you say, we have the money.

Of course we need depth. I fooking love Andy Carroll and hate to see him get zzero service from wide areas. hence our interest and bid of Downing who is an out and out winger with second most crosses in PL. and I am not Adam's biggest fan at all, but I would understand the purchase at 7M and 40K a week if it happened. Risk free but it could turn out to be very successful.

I think Wickham, a CM(Adam probably), CB, LB, and Downing/Mata or both will be our other signings. We'll see though.

We are only a week into transfer window but 3 months left, but Comolli said today that he wants to get the deals done quick so new players can go to pre-season which is the ideal scenario for me

This whole season, not just you, but ALL of us have complained about Kuyt or Maxi or Jova or Cole. I'd rather get some quality AND depth in positions of need rather than waste money on the likes of Adam who in my opinion will not add much to the team.

We even need some depth in LB. Can't have Johnson filling in all the time. The youngsters are too young at the moment.

On the whole, I'm rather skeptical about Henderson, Adam & Wickham.

Another CB that can play DM and we've been linked with him (Comolli watched him) is Kyriakos Papadobupoulos of Schalke.

The Greek Phil Jones. would be an amazing purchase

BeautifulGame wrote:The fact is Spearing has never played as a DM for us . Also Lucas is going to Copa America this year and needs to be managed properly . Otherwise he will suffer burnout so decent cover. Going into next season with unproven Spearing as DM is a huge risk we cant afford .

My gut feel is that we will buy Adam and a CB who can cover DM when needed . Also Meireles has played as DM for Portugal if am not mistaken . Maybe he can provide cover too when needed .

Meireles' fitness is terrible IMO. He runs out of steam by the 70th minute. And that's while playing up front. Playing as DM he'd burn out faster.

poolsupporter wrote:

Sepi wrote:

poolsupporter wrote:

Sepi wrote:

Art Morte wrote:If we've got Gerrard, Meireles, Henderson and Adam I think that's a little too much quality on the bench in any case, no matter how many games we play.

Haven't we been crying for quality on the bench though man?

Finally, we are in a position to have depth on the bench to change a game...and we're saying..but it's too much

as I said..having 2 of Gerrard/Henderson/Raul/Adam on the bench each game will give us plenty of options.

Adam hasn't joined anyways, but discussion remains valid. here is how the bench or next year will look like IMO:

KEEPER
BACK UP CM
KELLY (BACK UP AT BOTH FULLBACKS)
ADAM
WICKHAM
KUYT/HENDERSON
NEW SIGNING/RAUL

all before injuries and depending on the game we're playing

and that's before Injuries.

I don't think anyone will complain if we have quality on the bench. The worrying thing at the moment is that rumors suggest we are more focused on areas where we don't really need more depth. Areas like LB and LW should be our priority. I understand the continental window hasn't opened up yet though.

As mentioned above, I don't think Adam is a smart purchase. If we are going to buy yet another central player, I'd rather an out and out defensive minded one. You mention the DM is a myth, but we saw what happened in one of our first games when City played against us with a 5 man midfield.

From all accounts Henderson is more of a central midfielder. Putting him on a list as a sub/backup to Kuyt is just stupid. We have been crying out for proper wingers. Henderson is not one of those unfortunately. He may have a decent cross in him, but we need proper width. And as you say, we have the money.

Of course we need depth. I fooking love Andy Carroll and hate to see him get zzero service from wide areas. hence our interest and bid of Downing who is an out and out winger with second most crosses in PL. and I am not Adam's biggest fan at all, but I would understand the purchase at 7M and 40K a week if it happened. Risk free but it could turn out to be very successful.

I think Wickham, a CM(Adam probably), CB, LB, and Downing/Mata or both will be our other signings. We'll see though.

We are only a week into transfer window but 3 months left, but Comolli said today that he wants to get the deals done quick so new players can go to pre-season which is the ideal scenario for me

This whole season, not just you, but ALL of us have complained about Kuyt or Maxi or Jova or Cole. I'd rather get some quality AND depth in positions of need rather than waste money on the likes of Adam who in my opinion will not add much to the team.

We even need some depth in LB. Can't have Johnson filling in all the time. The youngsters are too young at the moment.

On the whole, I'm rather skeptical about Henderson, Adam & Wickham.

I understand your concern over Adam.

Wickham will be a replacement for Ngog. so nothing complicated there.

Henderson, I am interesting to see how Kenny uses him. DC said today that he is very very very much in plans for next season. It depends on which formation Kenny will get us playing, and if Kenny will attempt to play Hendo a bit deeper (Alonso style), or more of a AM like he has in his instinct.

Isn't it beautiful that we are talking about options in the squad and too good of a bench instead of debt and fears of Gerrard and Torres being sold?

what a difference a year makes

BeautifulGame wrote:The fact is Spearing has never played as a DM for us . Also Lucas is going to Copa America this year and needs to be managed properly . Otherwise he will suffer burnout so decent cover. Going into next season with unproven Spearing as DM is a huge risk we cant afford .

My gut feel is that we will buy Adam and a CB who can cover DM when needed . Also Meireles has played as DM for Portugal if am not mistaken . Maybe he can provide cover too when needed .

Considering Spearing played 16 games this season and has been one of the most consistent in the latter half of the season. i would call him a proven DM.

As for Meireles, I have to say Spearing is much better than him defensively .. IMO.
But offensively i think he isnt that good, But he still does the job..
I have no idea but i would keep him..

If Adam does arrive, I really don't have any idea about Spearing or Shelvey's position at Liverpool.

poolsupporter wrote:

BeautifulGame wrote:The fact is Spearing has never played as a DM for us . Also Lucas is going to Copa America this year and needs to be managed properly . Otherwise he will suffer burnout so decent cover. Going into next season with unproven Spearing as DM is a huge risk we cant afford .

My gut feel is that we will buy Adam and a CB who can cover DM when needed . Also Meireles has played as DM for Portugal if am not mistaken . Maybe he can provide cover too when needed .

Meireles' fitness is terrible IMO. He runs out of steam by the 70th minute. And that's while playing up front. Playing as DM he'd burn out faster.

Raul's fitness is a curious case. He has covered most ground according to stats, which means he works his socks off. He played DM when Portugal trashed Spain, and He manmarked Messi when Portugal played Argentina a few months ago...yet it seems he isn't seen as a defensive option by neither Kenny or Roy.

Art Morte wrote:

RedOranje wrote:Seriously, Sepi.

Learn to discuss and debate without the random, unnecessary fallacies or simply stop. This is far from the first time you've tried to portray someone who disagrees with you as inherently biased and its not even the first time you've attempted to put words in my mouth without any evidence or support whatsoever.

Frankly, I'm growing tired of it.

I don't mind it, it's his style sometimes

Anyway, I'm just feeling it's not only a waste of talent & skills a bit, its also a waste of money; Someone like Real Madrid can afford to have 15m+ players on the bench regularly, but can we? If we've got "£ 30-50m sitting on the bench", so to speak, that could have been invested in other areas to improve our First XI.

Its only true if we sign players for squad depth with a tight budget . We dont know what are the plans . So we cant really say money from squad players can be invested into first XI .Also we only need quality LW and LB for first XI . Almost every other signing is for squad depth .

Meireles tackling and heading is a BIG question mark.. He looks like a pure AM to me.
All he does is kick the opponents face with a high challenge when the latter is going to head the ball.

Sepi wrote:

I understand your concern over Adam.

Wickham will be a replacement for Ngog. so nothing complicated there.

Henderson, I am interesting to see how Kenny uses him. DC said today that he is very very very much in plans for next season. It depends on which formation Kenny will get us playing, and if Kenny will attempt to play Hendo a bit deeper (Alonso style), or more of a AM like he has in his instinct.

Isn't it beautiful that we are talking about options in the squad and too good of a bench instead of debt and fears of Gerrard and Torres being sold?

what a difference a year makes

I wouldn't expect DC to say anything to the contrary tbh. Henderson is not going to be starter. Unless someone is injured obviously. The thing with him is he HAS to be used in a proper position to get the best out of him. His defensive qualities are nothing like Lucas or Spearing. So playing him deeper is a big risk. As for Alonso style, not sure about that either. He definitely doesn't have the passing range nor the consistency to carry that out.

It all ultimately depends on what formation Kenny uses. I still love the 4-2-3-1, but I've seen the 4-3-3 thrown around a lot as well.

poolsupporter wrote:

I wouldn't expect DC to say anything to the contrary tbh. Henderson is not going to be starter. Unless someone is injured obviously. The thing with him is he HAS to be used in a proper position to get the best out of him. His defensive qualities are nothing like Lucas or Spearing. So playing him deeper is a big risk. As for Alonso style, not sure about that either. He definitely doesn't have the passing range nor the consistency to carry that out.

It all ultimately depends on what formation Kenny uses. I still love the 4-2-3-1, but I've seen the 4-3-3 thrown around a lot as well.

If Adam does come in, Then a 4-3-3 will be used, Considering Kenny will try to employ as many CM's as possible in the squad.

Nishank wrote:

poolsupporter wrote:

I wouldn't expect DC to say anything to the contrary tbh. Henderson is not going to be starter. Unless someone is injured obviously. The thing with him is he HAS to be used in a proper position to get the best out of him. His defensive qualities are nothing like Lucas or Spearing. So playing him deeper is a big risk. As for Alonso style, not sure about that either. He definitely doesn't have the passing range nor the consistency to carry that out.

It all ultimately depends on what formation Kenny uses. I still love the 4-2-3-1, but I've seen the 4-3-3 thrown around a lot as well.

If Adam does come in, Then a 4-3-3 will be used, Considering Kenny will try to employ as many CM's as possible in the squad.

Once again this is not ideal. Adam, Gerrard and Raul will be first in the CM pecking order. None of whom are noted for their defensive abilities.

Every Adam discussion is just proving how unnecessary he really is.

poolsupporter wrote:

BeautifulGame wrote:The fact is Spearing has never played as a DM for us . Also Lucas is going to Copa America this year and needs to be managed properly . Otherwise he will suffer burnout so decent cover. Going into next season with unproven Spearing as DM is a huge risk we cant afford .

My gut feel is that we will buy Adam and a CB who can cover DM when needed . Also Meireles has played as DM for Portugal if am not mistaken . Maybe he can provide cover too when needed .

Meireles' fitness is terrible IMO. He runs out of steam by the 70th minute. And that's while playing up front. Playing as DM he'd burn out faster.

Meireles fitness is terrible is a myth . He covers more ground than anyone in the league . Also he was subbed only twice or thrice after 70 min that too because of injury .