We’re 4th in the league and in the round of 16 For CL and we need to REPLACE the spine?
Uh no. We need some tweaking and reinforcements but it would be foolish to completely replace the spine. Plus we have Keita incoming next summer.
Is reading really so difficult? I didn't suggest replacing the spine
this season, I said the spine needs replacing so get the players in now so they can settle in, buy a new house, learn the language, get a feel for the culture etc. not to mention coaching them on Klopp's style of play for the next six months so that starting next season, all those distractions are out of the way, they're used to the system and can hit the ground running. This is how we used to operate, pre-Premier League. A player would spend some time in the reserves before graduating to the first team. So we bring them in now, coach them, help them settle in and give them game time in the FA Cup and possibly some easier league matches.
However if you think the spine of our team doesn't need replacing moving forward you're living in cloud cuckoo land. Neither Mignolet, Karius, Lovren nor Matip are good enough to propel us to both domestic and European glory, we're probably looking at loosing Coutinho and no, Keita isn't his replacement, he's Can's, so we still need another player there. On top of that we're probably going to be looking at Sturridge and Ings leaving, the latter at least on loan which leaves us two down in the Striking department - and even if you argue we're currently over stocked in that area, an argument I could buy into, I'd argue back that we're only overstocked by a single player. Furthermore, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who thinks Henderson is the right man to do the job he's being asked to do. Opinions vary in intensity but are generally consistent that we could do better.
So as I said, from a purely pragmatic perspective, getting those players in now before the players they're replacing leave, is a good idea, and even if I'm wrong in my assumptions on certain players, the key to being a successful club is always upgrading on what you've got. We aren't just competing against other clubs on the pitch, we're competing against them in the market and we need to be doing everything we can to gain an advantage over them. Finally, in conclusion, it's a World Cup year, do you really want to wait until the Summer where players prices escalate through the roof because they've had a successful tournament and we're competing for their signature with more clubs? From every conceivable standpoint, replacing the spine in Jan makes perfect sense.
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