Athers wrote:Blurred, are you comfortable with your options at left back and on either edge of midfield?
Left back is an area that we don't have a world-beater in, that's for sure, but then there are very few quality left backs around the place, and for the record I'm not sure that Heinze would've been any improvement on what we've got by any real stretch. We've got 3 players who can play there, though - Riise, Aurelio and Arbeloa. Aurelio's a bit of an unknown quantity, unfortunately, as he's spent a lot of time on the treatment table since arriving, but he's a quality player when fit. Shame he's got a bit of the Harry Kewell-itis. Almost any team in the Prem would probably take Riise, despite his limitations, and Arbeloa's been doing a very good job there at the start of the year so far. It's not perfect, but there's plenty of options.
As for the wings? Yeah, I'm pretty happy with our attacking midfield options. We've brought in Babel who's a promising sort, and Benayoun's not a bad like-for-like replacement for the Garcia type of player. Pennant's clicking into gear nicely, and we can always stick Gerrard out on the right/left should we need to.
If we ever get Harry Kewell fit then he's a cracking option down the left, and we've always got the likes of Riise to play there as well.
Our central midfield is, quite simply, the best in the world (I defy another team to have the quality of the 5 players we have who play there), so that's no problem.
Athers wrote:Will Pennant win a league title for instance? What about the other side, playing Babel left of a midfield 4 is something new to him I believe as he's used to the Allardyce (TM) 4-3-3 isn't he?
He's not a match-winner like Ronaldo, if that's what you're asking, but if you're asking if a team with Pennant in can win the league then I'll point you towards Darren Fletcher last year! He's been on the improve after some incredibly shaky performances at the start of last season, and from Feb/March onwards started to look like a quality player and got a good run in the side. He's started well this year, and I think people will be surprised with his contribution this season. Babel's more of a forward in the Allardyce/Dutch 3 pronged attack, this is true, but I think his role on the left will largely be a 20/30 minute cameo to come and tear at defenders, because the lad's got bags of pace and some tricks to his name too.
Athers wrote:..and your backup options?
Our strength in depth is better this year than any other that I can remember in at least a decade, if not longer. We had a bench for our first leg against Toulouse that had Agger, Riise, Alonso, Sissoko, Kuyt and Torres (and that's a squad of 18 that didn't even include Pennant, Kewell or Aurelio). I don't know how Rafa will keep everyone happy, and of course there'll be plenty of whinging in the press about rotation and all that, but for the average Prem/domestic game we will be leaving out of the matchday squad some players who would make the starting line-ups of 10-15 other Premiership teams. For instance, against Sunderland, the players that were not in the shake-up: Aurelio, Kewell, Crouch, Gerrard, and Benayoun off the top of my head. That's not bad for a list of players that can't even make the bench, and doesn't even include Lucas (Brazil U20s captain who played on Tuesday against Toulouse), who's an incredibly exciting prospect and at £6m was not brought across as a reserve/youth player for some experience.
It'd be easy to construct two Liverpool sides of reasonable strength that'd be a match for most Premiership sides out there, I reckon.
There's a great feeling around the place this year that we're on to something, and I know that there's always the 'this is the year' line trotted out every season, but that's a load of shite in the press. This is the first time that I can genuinely say we've got a squad capable of a tilt at the title. Rafa's had a couple of years to get a squad to his liking, and has no more square pegs in round holes that he's had in the past (Josemi, Kromkamp, Nunez, Zenden, etc). No excuses this year.