I guess 4th as a minimum, which should (hopefully!) be a realistic and achievable target. Hang on to both Gerrard and Torres by whatever methods necessary, from cajoling to convincing that the team is still good enough, using their loyalty to tug at the heart strings to offering them two cheeseburgers man.
S'pose playing wise, getting back to basics I'd just like to see them working for their teammates more, giving the man in possession options, pass-and-move and all that shit - it's not rocket science and yet at times we seemed to have completely forgotten how it works. Allow the better players to express themselves a bit more and play with more adventure, but mostly just try and get them playing as a team again, playing with a bit of passion.
I think whoever we get in needs to be a good motivator, as all too often that's what has appeared to be really missing.
Play the right players in their rightful positions - if he's here next year I'd maybe even give Babel a run out up front in preseason games and see if there's any possibility of him striking up an understanding with Fernando, because if that's even halfway workable that could really scare the shit out of defences - I mean, I know Ryan can be a donkey at times, and his attitude has stunk, but if him and Torres were up front together they've both got pace to burn, Torres is just unplayable at times, and Babel has the odd moment where he does something really quite good. Maybe, just maybe he might offer a bit of a goal threat, I dunno - probably hopelessly naive and optimistic, but buried deep down there's this hope that if the right person got hold of him, maybe they could make him work. Even if up front didn't work out, I'd possibly toy with the idea of him on the right every now and then, as I seem to remember when I did see him play there he was much better than on the left.
Yossi I'd tell to stop pissing about and just score the fucking goal already, Dirk I dunno - I think he can make a right bloody nuisance of himself out at right wing, and there are times when he looks every inch the player that other teams would be clamouring for, but perhaps in the interests of putting the square peg in the square hole it should be Maxi for right wing.
Dirk up front with Torres? I dunno, maybe. Can't really remember seeing it often enough to make a decision on how well it'd work. Depends on what's going on in midfield I guess - you'd be loathe to break up the Gerrard-Torres partnership, but then with Mascher gone (as we all assume) what would you play? A midfield duo of Lucas and Aqualani? Doesn't fill me with glee, but what else is there, unless you stick Gerrard back in midfield, still with Lucas and Aqua ahead, or switch to a 442 with Gerrard and Aqua or Gerrard and Lucas.
Christ, we really need a new centre mid.
I dunno, I haven't got any of the answers really. I just wanna see us play as a cohesive unit, work for each other and show a bit of fight I guess - I'm not sure the tactics are all that important when compared to the kind of attitude we're going out with
