Our defense is one of (if not THE) best in the League... perhaps Dalglish considered consistency to be a factor in that?

It's not particularly hard to see why, if the first choice RB and LB are constantly fit, the back ups don't see as much game time, is it?

1. Brad Jones
2. Glen Johnson
3. Jose Enrique
4. Nuri Sahin
5. Daniel Agger
6.
7. Luis Suarez
8. Steven Gerrard
9.
10. Joe Cole
11. Oussama Assaidi
12. Daniel Pacheco
13.
14. Jordan Henderson
15.
16. Sebastian Coates
17.
18.
19. Stewart Downing
20.
21. Lucas Leiva
22. Danny Wilson
23. Jaime Carragher
24. Joe Allen
25. Pepe Reina
.........
29. Fabio Borini
30. Suso
31. Raheem Sterling
32. Doni
33. Jonjo Shlevey
34. Martin Kelly
35. Conor Coady
36.
37. Martin Skrtel
38. Jon Flanagan
..................
42. Peter Gulacsi
..................
47. Andre Wisdom
48.
49. Jack Robinson
50. Adam Morgan
N/A. Samed Yesil

Bold - First Team Players
We only have 23 first team players We don't even meet the required 25 first team players, have to put placeholders from academy

The club don't HAVE to fill out a 25 man squad. That's a maximum, not a minimum.

Well it's still a shame

Joe Cole is wasting a perfectly good number.

So what should be our starting line-up!!! I think till Lucas returns it would be something like this:

-----------Reina-----------
Kelly-Agger-Skrtel-Glen
----Allen-Henderson----
----------Shahin----------
----Gerrard---Suarez----
-----------Borini----------

Glen on left-flank is a waste. Also I expect Assaidi (or even Downing) getting the nod which will mean Gerrad playing AM in front JA-NS.

Reina
Johnson - Skrtel - Agger - Enrique
Sahin - Allen - Shelvey
Gerrard - Suarez - Sterling

Reina
Johnson - Skrtel - Agger - Enrique
Sahin - Allen - Gerrard
Borini - Suarez - Assaidi

This would undoubtedly be our starting XI . . . hopefully we would be able to get a glimpse of Assaidi & Sahin

We really have no idea how good Assaidi is, so I'm not going to include him in any of my lineups until he's given his debut.

reina
johnson skrtel agger enrique

gerrard allen sahin

borini suarez sterling

With Lucas available my personal preference would be

---------------Reina--------------
-----------Skrtel--Agger----------
---Johnson----Lucas----Enrique---
-----------Allen---Sahin----------
------Gerrard----------Borini------
--------------Suarez-------------

Allen-Sahin-Gerrard are wonderful in possession, and can effectively boss the midfield against most clubs in the Prem League. However, we saw today how a team can bypass them in a counterattack and make us pay. Without Lucas, there is no tackling midfielder to break up the counter. While we won't miss him to the extent we did last year, it is still a big loss.

When he returns, I wouldn't mind see one of these lineups:
---------------Reina--------------
-----------Skrtel--Agger----------
---Johnson----Lucas----Enrique---
-----------Allen---Sahin----------
------Gerrard-------Assaidi/Borini------
--------------Suarez-------------

or...

---------------Reina--------------
-----------Skrtel--Agger----------
---Johnson----Lucas----Enrique---
-----------Allen---Sahin----------
------Gerrard-------Suarez------
--------------Borini-------------

Gerrard has been pushing into the inside forward positions anyway, and even with such quality players as Sahin and Allen coming into the midfield, he will not be benched. Therefore, we might as well put him in the position he pushes into.

Borini has been a little disappointing on the right, dropping too deep to be very effective. He either needs to be played up top, moved to the left where he's more likely to cut inside and shoot, or simply benched to reinforce the need for him to stay high and attack. We HAVE to have more attacking impetus, and that's precisely what he was brought in to do. Right now, he isn't performing the role we need him to.

I really want to see what Assaidi can do. He's had a few very good seasons at Heerenveen, and looks like the kind of live-wire player we could use in the attack. However, we won't know what he can do for Liverpool until he gets a little game time. I really wanted to see him replace Borini today... then I realized he wasn't even on the bench and I was left shaking my head...

donttreadonred wrote:Allen-Sahin-Gerrard are wonderful in possession, and can effectively boss the midfield against most clubs in the Prem League.

Agree with everything you say Dontreadyreddy, except Gerrard is the furthest thing from being wonderful in possession. He once used to be, but he's not 26/27 anymore, he's awful with possession nowadays. When he has time on the ball, sure he's decent, he can deliver a decent ball or two. Unless he plays one of the forward three spots he needs to be benched completely.

Why are we even having any discussions in this thread! !

PEOPLE OUR SQUAD DOES NOT HAVE A . . . . NUMBER. . . . .

9

Messiah "Aggerswagger" wrote:

donttreadonred wrote:Allen-Sahin-Gerrard are wonderful in possession, and can effectively boss the midfield against most clubs in the Prem League.

Agree with everything you say Dontreadyreddy, except Gerrard is the furthest thing from being wonderful in possession. He once used to be, but he's not 26/27 anymore, he's awful with possession nowadays. When he has time on the ball, sure he's decent, he can deliver a decent ball or two. Unless he plays one of the forward three spots he needs to be benched completely.

Poor choice of words. I meant they are a great midfield trio when Liverpool are in possession, meaning they are good when we are in control of the game. However, they are far more liable to be caught by a counter than a midfield including Lucas.

He certainly has put in fairly poor performances on several occasions in this young season. I can't tell (maybe don't want to see) if he's past it or just needing to regain a good run of form. Only time will tell, but I would like to see him tried in one of the forward positions.

After reading today's letter written by Henry, I must say, the line "We are still in the process of reversing the errors of previous regimes ....and our own mistakes" very much reflects the status of the club as 'under recovery'. The signings made specially in the previous season were clearly overpaid, as anyone would agree. I am happy that at least BR knows how much he is paying for what kind of player, I was little doubtful about Allen signing, but just in three games he has proved his worth. So except Borini, other signings were with less risk factor.
What I want to conclude is, I have some faith in BR's signings and his strategy for developing the correct squad required to succeed with his philosophy.
So, BR himself will have many combinations in midefiled, also in front trio to check which players can be the first choice for big games. Like Reina, he is not as good as he was (Gerrard too). So it will be difficult task for himself to select the right squad.
If I have to guess the squad, I cant really say this player will come out good at this/that position.

We hope our season picks up from here To go by today's letter from John Henry, it seems like this season is definitely one for rebuilding and not for competing for anything big (i.e. 4th, EL). I'm guessing winning and achieving anything is just a bonus for this season .

Assaidi is young?

Yohan Modric wrote:Assaidi is young?

24.....Fairly unproven, I guess experience wise he's pretty young.

REWB wrote:come on guys dont be too down, arsenal always seem to do well at anfield no matter what team you guys have. its just tradition im sure u'll do well against sunderland next game

Hardly the point. Our only "natural" finisher is a 17 year old that's never featured in the first team. lol

ynwa wrote:

REWB wrote:come on guys dont be too down, arsenal always seem to do well at anfield no matter what team you guys have. its just tradition im sure u'll do well against sunderland next game

Hardly the point. Our only "natural" finisher is a 17 year old that's never featured in the first team. lol

Who's that??

Seems like Assiadi hasn't been picked for the team because he's been injured

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/assaidi-and-cole-fitness-update

I'm hoping we can see him against Sunderland in action.

Fahim89 wrote:

Who's that??

Morgan. Hasn't played in the PL yet but he's the only "natural" finisher at the club. And being totally honest, I've only see him play in Europa/friendlies so I have no idea on how good his finishing is. He's been getting into some great positions when played.

Goalkeepers: Weak. Reina has become a liability, Jones isn't great either. Still haven't made my mind up on Gulasci

Defenders: Skrtel and Agger need to stay fit. Coates is still learning is trade and Carragher has been decline for a while. If Enrique plays like he did the first half of last season I would be confident in our full backs, but this remains to be seen.

Midfield: With Lucas, Allen, Sahin, Gerrard, Henderson & JohnJoe, I think we are quite strong in this area. One main concern is Gerrard. In my opinion he needs to up his game big time. He needs to win his place in the team with better performances. His days of being an automatic pick should be over.

Attack: Our weakest area really. Suarez and Borini will have to play a lot of games this season. If you want to try and look at things positively, at least now we will forced to give minutes to some of the younger lads. Sterling will have a big role to play this season. Morgan could possibly get a run too in Carling cup

Irish_Catalan_Scouser wrote:Defenders: If Enrique plays like he did the first half of last season I would be confident in our full backs, but this remains to be seen.

DUDE ! ! Didn't you hear about the new LWB we signed! ! !

Stewart Downing