How our team may look next season

Guessing that Rafa sticks to his 4-3-2-1 formation I'd go for this team:

------------------Reina
------Degan---Carra--Skrtel---Dossena
-------------Masch---Barry
-------Bentley---Gerrard----Babel
------------------Torres

Degan - probably an improvement on Arbeloa or the ageing Finnan, but I have to watch more to judge.
Dossena - Obviously an improvement on Riise but on Aurelio? Maybe as Aurelio gets injured time to time.
Barry - Surely a big improvement on Alonso. Barry is a player who'll play blood and guts for us! At his peak too.
Bentley - Well he'd be an improvement on any right winger we've got right now.

So these four players? Yeah they'd improve us but would they really make us real contenders? We have to ask ourselfs that!

i dont see how Barry is an improvement over Alonso, yes Alonso hasnt been on top form this season but hes been injured quite alot. Id keep Alonso over Barry but it doesn't look like it's gunna pan out that way. i think Agger would come in for Skrtel maybe Agger and Skrtel at some points during the season as i think sadly Carra's legs are going a bit, but i think Agger will be preffered over Skrtel. I also would like to see Babel played down the middle a bit more often.

Trust me Barry is a big improvement on Alonso. To me, all Alonso does is slow our play down. Yeah it suits the smaller games but in the bigger games it doesn't.

He hasn't been on top form for quite a while. What makes you think he's going to be outstanding next season? Barry is playing at his peak now and his good football is showing that. He links up with Gerrard far better than Alonso does and Alonso trains with Gerrard 8 months of the year.

Give it a think but I honestly think Barry will be an improvement over Alonso without a shadow of doubt. He shows more determination and trust me he'll run his socks off for us. Alonso has better technique but that's it.

I don't think Alonso is as clever as many make him out to be. Yeah he's got good vision and can make those 60 yard passes but he's not a great reader of the game, he barely dictates play for us. Cesc Fabregas is a far more intelligent player.

hmm maybe, i dont know if barry is worth the £10m plus Crouch quoted on some places though. £10m is more than enough imo but then again hes english and you always pay over the odds for english players.

Ra Ra time and time again you have played the same tune. You have had an issue with Alonso all season, you went out of your way to say that at one point Lucas is the more "intelligent" and quality player. Now you are going on record saying that Barry is the better player, going on what track record? The fact that he is the best player in a mid table team where he has the freedom to play anywhere on the pitch and the power to freelance. How will this fit in to our system? Will he be able to perform a certain role and task that Rafa will assign tactically every game? By no means am I trying to portray Barry as a bad player but he is nowehere near the quality of Alonso. I think its a testament in itself to what sort of player Alonso is when you look at the clubs who are interested in him, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus. This surely indicates to me he has proven quality that would be an addition in any of the mentioned squads.

I repeat again I do think Barry is a good player and will benefit us but never at the expense of Alonso!

Here where I see the team

----------------------Pepe-----------------------
Arboloa-----Skrtel------Agger-----Dossena
----------------------Javi--------------------------
---------------Gerrard-----Barry---------------
---Kuyt-------------------------------Babel-----
-------------------Torres------------------------

I love Carra but I think if Skrtel plays the way he done this season and Agger plays like he did last season Carra is going to have a tough time finding a way on to the team on a game by game basis. Carra and Finnan really looked like they lost half a step and I feel that the Skrtel/Agger pair is going to lead us into the next 5 years so I think we start playing them together and see where this relationship take off. I love Carra and it hurts me to say it but he looking like his age is showing a tiny bit and I don't know what next season will be (hope I am wrong of coarse!).

From what I read Degen is simply a pure attacking full back but I always been a fan of Arboloa and I don't think there is much reason at this time to think he would lose his spot to Degen.

I think the whole Barry thing is to add more punch in the middle. Alonso really has not capture the form from the first season he was here and it seems when Javi came to Liverpool Alonso really lost it when Javi took his spot and seems to never gotten to the top form. Barry though doesn't have the passing ability but still offer more attacking and push than Alonso and when you got a player like Javi who can now simply focus on holding and winning balls rather than try and make plays (sorry but he isn't that good attacking wise) then I can see the balance in the middle.

As for the attacking 3 up front I do think Rafa is going to get someone but I dunno who so that is why I put Kuyt there and I think Babel and Torres don't need much explaining.

Carra is our heart in defence, no shunning him out of the side. I for one am a 'pro Barry' campaigner as opposed to those begging for Alonso to stay. He links up better with SG, he will also help assist Nando and spreading it out wide to our wingers.

So my team going off Barry, Bentley and Dossena coming along with Degen is:

                                   Reina

Arbeloa           Carragher         Agger         Dossena

                     Masch               Barry

Bentley                                                     Babel

                               Gerrard

                               Torres

Those choosing Degen right now are plain thick. Who has seen him play a full match? Have you Ra Ra? If not then enough to be able to judge on him? Dont think so. Arby is our best RB and untill Degen busts his ass to prove otherwise its Arby for me down the right in defence. He is a very solid defender and one who is improving in attack now and with Degen pushing for a place in the side, Arby will improve too.

PS: Dont mean to attack you Ra Ra but just making a point.

I love this "Barry links up better with Gerrard" based on what two internaional games against mediorce teams like the US and Tand

Anyways this is the team that I would imagine nexst season;

                          Reina

Arbeloa              Skrtel Carra           Dossenna

Bentley/Silva      Mascherano Alonso   Babel

                         Gerrard

                       Torres

this is based on realistically the players we can get and haev been strongly linked to.

Trust me Barry is a big improvement on Alonso. To me, all Alonso does is slow our play down. Yeah it suits the smaller games but in the bigger games it doesn't.

He hasn't been on top form for quite a while. What makes you think he's going to be outstanding next season? Barry is playing at his peak now and his good football is showing that. He links up with Gerrard far better than Alonso does and Alonso trains with Gerrard 8 months of the year.

Give it a think but I honestly think Barry will be an improvement over Alonso without a shadow of doubt. He shows more determination and trust me he'll run his socks off for us. Alonso has better technique but that's it.

I don't think Alonso is as clever as many make him out to be. Yeah he's got good vision and can make those 60 yard passes but he's not a great reader of the game, he barely dictates play for us. Cesc Fabregas is a far more intelligent player.

You really make me laugh, talk about Walter Mitty F***ing hell.. In the other threads you were berating Barry and wanted more flair players like Quasimodo from Porto saying Barry wasnt good enough.

And I wish people would read my lips

ALONSO AINT GOING ANYWHERE FOR F**k SAKE

He has said it himself, alonso and barry will be quite a force to reckond with in any game one long accurate pass for direct play via alonso or one short throughball with vision from Barry. They are both great players who I hope will help win us the EPL next season. As far as the team looks for the want of repeating myself you have just given one permutation, remember its not a team game anymore its a squad game..

Some people arnt going to like this.. but here goes.

                                                       Reina

Arbeloa                         Agger/Skrtel                    Carra                    Dossena

                                                       Mash
                         
                                        Barry                    Xabi

             Gerrard                                                             Babel

                                                       Torres

Like it or not its the only way to get our best players on the field and i no people are going to bi*ch and moan about gerrard on the right but the fact is a minute fragment of planet earth who can do a better job in that position, i think if stevie is given the freedom ronaldo has for utd on the right hand side, then it will be a great decision

Those choosing Degen right now are plain thick. Who has seen him play a full match? Have you Ra Ra? If not then enough to be able to judge on him? Dont think so. Arby is our best RB and untill Degen busts his ass to prove otherwise its Arby for me down the right in defence. He is a very solid defender and one who is improving in attack now and with Degen pushing for a place in the side, Arby will improve too.

PS: Dont mean to attack you Ra Ra but just making a point.

You didn't attack me but your being F***ing rude!

Who's seen Dossena play more than Degan? Also Arby isn't all that great, Rafa bought Degan for first choice reason why I put him there for first choice!

Don't make me lose respect in you, find other words to use mate.

You really make me laugh, talk about Walter Mitty F***ing hell.. In the other threads you were berating Barry and wanted more flair players like Quasimodo from Porto saying Barry wasnt good enough.

And I wish people would read my lips

ALONSO AINT GOING ANYWHERE FOR F**k SAKE

He has said it himself, alonso and barry will be quite a force to reckond with in any game one long accurate pass for direct play via alonso or one short throughball with vision from Barry. They are both great players who I hope will help win us the EPL next season. As far as the team looks for the want of repeating myself you have just given one permutation, remember its not a team game anymore its a squad game..

Mate I'm not SamCharles or Richobaz, talk to me with a bit of respect will ya lad?
When I didn't want Barry it was because I thought we were going to use him as a left winger, but as a central midfielder he'll take over from Alonso in a good way 'IMO'

Carra is our heart in defence, no shunning him out of the side. I for one am a 'pro Barry' campaigner as opposed to those begging for Alonso to stay. He links up better with SG, he will also help assist Nando and spreading it out wide to our wingers.

So my team going off Barry, Bentley and Dossena coming along with Degen is:

                                   Reina

Arbeloa           Carragher         Agger         Dossena

                     Masch               Barry

Bentley                                                     Babel

                               Gerrard

                               Torres

Those choosing Degen right now are plain thick. Who has seen him play a full match? Have you Ra Ra? If not then enough to be able to judge on him? Dont think so. Arby is our best RB and untill Degen busts his ass to prove otherwise its Arby for me down the right in defence. He is a very solid defender and one who is improving in attack now and with Degen pushing for a place in the side, Arby will improve too.

PS: Dont mean to attack you Ra Ra but just making a point.

Feeling your formation. Classic. But I will replace Arbeloa with Degan. Also Agger needs to get back in form - Skrtel is perfect partner for Carragher.

I hope we get to buy David Villa or some other monster upfront!

Carra is our heart in defence, no shunning him out of the side. I for one am a 'pro Barry' campaigner as opposed to those begging for Alonso to stay. He links up better with SG, he will also help assist Nando and spreading it out wide to our wingers.

So my team going off Barry, Bentley and Dossena coming along with Degen is:

                                   Reina

Arbeloa           Carragher         Agger         Dossena

                     Masch               Barry

Bentley                                                     Babel

                               Gerrard

                               Torres

Those choosing Degen right now are plain thick. Who has seen him play a full match? Have you Ra Ra? If not then enough to be able to judge on him? Dont think so. Arby is our best RB and untill Degen busts his ass to prove otherwise its Arby for me down the right in defence. He is a very solid defender and one who is improving in attack now and with Degen pushing for a place in the side, Arby will improve too.

PS: Dont mean to attack you Ra Ra but just making a point.

Love the Formation and were uv put each player- now its up to rafa to get these players and hold on to xabi

I hope we get to buy David Villa or some other monster upfront!

My heart says the same thing, but my head says if we keep playing this formation which one are we going to leave out? Torres or Villa? And I don't think either would be happy playing only one game in two, or anyone else for paying at least £17 million for a benchwarmer!

If we keep this formation, we won't sign David Villa, I can pretty much assure you.. Unless Benitez has some plan to turn one of Torres or Villa into an attacking winger. He does have a habit of playing strikers on the wings...

I'm getting bored of this Barry is better than Alonso stuff. What's the basis of that? Ra Ra I just think you have a thing against Alonso, and I'm not really sure why. He's got so much quality on the ball and I've said time and time again when he's on the pitch the team just plays better. I'd hate to see him go.

Whilst i am not a regular blogger i am an ardant LFC fan and what worries me is that whilst other teams ahve started to make in roads to players they want, we seem to be stuck on the Barry situation. I would like him to come Ithink the balance of a naturally left footed player will only help us, yes he doesn't have the vision or passing range of Alosno and doesn't look like he controls the tempo like Alonso has, but he will add fight and a great engine as well as goals. I think it is inevitable that he will come and i think we will pay over the odds, its unfortunate but people don't want us back at the top. I think the additions at the back and the emergence of ninja Skrtel we will get back to having the leanest defence is the premiership, as well as being the highest scoring team. If we could but Bently i don't think we need another striker, we could let Babbel run through the middle and have stevie sit in to cover. These are just my opinions but feed back is welcome.

YNWA

Whilst I am not a regular blogger I am an ardant LFC fan and what worries me is that whilst other teams ahve started to make in roads to players they want, we seem to be stuck on the Barry situation. I would like him to come Ithink the balance of a naturally left footed player will only help us, yes he doesn't have the vision or passing range of Alosno and doesn't look like he controls the tempo like Alonso has, but he will add fight and a great engine as well as goals. I think it is inevitable that he will come and I think we will pay over the odds, its unfortunate but people don't want us back at the top. I think the additions at the back and the emergence of ninja Skrtel we will get back to having the leanest defence is the premiership, as well as being the highest scoring team. If we could but Bently I don't think we need another striker, we could let Babbel run through the middle and have stevie sit in to cover. These are just my opinions but feed back is welcome.

YNWA

Disagree with you mate, I think we're making in roads on the players we want. We've already signed a right back, and are extremely close to signing the left back that probably topped Rafa's wishlist, so really all we've not secured yet is a winger, and I think seeing as we're only a couple of days away from Euro 2008, Rafa will leave that till afterwards. Bare in mind how long the summer is... We don't have to complete every deal within a week of the window opening.

I also disagree with you on Alonso/Barry, but I've repeated myself so many times on that front I can't be bothered to write an essay on it again.

I do think we need another striker incase Torres gets injured. I would like to see Babel used through the middle more often but if Crouch goes that just leaves Kuyt and Voronin as backup to Torres and to win the league you have got to replace quality with quality.

Yes that's true, though we can't really sign amazing quality because he won't want to sit on the bench. Perhaps that Sergio Garcia guy, and maybe he could double up as an emergency winger, and then we also have cover for Babel should he have to move up front.

I agree though, should we sell Crouch and Voronin we need one more spare striker, unless we are suddenly going to be seeing alot more of Kristizian Nemeth.

Feeling your formation. Classic. But I will replace Arbeloa with Degan. Also Agger needs to get back in form - Skrtel is perfect partner for Carragher.

Yeah Skrtel in while Danny gets back but Danny is our only left sided CB so its him there for the long haul.

You didn't attack me but your being F***ing rude!

Who's seen Dossena play more than Degan? Also Arby isn't all that great, Rafa bought Degan for first choice reason why I put him there for first choice!

Don't make me lose respect in you, find other words to use mate.

You just contradicted yourself with the middles sentence mate. Dossena was bought for the first team too. With Riise as good as gone and Aurellio injured and will be getting back to fitness, who would you have? The Italian national or reserve LB? I based mine around strategy and not just because he was bought for the first team. Degen has to prove himself before being a starter.

I would like to see us sign several players your David Villa's etc. Realistically this is what I'd like to see...


-------------------------------Reina------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------Carragher---------Agger/Skrtel------------------
-Arbeloa/Degen--------------------------------Dossena/Insua-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------Masch--------Barry----------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Ramsey/Bentley--------Gerrard------------------Silva/Babel-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------Torres----------------------------------