The Summer Clearout and Rebuilding the Squad

Now that the winter window has shut, we turn our attention to the summer and the "who stays, who goes" question.

I've compiled a list taken from the offal of all players listed for the 1st team, it includes those out on loan, some overage 21s and youngsters who have already featured in the 1st team this season.

As yet we have no idea what Jürgen will do, not just in terms of players out but also will he strip us right back to a solid 15-18 regulars that can rotate without losing balance, form etc and then use the most talented of our youngsters as the back ups?  Or will he keep the majority and bring in a couple of real quality to bolster what we have?

Most of you will be surprised at how many players we have and how bloated the squad actually is.

Keepers.

Migs, Bogdan, Ward, Fulton.

I will hazard a guess and say that Migs will stay after the new contract but I'm not sure he'll be No.1. 

Bogdan needs to go and probably will as he's never been good enough, not even as a No.2. 

Ward will be 23 in June and has had a fantastic loan up at Aberdeen, playing every week and gaining experience.  I've watched Ward play regularly with the u21s and I have to say I wasn't that impressed but he was a completely different player on Monday night.  He was Captain for the night and he never looked troubled, came for everything, marshalled his troups well and never stfu.  Who knows he may be enough to challenge Migs for the No.1 spot meaning no money needs spending in this position.

Fulton will turn 20 in the summer and out of all our Academy keepers he's the one who has impressed me the most over the last 7 years of watching the Youth games.  He's recently gone on loan to Portsmouth and is getting games, which is really good considering his age and the level they play at.

Defenders.

Clyne, Enrique, Toure, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno, Flanno, Skrtel, Caulker, Ilori, Smith, Gomez, Wisdom, Jones, Williams, Randall, Maguire, Cleary, McLaughlin.

That's 19 players for 4 positions.

Enrique, Toure and Caulker I'm assuming will go as their contracts are up so that leaves 16.  Wisdom, Williams and Jones are out on loan, 1 in the PL but not getting games the other 2 at League 1 clubs so they'll probably all go too.

Randall, Maguire, Cleary and McLaughlin.  The first 3 are regulars at u21s and all are either 20 or will turn 20 this year so time is still on their side to develop.  McLaughlin at 22 has suffered from so many injuries in the last couple of years but so far this season he's been injury free.  Like Smith on the opposite flank, he's got pace to burn and was one who many of us had high hopes for in his early career but I don't think he'll be kept.

So that leaves us with Clyne, Flanno, Skrtel, Sakho, Lovren, Gomez, Moreno, Smith and Ilori, 9 players for 4 positions.  Jürgen has no idea (apart from dvds at Charlton) what sort of player Gomez is and we've no idea how well he'll recover from his injury so he'll stay for at least another season.  Maybe an upgrade on one of the senior Cbs and work with the rest.

Midfielders.

Milner, Hendo, Lucas, Allen, Can, Rossiter, Stewart, Brannagan, Tex, Chirivella, Alberto, Grujic, Allan.

13 players for 2, sometimes 3 positions.

I can see us losing Milner, Allen, Tex and Alberto, possibly Stewart with possibly one other quality CM arriving.  Rossiter could go either way due to his contract situation.  Grujic should come into the 1st team and hopefully we will have sorted Allans work permit out so he becomes available.

Attackers.

Studge, Ings, Origi, Benteke, Balotelli, Ibe, Firmino, Cou, Lallana, Ojo, Yesil, Dunn, Kent, Canos, Sinclair, Marko, Awaniyi.

17 players for 4 positions.

Out of those Balotelli, Yesil, Sinclair and Dunn will leave with possibly Benteke and Lallana if we need some extra funds.

So that's 53 players, yes that's right 53 players!!

I know I've included some of the youngsters and obviously not all of them will have a future with us but after watching our youth closely over the last 7 years we currently have the best group of kids we've ever had in the 16-20 age group.  There's no real prodigy types like Raheem but there's 23 lads, almost a full squad, who are more capable than the team that had Flanno, Wisdom, Sama, Robinson, Coady, Pacheco, Suso, Tex, Raheem, Morgan, Ngoo etc in it and most of them are playing at a reasonable level.

Fulton
Alexander-Arnold
Cleary
Hart
Masterson
Canos
Dhanda
M Gomes
T Gomes
Wilson
Kent
Brannagan
Ojo
Woodburn
Gomez
Philipps
Adekanye
Allan
Ibe
Grujic
Awoniyi
Chirivella
Rossiter

So with all this talent already at the Club, personally I'd rather see us stripped right back to the bare bones of that 53 man list, bring in 2 or 3 exceptional players and use the Youth as back ups and integrate them into the 1st team.

That's one hell of a job to do.

Executive Summary:  NOT A SINGLE PLAYER COULD MAKE ARSENAL'S STARTING 11   Coutinho and Henderson might get a sniff at City and Chelsea but our best player Coutinho would have no chance of displacing Sanchez and Ozil in any one's mind.

Re. this team, Henderson, Skrtel and Coutinho are the only ones who should be starting on a League winning team.  All you idiots who say the whole squad should be scrapped forget this team was arguably one Stevie slip away from winning the title (I know that City team was one of the worst teams to win the title).  However, those three should be the average players on a top team, not the best players as they are now.  Obviously, we've lost Suarez:-(, Gerrard and Sterling, all three of which were world class players.  The big issue is Suarez was a Top 5 in the world player at the time and I'm not sure there is any chance we could get another player like that.

So the ultimate question is could the Club sign 3 world-class players including a top 5 player?  My suspicion is no so we probably need to replace a few of the squad.  The problem is you overpay trying to buy players and you get less value trying to sell players.  Contradictory, I know, but the way you usually get full value is having other clubs actively approach you about buying a player, which unfortunately is what LFC will need to do.

A few comments on some of the others:
Henderson - As much he would like to be lead dog in midfield, he does not seem to handle the burden well.  He needs to be paired with an Alpha in central midfield

Can - Emre is very perplexing.  He clearly has a lot of skill but he doesn't play any one position very well.  He is clearly NOT a god pivot in central midfield as he lingers on the ball too long.  He's probably awesome on the training ground but he's a royal disappointment in games.  Goodbye

Sturridge - Has got to go.  It feels like the team has this mentality of "wait til Sturridge gets back" and they almost seem to justify their own mediocrity with that excuse.  He then comes back for a good game or two, and then he's out 10-12 weeks again.  Forget that, they need to get rid of him for any kind of decent price.  If he turns out to be healthy and play well for his next team, good for him, but I wouldn't bet on it.  Injury prone players are always injury prone (modern day version of Owen Hargreaves)

Sakho - Is it just me or does it seem he might be THE most uncomfortable player on the ball in professional soccer.  He looks nervous every time he has the ball, which makes me nervous.  Great physical skills, but there are many better defenders out there

Toure - Why is he still in the league?  The fact that Toure is even on the team should tell anyone that this is NOT a quality squad.  I mean: Come On!  Should have gone to Dubai 3 years ago

Moreno - My 10 year-old son has better defensive positional sense than Moreno.  Nuff said

Skrtel - If he was not on my team, I would hate this guy, because he's nasty and he holds on every set piece.  But somehow, he doesn't get flagged so he might be one of my favorites on the team.  This is why Ancelloti was very smart to always play Pepe over Varane (even though Varane is much more physically and technically skilled, Pepe just makes life miserable for center forwards and does whatever he has to to keep the ball out of goal).

Benteke - Clearly doesn't have the mentality to lead the line for a big club.  Is much more comfortable being the biggest fish in a small pond.  Lot of players have that issue.  He needs to go back to a mid-table team.

Firmino - A bit too early to make a call here but he seems too inconsistent but I'll hold off judgment for now

Lovren - See "Benteke"

Flanagan - I actually like him a lot and don't understand why he doesn't play more.  I think the issue with him is, given his build and physicality (or lack thereof), he doesn't look like a top player.

Joe Allen - Not to sound mean but when fans are clamoring "Why doesn't Joe Allen play more?"  It speaks more to the lack of quality of the team than the merits of Joe Allen.  The only way Joe Allen, with his lack of physical presence, should start in central midfield on any title-aspiring team is if he had a Yaya Toure or Patrick Viera (in their primes) next to him. 

Lallana - This is going to be fun.  Lallana is without doubt and exaggeration and with all objectivity: the most useless player in the Premier League.  I justify that statement with this: nothing good happens from his touches (Norwich winner aside).  I have no idea how an attacking player like that can touch the ball so many times and have so few goals and assists (1 goal and 4 assists in 20 games (mostly starting) this season) to show for it.  It's like he took over the Glen Johnson role for the club.  He's like Can in that he shows a lot of skill on the ball, but nothing really good comes of it.  He is the destitute's version of David Silva.  He would be a Football God in League Two but unfortunately, he's a complete waste of time in the Premier League.

I'd say the vast majority of what we see as our first team squad will still be here next season with maybe one or two moved on and possibly one or two big surprises leaving the club.

We will see a lot of players moving on but it'll be mostly fringe players while we keep the squad together and add three/four of the managers choices.

Players that we have in our ranks that belong in a premier league winning side are Skrtel, Henderson, Firminho, Coutinho and Sturridge. The rest really aint up to it in all honesty. Practically given up with Sturridge with his injuries but i think we need to give him 1 last chance.

Lets get down to it.

Mignolet for all his haters is going to stay. In what capacity i'm not sure. I think and hope as number 2 although I'm of the opinion he is a bit of a fall guy for mistakes that happen in front of him.

I'm not a fan of Lovren, Sakho or Kolo, but we can't lose all of them in one go. For me there is value in selling Sakho, who although is a forum favourite, I find to be a total liability including in possession of the ball. 'Oh but the stats'. Meh!

Sakho sold, Kolo will go and Lovren will be spared IMO. Joe Gomez stays.


Not having our full backs either, Moreno just runs there and back, all the time flattering to deceive. Appalling defensive mentality and when he gets forward he just tw*ts it as hard as he can. Again value in selling him abroad and cutting our losses.

Clynne has been one big disappointment too, his use of the ball is a disgrace. He and Flanno need to switch roles at the club.

Midfield, I have hope for Henderson who is clearly struggling with his injury and playing through the pain. I can also see spaces in the squad for Lucas, Milner and Joe Allen. We clearly need Coutinho back and on form too.

Emre Can winds me up no end. He ian't an enigma or a tough one to call. He's total sh*te.

On the wing we have Ibe who refuses to progress, he just about escapes the Summer chop from me based on the fact we have very little pace in the squad as it is.

Firmino has proved himself a threat of late and keeps his spot in my team.

Benteke can leave. Asap.

Ings and Origi need a season under their belt to be judged.

Sturridge i think will leave but i'd keep him. No more needs to be said on his injury record but he is our best player when fit and could cover up a lot of our issues.

So after all that lot i have space in the squad for Mignolet, Clynne, Flanno, Smith, Skrtel, Lovren, Gomez, Henderson (c) Lucas, Allen, Coutinho, Firmino, Ibe.and Sturridge.

I'm hoping a few of the young lads like Tex (Not so young) Ojo and Branagan get a promotion this Summer but the rest is going to be down to the owners, the TC and Jürgen to try to fix.

Flogging Sakho, Moreno, Benteke and Markovic in the Summer and tv money should just about cover our needs to fill the gaps.

Executive Summary: 

Re. this team, Henderson, Skrtel and Coutinho are the only ones who should be starting on a League winning team.  All you idiots who say the whole squad should be scrapped forget this team was arguably one Stevie slip away from winning the title.

Sturridge - Has got to go. 

Always great to see a new forum member start by calling the other members idiots!

Remind which of Moreno, Clyne, Lovren, Milner, Lallana , Benteke, Firmino were part of the team which almost won the title.
Even Lucas god bless him played a bit part.

Then you go onto say how virtually all of them need to be get rid, make up your mind either they good players because they were one slip away from winning the league or they need upgrading!

You mention the effect of Suarez, Gerrard and Raheem there's a theme there - Top players make the spine of a great theme yet you want to get rid of our only Top class player - Sturridge.

Your executive summary is full of wholes which even Ayre will see through I'm afraid.

At a quick look (without even going into the 'really' fringe guys) reckon we could clear out:

Benteke
Sturridge (unless he's back playing regularly before end of the season)
Bogdan
Lucas
Skrtel
Enrique
Ilori
Sinclair
Rossiter
Chirivella
Alberto
Wisdom
Balotelli
Markovic

Most of these guys I don't think are in Jürgen's first XI anyway (apart from Lucas and a fit Studge). Make a few bob.

And sign 1 GK, 1 CB, 1 creative mid, 1 defensive mid, 2 strikers (1 if Studge can be fully rehabilited) 

6 *good* quality first XI starting players

Not sure if Jürgen fancies Pirlo, but I'd hang onto him.

Players that must be sold/released in the Summer:

Bogdan
Ilori
Wisdom
Enrique
Skrtel
Toure
Caulker
Moreno
Lucas
Milner
Lallana
Benteke
Balotelli
Sinclair
Yesil
Sturridge(if he does not get fit)

Estimated £60 million income from sale of these players.

Players to sign:

GK
CB x 2
LB
DM
CM
LW
ST

Estimated cost £150 million

You cant sell Lucas and Skrtel, we have no identity as it is without losing two big characters from the dressing room.

Players that must be sold/released in the Summer:

Bogdan
Ilori
Wisdom
Enrique
Skrtel
Toure
Caulker
Moreno
Milner
Lallana
Benteke
Balotelli
Sinclair
Yesil
Sturridge(if he does not get fit)

We can't sell Caulker because we don't own his contract. He's a loan player whose deal expires at the end of the season. Also, just who do you think will buy a Sturridge that's not fit for selection?

I've read so many comments that we should keep Sturridge if he is back to playing regularly this season.  However, I would say if that happens, we should use that to get a better price for him. 

This team has too much of a "Wait til Sturridge gets back" mentality that they use to justify their mediocrity when he's not playing.  He comes back for a good game or two and then he's out for the next 10-12 weeks and then we go back to justifying our mediocrity.  We need to move on.  If he plays regularly and well for his next team, then good for him.  I see him more as a modern Owen Hargreaves.

We can't sell Caulker because we don't own his contract. He's a loan player whose deal expires at the end of the season.

Yes I'm aware of that which is why I explicitly stated players that must be "sold/released".

Off hand here are some players we could sign for free that in my opinion would improve the squad plus leaving all the cash to splash on say 3 genuine game changers

Gregory van dervWiel. Ok we have 2 decent right backs but signing him could free Flanno up for left back instantly improving that area

Roman Neustader. Defensive midfielder from Schalke.

Joel Matip. Already sniffing around him

Steve Mandana. Anything better then Bogdan

Lavezzi. Seriously can't see what anyone could still have against signing him when you watch us at the moment

Ibrahimovic. Ok a long shot. But maybe paying him a sh*t load of wages might get some joy. Check out the footage of him asking Klopp about signing him!!

Joel Campbell. Could be wrong here but think he's a free agent in the summer. Paced and exciting the kind of signing our fan base would sneer at only to watch him do great at another club.

Martin Cacaeres. Another we supposedly sniffed around last month.

Ever Banega. Again I'm not certain but think he's a free. Again ask could he improve us on what's there currently? Hard to say no

Don't think any of them would be a bad punt for the squad if not the first 11
,

The real question in all this is if these players are released, will we replace them with upgraded replacements or go for more unproven potential? It's not the 'outs' that worry me, it's the 'ins'.

The real question in all this is if these players are released, will we replace them with upgraded replacements or go for more unproven potential? It's not the 'outs' that worry me, it's the 'ins'.

Let's just hope the transfer committee has a hell of a lot less of a say from now on.

The real question in all this is if these players are released, will we replace them with upgraded replacements or go for more unproven potential? It's not the 'outs' that worry me, it's the 'ins'.

That's the thing mate, every Summer we seem to ship a lot of players out and it becomes fantasy football. There is never any continuity one season to the next. We suddenly went from serious pace in forward areas to such slow attackers.

Where is the identity? Where is the planning? What is our blueprint? The Liverpool way?

We need to start again now under a new manager, so those questions need answering first. What are we looking to do? How do we want to play?

Until we have some sound, clear forward thinking planning we will continue to mess up our recruitment. Too many cooks in this transfer comitee it seems and they all want to pull in different directions.

The eventual goal has got to be to have a single vision that starts from under 8s, to the academy and ultimately to the first team. That way we can create a settled team that just needs adding to with a few names every season, rather than this haphazard mess we have every summer of lots of players leaving and new ones coming in. It feels like a constant rebuilding job with this club at the moment.

The club needs managing properly from the very top because it is getting desperate at the moment.

Clubs like Atletico and Dortmund (with the exception of one season) can sell their best players every year and absorb the blow and build straight away. As soon as we lose one of ours to some fancier, richer club we hit the skids and it reeks of mismanagement. How long did we know Suarez was moving on? What did we have in place to move forward? Balotelli and Lambert. Not good enough.

It's incredibly frustrating to see everyone talk about who needs to be cleared out in the summer and then most of the list consists of players who don't play anyway and/or are out on loan.

When are you people going to realize that the vast majority of our STARTING XI is utter rubbish???

Oh yea, the real players that need to go are Luis Alberto, Balotelli, Rossiter, Markovic, Enrique, Sinclair... it's THEIR fault that we are so sh*te, yea!!!

It's incredibly frustrating to see everyone talk about who needs to be cleared out in the summer and then most of the list consists of players who don't play anyway and/or are out on loan.

When are you people going to realize that the vast majority of our STARTING XI is utter rubbish???

Oh yea, the real players that need to go are Luis Alberto, Balotelli, Rossiter, Markovic, Enrique, Sinclair... it's THEIR fault that we are so sh*te, yea!!!

The best way to build a squad is to get rid of the worst players or ones who aren't going to feature and buy first team players.

We are going to have a huge number of games next season again so can't go into the summer with a mass clear out of players already playing regular for us this season.

Philippe Coutinho      KEEP AT ALL COSTS
Daniel Sturridge          KEEP AT ALL COSTS (and pray he keeps fit)
Nathaniel Clyne         KEEP   
Lazar Markovic          KEEP
Danny Ings          KEEP
Martin Skrtel          KEEP
Roberto Firmino          KEEP (and send to the gym)
Joe Gomez                  KEEP
Jordan Henderson      KEEP (potentially take away captain's armband)

Alberto Moreno          SQUAD
Adam Lallana          SQUAD or SELL IF OFFER COMES IN
Lucas Leiva          SQUAD
Emre Can                  SQUAD
Divock Origi          SQUAD
Jordon Ibe                  SQUAD
James Milner          SQUAD
Jon Flanagan             SQUAD

Simon Mignolet         GET RID
Joe Allen                  GET RID
Mamadou Sakho          GET RID
Joao Carlos Teixeira   GET RID
Luis Alberto              GET RID
Andre Wisdom          GET RID
Mario Balotelli           GET RID
Adam Bogdan           GET RID
Christian Benteke      GET RID
Jose Enrique          GET RID
Kolo Toure                  GET RID
Dejan Lovren          GET RID
Steven Caulker          GET RID

I don't envisage another summer of massive changes, but we defiantly need it.

We need to stop buying these players who are good for 3 minutes at these lesser teams and start buying players with proven talent an who are winners.

we cant keep players just because they appear to be nice people off the pitch (ie Sakho). Lets give Klopp the best chance of improving us for next season

It's incredibly frustrating to see everyone talk about who needs to be cleared out in the summer and then most of the list consists of players who don't play anyway and/or are out on loan.

When are you people going to realize that the vast majority of our STARTING XI is utter rubbish???

Oh yea, the real players that need to go are Luis Alberto, Balotelli, Rossiter, Markovic, Enrique, Sinclair... it's THEIR fault that we are so sh*te, yea!!!

I don't disagree Fed but that being said we are not going to ship out 25 players...so in reality in regards to your starting XI.

GK- (Mignolet) Needs to go
CB- Honestly you could make a case for letting all of them go...but we can't do that so I will bite and say (Toure, Lovren, Illori)
FB- Moreno should go (whether he does or not he should)
Mid- Milner & Lucas (He is not going to get rid of Henderson) I would say Joe Allen should go also but off the bench I don't think he is bad
Forward Line- Lallana & Benteke

So as whole I would get rid of Mignolet, Lovren, Moreno, Milner, Lucas, Lallana & Benteke.

I start the transfer window with:

                            New GK

Clyne             New CB    Skrtel/Mama       New LB


 New Mid                 Coutinho            Henderson/New Mid


Firmino                     New Striker          Ibe/Origi/Sturridge




                               

Now that the winter window has shut, we turn our attention to the summer and the "who stays, who goes" question.

I've compiled a list taken from the offal of all players listed for the 1st team, it includes those out on loan, some overage 21s and youngsters who have already featured in the 1st team this season.

As yet we have no idea what Jürgen will do, not just in terms of players out but also will he strip us right back to a solid 15-18 regulars that can rotate without losing balance, form etc and then use the most talented of our youngsters as the back ups?  Or will he keep the majority and bring in a couple of real quality to bolster what we have?

Most of you will be surprised at how many players we have and how bloated the squad actually is.

Keepers.

Migs, Bogdan, Ward, Fulton.

I will hazard a guess and say that Migs will stay after the new contract but I'm not sure he'll be No.1. 

Bogdan needs to go and probably will as he's never been good enough, not even as a No.2. 

Ward will be 23 in June and has had a fantastic loan up at Aberdeen, playing every week and gaining experience.  I've watched Ward play regularly with the u21s and I have to say I wasn't that impressed but he was a completely different player on Monday night.  He was Captain for the night and he never looked troubled, came for everything, marshalled his troups well and never stfu.  Who knows he may be enough to challenge Migs for the No.1 spot meaning no money needs spending in this position.

Fulton will turn 20 in the summer and out of all our Academy keepers he's the one who has impressed me the most over the last 7 years of watching the Youth games.  He's recently gone on loan to Portsmouth and is getting games, which is really good considering his age and the level they play at.

Defenders.

Clyne, Enrique, Toure, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno, Flanno, Skrtel, Caulker, Ilori, Smith, Gomez, Wisdom, Jones, Williams, Randall, Maguire, Cleary, McLaughlin.

That's 19 players for 4 positions.

Enrique, Toure and Caulker I'm assuming will go as their contracts are up so that leaves 16.  Wisdom, Williams and Jones are out on loan, 1 in the PL but not getting games the other 2 at League 1 clubs so they'll probably all go too.

Randall, Maguire, Cleary and McLaughlin.  The first 3 are regulars at u21s and all are either 20 or will turn 20 this year so time is still on their side to develop.  McLaughlin at 22 has suffered from so many injuries in the last couple of years but so far this season he's been injury free.  Like Smith on the opposite flank, he's got pace to burn and was one who many of us had high hopes for in his early career but I don't think he'll be kept.

So that leaves us with Clyne, Flanno, Skrtel, Sakho, Lovren, Gomez, Moreno, Smith and Ilori, 9 players for 4 positions.  Jürgen has no idea (apart from dvds at Charlton) what sort of player Gomez is and we've no idea how well he'll recover from his injury so he'll stay for at least another season.  Maybe an upgrade on one of the senior Cbs and work with the rest.

Midfielders.

Milner, Hendo, Lucas, Allen, Can, Rossiter, Stewart, Brannagan, Tex, Chirivella, Alberto, Grujic, Allan.

13 players for 2, sometimes 3 positions.

I can see us losing Milner, Allen, Tex and Alberto, possibly Stewart with possibly one other quality CM arriving.  Rossiter could go either way due to his contract situation.  Grujic should come into the 1st team and hopefully we will have sorted Allans work permit out so he becomes available.

Attackers.

Studge, Ings, Origi, Benteke, Balotelli, Ibe, Firmino, Cou, Lallana, Ojo, Yesil, Dunn, Kent, Canos, Sinclair, Marko, Awaniyi.

17 players for 4 positions.

Out of those Balotelli, Yesil, Sinclair and Dunn will leave with possibly Benteke and Lallana if we need some extra funds.

So that's 53 players, yes that's right 53 players!!

I know I've included some of the youngsters and obviously not all of them will have a future with us but after watching our youth closely over the last 7 years we currently have the best group of kids we've ever had in the 16-20 age group.  There's no real prodigy types like Raheem but there's 23 lads, almost a full squad, who are more capable than the team that had Flanno, Wisdom, Sama, Robinson, Coady, Pacheco, Suso, Tex, Raheem, Morgan, Ngoo etc in it and most of them are playing at a reasonable level.

Fulton
Alexander-Arnold
Cleary
Hart
Masterson
Canos
Dhanda
M Gomes
T Gomes
Wilson
Kent
Brannagan
Ojo
Woodburn
Gomez
Philipps
Adekanye
Allan
Ibe
Grujic
Awoniyi
Chirivella
Rossiter

So with all this talent already at the Club, personally I'd rather see us stripped right back to the bare bones of that 53 man list, bring in 2 or 3 exceptional players and use the Youth as back ups and integrate them into the 1st team.

That's one hell of a job to do.

100% agree with you on this Debs. I don't want to see 8 or 9 average players brought in ever again.

To put it in comic book lingo, this squad has too many Alfreds and Robins and not enough Batmen. Too many supporting roles, not enough stars. Get 2-3 higher quality players into the side and we look much better overall -- not title contenders by any means, but at least within touching distance of 4th. 

We absolutely need a clear out, but we also have some solid squad players that will nicely complement the top class players (should we ever sign them).

That's the thing mate, every Summer we seem to ship a lot of players out and it becomes fantasy football. There is never any continuity one season to the next. We suddenly went from serious pace in forward areas to such slow attackers.

Where is the identity? Where is the planning? What is our blueprint? The Liverpool way?

We need to start again now under a new manager, so those questions need answering first. What are we looking to do? How do we want to play?

Until we have some sound, clear forward thinking planning we will continue to mess up our recruitment. Too many cooks in this transfer comitee it seems and they all want to pull in different directions.

The eventual goal has got to be to have a single vision that starts from under 8s, to the academy and ultimately to the first team. That way we can create a settled team that just needs adding to with a few names every season, rather than this haphazard mess we have every summer of lots of players leaving and new ones coming in. It feels like a constant rebuilding job with this club at the moment.

The club needs managing properly from the very top because it is getting desperate at the moment.

Clubs like Atletico and Dortmund (with the exception of one season) can sell their best players every year and absorb the blow and build straight away. As soon as we lose one of ours to some fancier, richer club we hit the skids and it reeks of mismanagement. How long did we know Suarez was moving on? What did we have in place to move forward? Balotelli and Lambert. Not good enough.

Clubs like Athletic and Dortmund have recruitment teams that are able to quickly identify replacements, negotiators that can quickly and efficiently close deals. Liverpool do not so we cannot lose our best players each year. Liverpool themselves used to be like this. So what is needed this Summer is a total rebuilding project to start. Not simply of the squad but the personnel behind the scenes. We need a Footballing identity as you say but then we need scouts to scour the regions that produce the best players suited for that identity, rather than this current scattergun approach of buying the next Messi who ends up being the next Aspas.

I'm starting to believe we'd benefit greatly from having an established and respected Director of Football, one who knows the Agents, who is renowned in football circles as a shrewd operator and one where that is his sole responsibility, allowing Gordon and Ayre to focus solely on theirs. I believe we need to replace some, if not all of the committee, as well as overhauling our scouting system. I can't put a name to this person because a DoF is not something we've traditionally had so it's not something I've looked into but perhaps the fella Klopp worked with before who it's said, had a very good working relationship with each other.

Most of all there needs to be a change in attitude from the club's owners because we can't keep relying solely on potential, we need a good mix of players. Established players from the ages of 24 to 27 should be our primary aim, players who are in their prime but still have enough of their prime left to get some return on that investment, rather than players who are either exiting or past their prime and at the end of their careers as we have traditionally done under FSG. If this rebuilding process takes another five years then so be it but let it take five years with demonstrable evidence of year on year  progress rather than the current year on year regression we're seeing.

Always great to see a new forum member start by calling the other members idiots!

Remind which of Moreno, Clyne, Lovren, Milner, Lallana , Benteke, Firmino were part of the team which almost won the title.
Even Lucas god bless him played a bit part.

Then you go onto say how virtually all of them need to be get rid, make up your mind either they good players because they were one slip away from winning the league or they need upgrading!

You mention the effect of Suarez, Gerrard and Raheem there's a theme there - Top players make the spine of a great theme yet you want to get rid of our only Top class player - Sturridge.

Your executive summary is full of wholes which even Ayre will see through I'm afraid.

actually that was pretty hilarious