verlaine1979

Yup, we're desperately missing the driving running from deep that he almost never does.

Last season he gave away possession lots in the middle of the field by holding on to it too long looking for the easy pass. He also hasn't scored a league goal in almost a season and a half, and only contributed 2 direct assists last season. I've always said he's decent player and one I'm happy to see on the bench, but his shortcomings as a starting attacker are definitely one of the reasons we've often looked toothless under both Pochettino and Koeman (as many have pointed out, he's been a regular starter for both managers, and both managers' teams have exhibited the same lack of creativity in midfield). I'm sure lots of people love him for his energy and utility, both of which are great attributes - but for me those are the attributes of a useful sub, not a nailed on starter in a team that aspires to top six status and a European presence.

Wanyama and Mane were a cut above. Clasie seemed to be rushing his passing and gave the ball away several times - presumably just nerves though, as he can clearly pass. Juanmi didn't get involved much, but that little chip for the goal was sublime, so he's definitely got good technique. Stekelenburg did everything asked of him. As for the rest, Targett and Cedric both got involved plenty, with the latter maybe a bit more of a threat, but also a bit less accurate off-loading it. Davis was his usual mediocre self, as was Pelle, though he garnished his usual showing of flicks-that-don't-quite-come-off with a brilliant finish. Tadic looked full of energy, so hopefully he's over whatever injury issue it was that hobbled him for the latter half of last season.

That's probably because he primarily plays as an attacking midfielder, but hasn't scored in about a season and a half and only got 2 assists last year. Not remotely good enough.

He didn't look that influential in the World Cup either, mostly wafting about on the periphery of games, though he did pop up with a goal and an assist or two. Perhaps he's one of those deceptively effective players?

No idea if he can defend, but our formation would certainly benefit from a CB who is prepared to take the ball forward when space allows. He appears to be a good passer, and obviously strikes a brilliant free kick. Could definitely see him linking well with someone like Clasie to increase our tempo building from the back (which could be incredibly slow at times last season).

Historically, British clubs have been the exception rather than the rule, I suppose because for a (relatively) long time, there was a degree of scepticism about whether foreign players could hack it in our league. Clubs like Porto, A Madrid, Lyon, Hoffenheim and a bunch of others have been bringing in low-profile South Americans (like Firmino) for years in the expectation that if they're any good they'll be sold on for a massive profit. It's only an unsustainable model if a) you're particularly wedded to recruiting new players from your home country, b) your scouting isn't up to scratch, and c) you aren't prepared to accept that there will be a couple of duds for every gem uncovered.

You'd be right if the third central midfielder in our system was an out-and-out attacker, but Davis and JWP both play as 'water-carriers' in the Deschamps mould, rather than as number 10s, contributing a lot more to pressing/harrying in the middle and defensive thirds than they do to creating/scoring up front (yes, JWP's 6 assists are promising, but no, they don't disprove my point). Surely you can also accept that our 6th place goalscoring record was rather burnished by two very large home wins against defensively frail opposition, which have contrived to disguise our less-than-stellar back-end to the season, when, for example, we managed a solitary goal in five league games during February?

Potentially a cut above van Wolfswinkel and Fer anyway, so perhaps a little more legitimacy than the last time people on here were envious of another team's summer recruitment. Obviously, both Wijnaldum and Mitrovic could flop badly in the Prem, but the latter in particular seems to finish like a young Rickie Lambert if you watch his highlight reel, so I'd say whoever signs him could certainly justify approaching the season with a little optimism.

For two seasons now, we've had trouble creating chances if our preferred route of crosses from the fullbacks isn't working. I really do feel that if we start the season with either Davis or JWP as first choice alongside our two defensive midfielders, very little will change, despite the undoubted excellence of the likes of Mane, JRod et al ahead of them. Perhaps Juanmi has been brought in as the #10, but if so it's a complete leap of faith, as his stats suggest he's an out-and-out goalscorer, who contributes very little creatively - http://www.whoscored.com/Players/83080/History/Juanmi.

Any chance you could point out where he says that exactly? I watched the interview you posted yesterday, and all he said (while discussing the addition of Juanmi) was that we need to add more players to the attacking midfield. You could argue that he got his tenses mixed up and meant to say 'we needed to add more players to attacking midfield and now we have', but that isn't what he said. Moreover, Juanmi has something like 2 assists in three years, so he'd be an odd pick to add creativity behind the striker.

Of course, which is why I only said 'first choice'. However, Ramirez is seemingly out of favour at the club, Tadic was at his most influential playing from wide in the attacking 3 and both Mane and Juanmi are predominantly second strikers (albeit hopefully ones with vision and creativity themselves) rather than players you'd expect to do the fetching and carrying inherent in playing as part of our midfield trio. To put it more clearly, I would be very surprised if any of the players you mentioned displaced Davis or JWP from the midfield, so therefore my question remains - are we happy as those two being our most likely attacking midfield options?

You're happy with Davis and JWP as our first choice central attacking midfield options? We weren't painfully short of movement, creativity and goals in that position last season?

I think it's our defensive midfield that elevates our centre backs, rather than Fonte lifting whoever plays alongside him. Fonte is decent, but he's not going to be able to turn Yoshida or Gardos into a top-class player. What we'll really miss without TA in the backline is the ability to pass out from defense. Fonte and Yoshida are both real claggers once they're asked to move the ball more than about ten yards.

Tadic certainly looks like a player who should be able to play as the most attacking member of our midfield 3, but he did almost all of his best work coming in from wide, where we're already well-stocked with Mane, JRod, Juanmi etc. Of our genuine central attacking midfield options, Davis is a spent force, JWP has yet to impose himself for more than a few minutes at a time, and Gaston is completely out of favour. Without reinforcement here, I can see us enduring plenty of the same toothless football, where the only supply to our forwards is crosses from Cedric and Bertrand.

If he genuinely wants to sign for us, he probably will, and if he doesn't, he probably wont, as is usually the case with transfers. Everything else is just noise.

On another thread it's mentioned that RK says Juanmi is likely to be our only attacking reinforcement. Maybe he's more versatile than reports from Spain suggested, but most of them seemed to depict him as an out-and-out striker (two assists in three years would seem to back that up). Seems a bit odd when we've been crying out for some creativity in midfield for two seasons now. Only thing I can think (barring a sudden and unexpected reintegration of Ramirez into the squad) is that they're assuming that Schneiderlin will go, and that when he does they won't get a like-for-like replacement, but will look for someone who plays in a more advanced role, leaving VW to handle a greater % of the defensive responsibilities.

When was the last time the league was won by a team whose most decisive players (i.e. the one/ones they probably wouldn't have won the league without) were exclusively, or even predominantly English?

Do you think the siren lure of a few chats with Adam Lallana would have been as effective if Liverpool had been proposing to half his salary rather than double it? Plus, we do these kind of leading interviews too - like the one where Juanmi was asked if the new training ground was an important consideration in choosing to move to the premier league... of course, he said it was important, but somehow I doubt it was the clincher.

I suspect his head was turned mostly by the £90k a week Liverpool were prepared to pay him. Honestly, I think the whole players tapping up other players things is totally overstated - how much persuasion is required beyond: 'they'll double your salary'?

Guidetti's penalty last night was Lambert-esque, so he has that going for him at least.

Lallana scored 9 league goals and had 8 assists in his last season for us. In that same season Davis scored 2 and set up 7. If the latter's pass completion was higher, at least part of it will have been his annoying habit of immediately popping the ball back to the CB that's just given it to him instead of turning and moving up the field, though I'm not sure the difference between 84.6% and 85.3% merits a lot of attention. Also worth noting, in an admittedly ropey first season at Liverpool, Lallana still managed 5 goals and 3 assists to Davis's 0 goals and 2 assists for us last season.

Eder loooked useless at the last World Cup.

Yup, Fellaini got 11 league goals the season before his move to United. Mid-twenties seems to be about the going rate for top-class defensive midfielders, unless you can get an auction started.