So who will be our left back?

Well Fabio has gone, a good player but too injury prone, and now we have lost Emiliano.  So who will be the left back in our team who will help us challenge for the Premiership?
(let's still be optimistic at this stage of the season)

We will need to get someone in pretty quick to link up the the full squad pre season and get used to playing as part of our team.  Come to think of it we need back up as well so we'll need two decent players.

What has Roy had to say about it?

From the LFC Website

Roy Hodgson has thanked Emiliano Insua for the service he has given to Liverpool after a fee was agreed with Fiorentina for the defender.

The Argentine left-back is now heading home to discuss personal terms.

"Emiliano has left to go back to Liverpool," Hodgson told Liverpoolfc.tv.

"A deal has been struck with Fiorentina. We wish him well for the rest of his career and thank him for his time spent at Liverpool.

"I am expecting him to join Fiorentina next week."

Fine Roy but what about getting someone else in to replace Insua, and Fabio for that matter.  No comment about getting replacements or even if their are targets for this position.

I've made no secret I would like to Warnock back.  He's a good player on the fringe of the England team and a die-in-the-wool red.

Any other suggestions?

I'd like a strong, quick, powerful player with defensive ability aswell as attacking.

I'd love Cissokho or Taiwo here. No idea what the chances of getting either are, though.

We currently now have no left back and reports say we might purchase one,might what the F**k is might about and even more worrying is Hodgson comment Purslow is in charge of transfers.

I'd like a strong, quick, powerful player with defensive ability aswell as attacking.

I'd love Cissokho or Taiwo here. No idea what the chances of getting either are, though.

And that's the worry Ross.  There doesn't seem to be any discernible moves to get the replacements we need.  I've not even seen any rumours in the press linking us to any left backs although the rumours about Insua were clearly correct so LFC and Roy must have known he was going.

So who have we been linked with so far, Maynor Figueroa and Taye Taiwo, that's all that springs to mind. I agree that a strong athletic full back is what we need, someone that doesn't get muscled about easily and has pace to deal with any tricky wingers we play, thought Insua was beaten too easily on the outside last year and he wasn't the soundest defensive player anyway.

Always a plus if a full back can overlap and offer more width when needed but for me the main thing we should be looking for is a capable defender, even though a lot of pressure was heaped on Insua last year it was a weak point in our starting Xi last season.

Could be Agger?

Stephen Warnock.. I have been saying this since he left!!!
In fairness, we should still be choosing from Warnock or Riise ?

So our permanent left back is going to be a centre half with no replacement.

We currently now have no left back and reports say we might purchase one,might what the f**k is might about and even more worrying is Hodgson comment Purslow is in charge of transfers.

Yeh but surely Roy will identify the targets for Purslow to recruit. 

I agree with StevieG-force about Insua's shortcomings but he is better than nothing which is what we have at the moment.  We need to get someone in quick.

OK I accept that Agger could cover in this position but he is primarily a central defender and would probably get p*ssed off fulfilling that role for any length of time.

Huge mistake to let Insua go with no replacement ready to hand.

At the present time, Dan Agger could do a job there, did Stephen Darby come back from his loan spell? as he can play there as well, but we really need somebody with a bit more experience, that's were we fell down last season, we were exposed so much down that left side.

The problem is we need 2 left backs now. Cissokho is the best choice (too expensive) but we could solve our left back problem for 10 years if we could get him. Figueroa as a back up.

Depends of course if Purslow is just taking care of negotiations, meeting players, talking to players etc which is fine if Roy is taking care of the teams friendlies and that or Purslow actually dictating what players to buy and for how much which would be extremely unfair on Roy. But anyway I agree too that Agger could cover for left back every now and again, I think he'd be pretty adept at doing so but he probably would get unsettled eventually.

Surely Purslow isn't stupid enough to leave is with only half a left back, I would've thought Roy has his eye on some kind of replacement, Taye Taiwo would be my preference from the names mentioned, can smash a few free kicks in too like a certain Norwegian who once played for us.

Today's team was meant to line up with Darby at left back. We've got Jack Robinson who is a left back come left winger. We've got Agger. If worst comes to the worst we've got Carra whose played that position many times for the club. We've got Kelly and Johnson who can slot in at left back. Riera spent time at left back for Man City (he was as sh*t there as he has been on the left wing for us in all honesty though).

There's plenty of options from within this current squad to play at left back.

There's also the possibility of us changing system and not playing with full backs, although I doubt that will be Roy's method. I think he'll stick to a more traditional back four.

But we're all crying out for a youngster to break through, here's a perfect opportunity to give one a go. A lot of players who go on to become top class defenders start out as full backs because there's less strain there compared to a centre half. So if Jack Robinson has something about him, throw him in. F**k this inexperienced lark. If he's good enough, he's old enough.

Or if we're not prepared to give one of our own young lads a go, lets F**k off to West Brom and take Joe Mattock off their books. Use Ngog as a makeweight if we have to. I've said it before on this forum that Joe Mattock is a quality player an I said we should of got him off Leiceter, but didn't need to due to us having Insua as the next left back for the club.

Now Insua has gone, Mattock. Somebody who will be our left back for years, no more F***ing stop gap players. We have to build for the future now, the present is fu**ed thanks to those at the top.

So either give a go to one of our young lads or snap Joe Mattock (only 20) up from West Brom.

Yeh Cissokho or Taiwo or maybe Warnock, not overly keen on Warnock mind.

I reckon we will only need 1 as hopefully we can look to Jack Robinson or Darby to provide cover

Kelly?

I actually think we'll make a late move for a left back, this after giving the likes of Robinson, Darby, Johnson a go at left back and seeing how solid they are there throughout pre-season

Although on a short-term basis, playing what are essentially centre-backs or right backs, is a viable option, I'd hate to have that as our long term solution.  We do have options for cover at the club - Agger, Mavinga, Kelly, Johnson or Robinson but not one I deem suitable at present to be our permanent fixture at left-back this season and in the case of a couple of them, next season may be too early as well.

In that case, is it worth looking for a short to mid-term option, a 30 year old plus player, who can do a solid job for us & help the likes of Robinson & Mavinga come through.  Off the top of my (alcohol pickled) head, I can't think of someone at present.  

Otherwise it means spending a big chunk of our supposedly limited on a seasoned left-back and with Ashley Cole looking like he could set of a bidding war for any decent left back we look at with Chelsea if he leaves.  But then again, we may not need a left back, old Woy could be looking at a 3-4-3 or a 3-5-3, you never know.    

  

We wouldn't be in this situation if we hadn't let Riise go.

We wouldn't be in this situation if we hadn't let Riise go.

Riise was a good, solid player, never a great player.  I think if he was still here now, we'd be looking for a replacement now anyways. The pace of the game in Italy seems to suit him so much more.   

I'm available.

But seriously, i reckon we'll see Figueroa or someone else who isn't good enough. Be nice to see someone who can bring some explosive power to that position, Taiwo or Cissohko (i think Cissohko is probably too expensive).

Warnock is unlikely to come back; i remember him making some pretty bitter comments about Rafa but he doesn't seem to be longing for a return.

From what I've seen tawio isn't good enough. I'd like to see us get warnock and mattock. English and quality, unless spurs want to give up bale

I'm against this move.  Insua should be given more time.  With another year or 2 experience he would probably be a quality player for us.  He got thrown in the deep end.  Now if we don't sign a replacement what are we going to do?  Throw someone else in the deep end.  This current situation we have is putting us further behind the other teams.  We are getting rid of squad players in yossi and insua and no replacements coming in.  We lacked depth last year and it showed, we are losing more of the little depth we had in our squad.

Was always a big mistake to let Warnock go a few years ago. May have made bitter comments towards Benitez but it's understandable after showing a lot of promise in that position. Really respected him though after he layed a wreath at the Kop last year for Blackburn during the 20th anniversary of Hillsborough. I'm sure he'd welcome a move back. Real shame and a missed opportunity. Was disappointed to see Aurelio go. Thought he was the better left back out of Insua and himself.