I don't think we should go mad spending this summer and having a completely different squad come August. That type of team building has its pro's and con's. But I think if we look at Man City it's clear that a squad needs time to gel properly, so I said 3-5. I think getting rid of Poulsen, Cole and N'gog as well as a few players out on loan will allow us to get 3 first team players in to build the squad up, creating strength in depth that we so severely lack.
I don't want to harp on about Rafa too much but he had the right idea in terms of building his squad, a strong spine to the starting XI will always allow you to compete. In 2008-2009 we had the peak of Rafa's squad, and the spine; Reina, Carragher, Agger, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard and Torres. Only for injuries, god knows. But if we compare that to this seasons spine; Reina, Carragher (+2 years), Skrtel, Lucas, Meireles, Gerrard (+2 years), Suarez, Carroll. Carragher and Gerrard can't provide the performances they used to as consistantly as they used to. Reina is conceding more because the men in front of him are weaker. Lucas and Meieles or Masch and Alonso? Suarez and Carroll are they only proper strength there unless Reina is protected better.
So although we do need wingers, I think we need to ship out the dead wood from the center of the pitch first and build that spine back up!
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