Total Transformation !

Mods - please feel free to move this if not in the correct place

What a difference a year makes. In just two transfer windows Kenny & Comoli have completely transformed the squad, giving us know a squad that is fully flexible in formations AND getting rid of all the dead wood (bar a couple of lingering loanee's)

With the squad now, with the usual tweaks of course, we have a 4-4-2 AND a 4-3-3 which are both "proper" teams with bags full of experience, dash of youth and quality

4-4-2
                           Reina
     Kelly    Carra     Agger    Enrique
    Henderson   Adam   Lucas   Downing
             Carroll    Suarez


4-3-3
                      Doni
    Johnson  Coates   Skrtel   Flannagan
             Shelvey  Gerrard  Spearing
               Kuyt   Bellamy  Maxi


And the "dead wood XI' have all gone

                Jones
   Deggen   Ayala  Soto   Konchesky
    El Zhar   Poulsen  Aqua     Milanovich
               Ngog   Cole


If you would have asked for that last August, with Kenny back in charge as well and the poison swept away, You would be very happy bunnies right now !

The question remains - Can we challenge for the title ?  Possibly. For squad depth, would have liked Miereles to stay, but let him go to the Chavs - after all, our other ex players havent exactly lit up that bit of London since they left, have they ?

WTF is that Gerrard in the second team not the first. He is better than all the midfield we have. He is sill one f the best in Europe

WTF is that Gerrard in the second team not the first. He is better than all the midfield we have. He is sill one f the best in Europe

Was just highlighting we have 2 teams now - not the one we have been used to for so long - no offence intended !!!

Agreed, mate. Incredible how much we improved since January.

Couldn't be more excited with our team. Good times await us.

I don't see Aquilani as a deadwood. i just see him as a player that never really got a chance to prove.
Meireles he chose to be a deadwood, but who knows what going on in his head.

I don't see Aquilani as a deadwood. I just see him as a player that never really got a chance to prove.
Meireles he chose to be a deadwood, but who knows what going on in his head.

Will probably tell us he wanted Champions league football... or to work with AVB....

Harsh calling Ayala deadwood.  Actually a very promising player.

And odd that Gerrard only makes it in to your 'second XI'.

However, the point you make is valid.  Liverpool actually have the ability to field two completely different XI's who should be capable of winning games.  22 players capable of competing in the Premier League.

Its a top quality transformation too, what a great job the club have done, im so happy

In just a year, we've had two different Liverpool teams.

Just a year ago, we had a team with alot of uncertainties and players not certain about their futures. Some were even not committed already.

Roll on 1st September 2011, we've seen Insua, Jovanovic, N'gog, Kyrgiakos, Poulsen, Konchesky, Meireles, Ayala, Degen, El Zhar, Torres either sold or contract terminated along with Cole and Aquilani going out on loan.

In were Henderson, Adam, Doni, Downing, Coates, Bellamy and Enrique.

Got rid of many deadwoods and uncommited players and came in seven players capable of bringing this Liverpool team forward under the guidance of the King himself. Also, trimmed the wage bill a whole lot!

We,re looking good as it is even without Miereles. Bellemy could turn out to be an awesome bit of business for us. I,m hoping now that Gerrard can come back and contribute. If he does that would eliminate the need for Miereles anyway. Majority of the fringe players have moved on or been loaned out and a big chunk off the wage bill has gone which was being wasted. We now have a mixture of experience, quality and youth. The other top 4 teams have strengthened but with the exception of Man City not to the level i thought they would. Utd look stronger for the young players they have added, Chelsea look the same as last season, Spurs the same and Arsenal even with Arteta look seriously diminished.

Top 4 here we come YNWA.

Gerrard in the second team to make it an even contest? 

The transformation is incredible - what is more surprising is that they have bedded in so well and are already playing as a team.  What is shocking is that we managed to do it all for around a £40m net spend... amazing!  Spurs chose to hang on to their 'prize asset' when Roman came calling and will fall by the wayside, eventually losing all of their best players to big clubs.

Looking at the second team if I was to be picky, i'd say we'd need one more central midfielder. That could be our focus for January. But i've no complaints from the miracles pulled off by DC and JWH in selling the deadwood. Really shocked that we sold all the players that weren't good enough. Now we have real quality and a stable wage budget, meaning we can concentrate on bringing in the highest quality player.

The Modric situation is now a bit sticky for old arry. He has a player that does,nt want to be there, similar to what we would of had if we had not sold Miereles. I fully expect Modric to either be crocked now for most games or he will leave in January or next summer for half of what was offered to Spurs by Chelsea. That could elimnate them for a challenge to the top 4, which is good for us.

Just seen this thread.

Feel we will play a 4-2-3-1 most of the time. Below are the options we now have for that system.


Final day did skew what should only been seen as a fantastic transfer window for us.
Being a fan of Raul, I'm disappointed to see him gone. Loved the forward movement and creativity he brought.
In saying that I was never a fan of playing him in the wide positions. To that effect, bringing Bellamy in is a good move.
I hope it allows us to move Henderson centrally, because I think he has looked better there than out wide. After the window
we have great options now.

                                                          Reina/Doni

Johnson/Kelly/Flanagan            Carra/Skrtel             Agger/Coates             Enrique/Robinson/Aurelio

                                         Lucas/Spearing      Adam/Gerrard

Henderson/Kuyt/Bellamy/Downing    Henderson/Shelvey/Gerrard/Suarez     Bellamy/Downing/Kuyt/Maxi

                                                   Carroll/Suarez/Kuyt/Bellamy

 The manager deserves massive Kudos for the transformation he has brought about in such a short time. Older fans will remember Kenny from days of yore, and will be happy that we once again have such a legend at the helm.

Thats the key word for me after signing Bellemy and selling Miereles, options. Hendo can now play in Miereles position or wide right and Bellemy can play on either wing or through the middle with pace. I,m hoping now or medical team can keep him fit because a front 3 of Downing Suarez Bellemy could be fantastic.

One of the biggest transformations and we keep hearing it come from the players themselves, is the spirit and seeming togetherness of the team.  That has made as much of a difference as the changes in playing staff, and is why Raul had to go when he made it clear he wanted to leave.

Well all we have to do now is win some football matches because everything else seems to be in place.

Apaer from the general mood lift since the King came back, the stand out for me vs the Liverpool of the last few seasons is the fluidity of the players movement.

We had become fairly one-dimensional, but now we seem to be able to create clever inter-plays and attack from all areas of the pitch. Back to the good old days when KD was around the first time.

I was so overjoyed yesterday and so disappointed today with the sale of Mereiles(I hope he fails at Chelsea to send a message to other players; i liked him). BUT hope this means that Henderson and Shelvey will step up and play in a creative role. I would have liked to keep Aqua or Mereiles but I fully trust Kenny and co.
Our squad is good enough to be 2nd or 3rd at January and I'm sure we'll then sign an awesome player again.

Now all we need to do is support our team, the players and the board. We're back on track!
YNWA!

Apaer from the general mood lift since the King came back, the stand out for me vs the Liverpool of the last few seasons is the fluidity of the players movement.

We had become fairly one-dimensional, but now we seem to be able to create clever inter-plays and attack from all areas of the pitch. Back to the good old days when KD was around the first time.

 Totally agree. We had become a straight lines team who were afraid to lose rather than being prepared to in order to win. I think the only time over the last few seasons where we really went for it, was the season where we threw off the shackles under Rafa and came second.

 Now we have far more variety in our play, runners from different angles and we are playing with a smile on our faces. It's no coincidence that the last time we played like that, the same bloke was in charge then as is in charge now.   

                Jones
   Deggen   Ayala  Soto   Konchesky
    El Zhar   Poulsen  Aqua     Milanovich
               Ngog   Cole

Plus the ladyboy with Chelsea Splinters

Milanovich

Made me chuckle for some reason, ha

Kenny kinda got rid of the majority of the players that Rafa and Roy brought in.

Time for a fresh start!

Kenny kinda got rid of the majority of the players that Rafa and Roy brought in.

Time for a fresh start!

Because some of the players Rafa & Woy brought in were sh!t. I actually forgot that we still had Degen on our books this season...well until yesterday.

Serious question for you guys, do we have a stronger attack in our first 11 than last season?

-----------------Reina--------------------
Kelly-----Carragher----Agger----Johnson-
-----------Gerrard----Lucas--------------
---------------Meireles-------------------
Kuyt-----------Suarez---------Maxi------

4-4-2 seems to be the prefered formation for now and with Gerrard fit, he would play instead of Henderson or Adam?

-----------------Reina---------------------
Kelly-----Carragher----Agger----Enrique-
-----------Adam--------Lucas-------------
Henderson------------------------Downing
-------------Suarez------Kuyt------------

A transformation indeed and I am very happy about it.  This time last year I was sliding into football related depression and by Christmas I was not even bothering to watch games.  If only some other websites could see the positives - especially the one based in Bristol who seems to have a man-love-hate thing for Glen Johnson.

Well done all at LFC.  Despite the gloom mongers, we've only lost one (that should have been on crimewatch) and have a positive goal difference.