kenny
absolutely the right decision and if the yanks had passed on kenny the new guy would have had to start with amazing results as a mini slump would see calls for kenny to return from the fans. I have been very impressed with his tactics, the tactics may come from clark but the bottom line is kenny is the man in charge so he can take the praise as he would certainly take the blame if things went tits up.
we play exactly the type of football I like and the type of football I think is most likely to get us results, we press high, chase the ball in numbers, move forwards in numbers and seek to pass the ball quickly and early. it really is a breath of fresh ar to see several liverpool players in the box awaiting a pass rather then a couple of players awaiting a cross that will need to be inch perfect.
I am absolutely amazed how kenny was able to take a squad down and out and instill such confidence that we expect results now rather than hope for them.
next season will prove a lot harder though as there will be genuine expection for kenny's team to challenge rather than mearly do better than the previous managers did. we have been playing we a genuine freedom and I hope this continues rather than us retreating in our shells as we have more to lose.
suarez
an amazing player, when I think of suarez it's a mixure of admiration and a fear, admiration that a player can be so good needing so little time to settle and fear that too much is growing through him. all our best moves involve him and we seem to be all over the place when he doesn't player (europe, as an example). my hope is in the summer we supplement suarez' contribution with players who may not be as good but at least take some of the burden of creating off his hands.
carroll
will be interesting to see how carroll slots into our team. maybe too much notice should be payed to how good we looked v fulham (sans carroll) and how bad we looks with carroll v spurs. conventional thinking suggests if we play carroll we are going to go 4-4-2, maybe, I think carroll has enough to his game so adapt to any formation we have.
in a ideal world a world has lots of tools to chose from, pace, skill, height, strength etc and then mixes and matches them to best get a result. well, carroll's utter dominace in the air is definately a good asset to have even though we paid a premium for it, but to my mind we HAD to move for a striker in jan, liverpool as a club as just sold it's number one asset and to a rival no less, we had to make a statement of intent that still said we a big club.
1. carroll has been injuried
2. we have no winger worthy of the name
until this changes you wont see the best of carroll and it too early it to judge him until that happens. there is also a question of will kenny play carroll every game or play him in games where his height, strength and hold up play will be more vitial, away from home.
central midfield
will the centre of midfield recieve a major overhaul? do it need one? if you assume carroll and suarez will start most games that leaves four slots, one of which will be taken by the captian, so what then? we we continue to go with two holding midfielders? if we buy a winger basically I think one of kuyt or meireles will drop down the peckng order. you could fit both players into the team. I don't know whch of the two would be the bigger loss, take out meireles and you lose the passing assurance from midfield and take out kuyt you lose the energy and goal threat. another option is to fit meireles in the team as a holding midfielder but I doubt we'll see that happen.
kuyt
kuyt recently has been absolutely outstanding when played through the middle but less effective out wide, so what the future hold for kuyt? I fully expect us to buy at least one winger in the summer. with an effective wnger can have kuyt one side to come off the wing to move in the box when the winger has the ball, like hougton and barnes or pirez and ljunberg.
johnson
it should be noted the improvement of johnson of late, personally I think the improvement is totally down to our style of play, if we defend deep and ask him to defend most of the time is going to struggle as that's not where his strengths lie, johnson is at his best when we hold a high line and ask him to bring the ball forwards where he can be direct and get crosses in the from byline. johnson is a player I really hope we keep a hold of even though he is supposedly on big wages, I think he is a top player.
lucas
definately our most improved player of the season and dare I say our best player of the season. you have players who have been more vital (suarez for example) and players who have had a good run of form (kuyt) but for me the player of the season is someone who shows a consistency over the entire season 'player of the season' rather than 'player of the moment'. has lucas done enough to cement a place in the side next season or are we going to go all out to bring a central midfielder who is more physically imposing? personally I hope it's the latter, not that I dislike lucas I just feel the centre of the midfield is the most important part of the pitch so that's where I think we need to improve, that said if we don't buy a central midfielder lucas is a capable midfielder who may mature to be an outstanding midfielder.
youth
I think our youth will save us a fortune in future transfer windows, allowing us to buy top players rather than having to buy mediocre players because we have to spread our budget too thing. over the past couple of years I have been seriously impressed with the kids, a massive jump in quality compared to say, 5 years go. flannigan and robinson have taken to the first team like ducks to water and spearing (who I wasn't impressed with at all in the reserves) seems to get better with every game. exciting times and hopefully kenny has the confidence to trust a larger group of them in the carling cup.
europe
don't know which side I fall on with regards to europe, on the one hand uefa is another trophy to attempt to win (and this club exists to win cups) it is also the ideal place to blood youngsters especially in the early rounds. europe is a selling tool for players we want to recruit, yes it not CL football but it is a sellng pont none the less, there is also extra revenue for the club with gate receipts.
on the other hand saturday football and then week off will help us challenge for a top 4 place regardless of the strength and depth of our squad. we will have longer to prepare for games and longer to recover from injuries.
so regardless of whether we qualify for europe or not there are positives to be taken into next season.
5. summer signings
obviously everyone is expecting big things but personally I want players that give us balance and help us play in an effective manner especally away from home, meaning players with good pace and crossing ability, some we currently have precious little of. with the emergence of flannigan and robinson we may hold fire with regards to fullbacks and instead pour most of our money of creative players, something I think we are most in need of. if I had to make a predicton I would say we will get;
1 winger
1 holding midfielder
1 centre back
but each of them costing a premium as they will be expected to go straight into the first team.
in closing even though we've lost our record I guess I am the most optimistic I have been in a while, it really feels like we have woken from a bad dream.
absolutely the right decision and if the yanks had passed on kenny the new guy would have had to start with amazing results as a mini slump would see calls for kenny to return from the fans. I have been very impressed with his tactics, the tactics may come from clark but the bottom line is kenny is the man in charge so he can take the praise as he would certainly take the blame if things went tits up.
we play exactly the type of football I like and the type of football I think is most likely to get us results, we press high, chase the ball in numbers, move forwards in numbers and seek to pass the ball quickly and early. it really is a breath of fresh ar to see several liverpool players in the box awaiting a pass rather then a couple of players awaiting a cross that will need to be inch perfect.
I am absolutely amazed how kenny was able to take a squad down and out and instill such confidence that we expect results now rather than hope for them.
next season will prove a lot harder though as there will be genuine expection for kenny's team to challenge rather than mearly do better than the previous managers did. we have been playing we a genuine freedom and I hope this continues rather than us retreating in our shells as we have more to lose.
suarez
an amazing player, when I think of suarez it's a mixure of admiration and a fear, admiration that a player can be so good needing so little time to settle and fear that too much is growing through him. all our best moves involve him and we seem to be all over the place when he doesn't player (europe, as an example). my hope is in the summer we supplement suarez' contribution with players who may not be as good but at least take some of the burden of creating off his hands.
carroll
will be interesting to see how carroll slots into our team. maybe too much notice should be payed to how good we looked v fulham (sans carroll) and how bad we looks with carroll v spurs. conventional thinking suggests if we play carroll we are going to go 4-4-2, maybe, I think carroll has enough to his game so adapt to any formation we have.
in a ideal world a world has lots of tools to chose from, pace, skill, height, strength etc and then mixes and matches them to best get a result. well, carroll's utter dominace in the air is definately a good asset to have even though we paid a premium for it, but to my mind we HAD to move for a striker in jan, liverpool as a club as just sold it's number one asset and to a rival no less, we had to make a statement of intent that still said we a big club.
1. carroll has been injuried
2. we have no winger worthy of the name
until this changes you wont see the best of carroll and it too early it to judge him until that happens. there is also a question of will kenny play carroll every game or play him in games where his height, strength and hold up play will be more vitial, away from home.
central midfield
will the centre of midfield recieve a major overhaul? do it need one? if you assume carroll and suarez will start most games that leaves four slots, one of which will be taken by the captian, so what then? we we continue to go with two holding midfielders? if we buy a winger basically I think one of kuyt or meireles will drop down the peckng order. you could fit both players into the team. I don't know whch of the two would be the bigger loss, take out meireles and you lose the passing assurance from midfield and take out kuyt you lose the energy and goal threat. another option is to fit meireles in the team as a holding midfielder but I doubt we'll see that happen.
kuyt
kuyt recently has been absolutely outstanding when played through the middle but less effective out wide, so what the future hold for kuyt? I fully expect us to buy at least one winger in the summer. with an effective wnger can have kuyt one side to come off the wing to move in the box when the winger has the ball, like hougton and barnes or pirez and ljunberg.
johnson
it should be noted the improvement of johnson of late, personally I think the improvement is totally down to our style of play, if we defend deep and ask him to defend most of the time is going to struggle as that's not where his strengths lie, johnson is at his best when we hold a high line and ask him to bring the ball forwards where he can be direct and get crosses in the from byline. johnson is a player I really hope we keep a hold of even though he is supposedly on big wages, I think he is a top player.
lucas
definately our most improved player of the season and dare I say our best player of the season. you have players who have been more vital (suarez for example) and players who have had a good run of form (kuyt) but for me the player of the season is someone who shows a consistency over the entire season 'player of the season' rather than 'player of the moment'. has lucas done enough to cement a place in the side next season or are we going to go all out to bring a central midfielder who is more physically imposing? personally I hope it's the latter, not that I dislike lucas I just feel the centre of the midfield is the most important part of the pitch so that's where I think we need to improve, that said if we don't buy a central midfielder lucas is a capable midfielder who may mature to be an outstanding midfielder.
youth
I think our youth will save us a fortune in future transfer windows, allowing us to buy top players rather than having to buy mediocre players because we have to spread our budget too thing. over the past couple of years I have been seriously impressed with the kids, a massive jump in quality compared to say, 5 years go. flannigan and robinson have taken to the first team like ducks to water and spearing (who I wasn't impressed with at all in the reserves) seems to get better with every game. exciting times and hopefully kenny has the confidence to trust a larger group of them in the carling cup.
europe
don't know which side I fall on with regards to europe, on the one hand uefa is another trophy to attempt to win (and this club exists to win cups) it is also the ideal place to blood youngsters especially in the early rounds. europe is a selling tool for players we want to recruit, yes it not CL football but it is a sellng pont none the less, there is also extra revenue for the club with gate receipts.
on the other hand saturday football and then week off will help us challenge for a top 4 place regardless of the strength and depth of our squad. we will have longer to prepare for games and longer to recover from injuries.
so regardless of whether we qualify for europe or not there are positives to be taken into next season.
5. summer signings
obviously everyone is expecting big things but personally I want players that give us balance and help us play in an effective manner especally away from home, meaning players with good pace and crossing ability, some we currently have precious little of. with the emergence of flannigan and robinson we may hold fire with regards to fullbacks and instead pour most of our money of creative players, something I think we are most in need of. if I had to make a predicton I would say we will get;
1 winger
1 holding midfielder
1 centre back
but each of them costing a premium as they will be expected to go straight into the first team.
in closing even though we've lost our record I guess I am the most optimistic I have been in a while, it really feels like we have woken from a bad dream.
