Eriksen's comments in 2013 indicate that he's open to a move to Liverpool despite our lack of European football, and Ajax's recent statements suggest that the Dortmund link is not as strong as previously suggested. I don't think he's unrealistic at all if we're really interested.

iftikhar wrote:Again, who are our REALISTIC prospects!!!

As Red said, Eriksen is actually a realistic target. Apparently the Dortmund link was greatly exaggerated by the media. Moreover, he's openly admitted that the prospect of playing within a more attractive style and having regular playing time is far more important than CL football.

That said, it seems like Mkhitaryan is preferred to Eriksen. If this is true, it suggests that we will:
1) move Coutinho to the left
2) still have a void at RW
3) continue to play in almost a 4-2-3-1 as opposed to a more traditional 4-3-3

Regarding #1 - I'm not sure how I feel about Coutinho on the left. I know he's not the largest, and was marked out of several matches near the end of the season. However, his vision is absolutely stunning, and I think our forwards benefit from him pulling the strings from the center of the park.

Regarding #2 - Downing has been better, so the term "void" is a bit harsh. That said, it's a decided area that needs improving. I would rather keep Coutinho central, Henderson left, and buy for the RW. Then again, I guess the argument would be to play Coutinho left, Mkhitaryan central and Aspas on the right.

Regarding #3 - There's nothing necessarily wrong with 4-2-3-1, I'm just not sure how well the our midfield suits it. Lucas and Gerrard would make up the double pivot, and neither is ideal for the system. Ideally you want a DLP and a Destroyer. While Gerrard can pass and Lucas is a DM, that doesn't mean they suit the system. Gerrard likes to wander, and spray passes, drifting forward, dropping back, etc. Lucas likes to just sit in front of the defense and contain attacks, much closer to a volante. In a traditional 4-2-3-1, you usually want an all-action destroyer. Someone who breaks up play all over the pitch. That's not just not Lucas.

I personally would be rather disappointed to see us spend 20m pounds or more on Mkhitaryan when Eriksen is seemingly available for half of that. I'd much rather add a creative dribbling and passing CAM than one that's more goal oriented, as Mkhitaryan seems to be. I believe with Sturridge, Borini, Aspas, Coutinho, Gerrard, Henderson, (fingers crossed) Suarez, and Eriksen we would have plenty of goal threats within the squad and the starting XI, as well as a good amount of creativity. Adding Mkhitaryan would seemingly add a larger goal threat than Eriksen but at the expense of that extra true creative outlet...

Yes, Eriksen has expressed interest to play for us. This, while it's important is not decisive. When I say that he is not a REALISTIC choice it's because we are not a front-runner to land him as there are teams better positioned than us (with CL option, good package as well as style of play).

What do you people know about Armenian guy! I haven't seen him, but from what I have read, £22 million is way too steep. I rate him around £15 million, but that's me.

Well i feel Goal Threats aren't a bad option for us at all. With creativity coming from Coutinho & Gerrard . . . Sturridge & Mkhitaryan can be the 1st team goal threats which can really be beneficial for the overall team.

iftikhar wrote:Yes, Eriksen has expressed interest to play for us. This, while it's important is not decisive. When I say that he is not a REALISTIC choice it's because we are not a front-runner to land him as there are teams better positioned than us (with CL option, good package as well as style of play).

What do you people know about Armenian guy! I haven't seen him, but from what I have read, £22 million is way too steep. I rate him around £15 million, but that's me.

But Dortmund aren't as close to them as reports suggest. So they aren't really frontrunners ahead of anyone.

Fahim89 wrote:Well i feel Goal Threats aren't a bad option for us at all. With creativity coming from Coutinho & Gerrard . . . Sturridge & Mkhitaryan can be the 1st team goal threats which can really be beneficial for the overall team.

Gerrard sits too deeply in the current system to provide the type of creativity we're referring to. We're discussing short passes and dribbling in tight spaces just around the box and in the final third; that has never really been Gerrard's strong point to begin with and certainly isn't when he plays alongside Lucas in a deeper role.

What's your ideal team, red?

See the previous page.

Okay. What's your ideal team, without Suarez, then?

In the ideal squad simply replace Suarez with Reus and push the wide players deeper into roles more similar to wide attacking mids than wide forwards.


The realistic squad provides a more complicated set of issues so I'll need to think on it a bit, though the simplest answer would be to simply replace Suarez with Aspas and bring in another attacking signing to fill the bench.

Surely not.

I'm all for the Aspas deal. It's ambitious, it's a risk and he seems to be the replacement of Craig Bellamy. But there is no way in hell that he is the one to replace Luis Suarez and relying on the likes of Sturridge, Borini, Coutinho, Sterling and co. They all still need to prove themselves. Luis Suarez is a WC talent and has carried us for nearly two seasons now.

Us losing Suarez would be like Barceona losing Messi. That's how much Suarez is worth to us right now. You can't replace him on a player that is a 50/50 chance of flopping. Think of a higher quality player, please. Someone like Reus would be ideal. We're going to need to attract somebody of that quality or we'll regress.

"Simplest.
Answer."

Doesn't mean favorite, or correct, or most successful... just SIMPLEST.

I haven't forgotten; I'm still considering possibilities.

Ideal team, not an easy one:
First Team:

I'm too nice to be a football manager, I always struggle to trim/re-tune the squad outside of the (bloody) obvious chaff.





Bench:
Leno
K. Toure
Kelly
Schneiderlin/Allen
Henderson
Aspas
Borini



Honestly, I'm struggling to find a player that I feel would adequately replace Suarez in that general position that we could realistically attract without European football and/or by offering frankly absurd wages. Lamela is a good shout, though I haven't personally seen enough of him to make a decision; same situation with Dynamo Kiev's Anriy Yarmolenko. In order to dodge that question altogether I've simply gone with the true answer to all life's great quandaries: Alex Morgan. Best of all, coming from the WASL she probably wouldn't cost a lot, leaving plenty of money to throw at Leverkusen and Schalke for a back-up/long-term replacement for Reina (Leno) and CB signing (Howedes preferably, but assuming he wasn't interested, Papa). I also think Schneiderlin would be a great back-up to Lucas at DM, given his relatively young age, performances in the PL, and current club. He has a long contract with them though, so it would probably take more to get him than many would want to spend on a back-up, which is why he'd only be my option if we had 80 or 90m to spend following the exits of Suarez and a few others. I didn't want to make massive changes to the side that seemed to be performing well at the end of the season, or drop players that have, IMO earned the chance to continue starting (Coutinho, Sturridge, Gerrard, etc) though I WOULD consider a bid for Strootman if one of our CMs also left... though I would have trouble forcing one out.


For tough away matches Henderson would likely come in for one of the CAMs to provide another runner and defensive body in midfield, while Kelly, Allen, Schneiderlin, Henderson, Borini, and Aspas all provide extra cover for multiple positions, giving the squad a bit of extra depth even beyond the youngsters that can come in as necessary.






Not really the post for this but I tend to prefer a very versatile forward line that can interchange freely. I generally favor creative players who rely on intelligence and use of space over flashy dribbling and tricks. My ideal midfield would probably have a hard-working defensive mid who can pass fairly well (Michael Bradley, Lucas in good form), a a dynamic running box-to-box (Gerrard in his younger days), and another more creative box-to-box (Alonso in his younger days, Strootman now)... with the current squad that would be a midfield of Lucas, Henderson, and Gerrard, with Coutinho providing creativity from a more advanced role. As much as I love Carragher (and we all love Carragher) Hyypia is more my type of defender... a CB who relies more on reading the game and putting out fires before they begin rather than relying on last-ditch tackles and blocks, as Carra has done brilliantly and famously. I tend to prefer unbalanced backlines as well, with one fullback generally staying home while the other pushes forward often... Finnan was a favourite of mine and I like Johnson as he gets forward.

None of that really matters too much though as I'm too much of a softy to drop the likes of Enrique, Johnson, Lucas and believe most of the other starters have earned their chance to continue; or sell squad players like Allen, Borini, Jones, Kelly or youngsters to fund the signing of slightly superior replacements. And I'm probably a bit pessimistic in my estimation of which players could be drawn to us without European football.

But I digress, so let me return to the initial question I was attempting to answer. My "realistic" team if Suarez leaves... I suppose Alex Morgan isn't really realistic at all (for several reasons) so I'll just leave it at this: I would attempt to replace him with a similar player so that I could avoid drastically changing the structure of the team, which means avoiding massive CF signings or players like Mkhitaryan which would necessitate completely rebuilding our attacking set-up. Due to my lack of knowledge about other real options for that wide forward role I have to leave it open beyond that.

RedOranje wrote:I suppose Alex Morgan isn't really realistic at all (for several reasons) so I'll just leave it at this:

Why NOT!!!! Come on!!! Now don't break my heart like that!!!

I like McAgger's replacement more than Arts.

for me system, process and style is far more important than any individual star who can leave you frustrated at times. So for me any marquee signing will work,until we are sure how to use him properly.

Makes up a random XI to piss Red off...

My preferred (realistic) team would be:


I'm a fan of DTOR's 4222.

Can easily be a 4231 / 433 (with Coutinho staying left) too.

Ideal team & squad

A Team

-------------------Mignolet-----------
Glen---------Touré---------Agger---------Aly-----------
-----------Kondogbia------Gerrard------
------------------Dzagoev-----
Yevhen-----------Sturridge-------------Coutinho--------


B Team

-----------------Steele---------
Micah-------Kelly------De Vrij-------Enrique-----
------------------Lucas------
------------Jordan-----Alberto------
Moses-----------Aspas-------------Sterling---

with Yeşil,McLaughlin,Wisdom, Ibe all out on loan

I wish to touch this thread again after the transfer window is closed

Firstly, we're in need of upgrades at CB, DM and maybe another attacker.



In there I've got Papa, someone we've heard all about this summer.

Then I've got M'Vila. Apparently he has some attitude problems but if we could get him for about £12 million it'd be well worth the risk. He could be ridiculously good if he wants to be. Easily better than Lucas, even when he can't be arsed. If it was up to me I'd take the risk on M'Vila for about £12 million and go for a cheaper option, maybe Yacob from West Brom. Cheap, reliable, consistent, would improve our first team.

Then at LW I've got Eriksen, apparently Spurs are in for him now. I'm not sure what it is that has put scouts off but he's a very talented player with a lot of potential. You're not going to get many better players with his experience, his wages and at his age for £10-£15 million. Another one that ticks all the same boxes as Eriksen is Firmino at Hoffenheim. Similar talent, potential and price.

With the ball the team would look like this



M'Vila would drop between the CB's, allowing the fullbacks to provide width. Becomes almost a 3-1-3-3. M'Vila is vital, without a good DM the system goes balls up.

The M'Vila idea is just absurd, we don't need to upgrade our DM position, possibly a back up but thats it. There are others positions we need to improve on before we make lucas a squad player.