So with the transfer window almost shut below is my evaluation of our squad for this season now looks like this:-
GK:- Mignolet, Jones, Ward
RB:- Johnson, Kelly, Wisdom
LB:- Enrique, Cissokho, Robinson
CB:- Agger, Sakho, Skrtel, Toure, Ilori, Coates
CM:- Gerrard, Lucas, Allen, Henderson
LM/RM:- Sterling, Moses, Ibe
AM:- Coutinho
FD:- Suarez, Sturridge, Aspas, Luis Alberto
At last we have real reinforcements for the defence. We have real competition which should bring out the best in the players. If not Rodgers will soon ship them out. Wisdom may go out on loan once Sakho and Ilori are confirmed. Skrtel may or may not go to Napoli. I think Skrtel stays until January and Wisdom will go out on loan. So this leaves us with two quality right backs and two quality left backs competing for a place. Johnson has the right back slot sewn up but Kelly is class also. However it will be interested to see how Enrique copes with competition for his place - Man he needs it.
With Agger, Sakho, Toure, Ilori and Skrtel we now have options in central defence. Been pleasantly surprised with Toure. Sakho is a beast. He justs needs a manager to nurture him and to put trust in him. Sakho's potential is simply amazing. Ilori is Coates eventual replacement. Ilori seems to be highly rated. He has lots of pace too.
Gerrard and Lucas are locks for the two central midfield positions. In a perfect world I'd like to have some proper back up for Lucas who is our only real defensively orientated midfielder. He is injury prone and this can bite us in the backside later in the season.
Henderson has been impressive for the last six months. He has now become our most underrated player. On that right hand side of Gerrard and Lucas just tucked beside those two he has been immense for us. His energy, reading of the game and positional sense are all top notch. I want him to continue being underrated so that opposition will take him lightly. IMO he can be our future captain once Gerrard finishes.
Allen is another midfielder that hasn't really got a run in the team yet to decide one way or another whether he'll be a success here or not. I rate his technical skills but this is a big season for Allen.
Seems like Moses is a done deal and if so I am happy that we have him. Does well great. Does badly goes back to Chelsea. Sterling and Ibe are just kids really. Sterling needs to be carefully managed, which I believe Rodgers will. He'll be a useful player to have on the bench and to start in some games. Hopefully Ibe starts in the cups and can make the bench a few times. Really this season for him is to learn off of others in training. But yes you can see we are light in wide areas and why Rodgers has been pro active in trying to recruit for a wide player. Still I prefer taking someone like Moses on loan than wasting money on 3rd or 4th choices. We need to be careful with our cash.
Coutinho is our only real AM at first team level. Class all round but he could do with a bit of support when he has the ball and he should work on his defensive game a bit because he leaves our full back too wide open at times.
Sturridge has had a great start to the season. Who knows what Suarez will do and how he'll behave when he comes back. I think he'll be off in January actually. Aspas judging from today needs a lot more time to adapt to the league. Only then will it be fair to judge him.
All in all. Out of ten I'd say in our transfer dealings ins and outs I'd give us 7. Rodgers is trying to improve the defence so he realises that we need improvement there. He is trying to improve our attacking options out wide but because of a variety of reasons hasn't managed it. He has replaced Reina with Mignolet and has brought in some exciting youngsters. Before the news of Sakho and Ilori it would have been 5.5/10 but those two defenders brought it up to 7/10. IMO.
I believe we can compete with Arsenal and Spurs for 4th place. Of course we are third favourites for that, but we can compete for it. I don't think we are a million miles behind Arsenal or Spurs. So we'll want to improve on 7th place from last year and be closer to 4th. That would be my progression criteria. At least 6th and within 5-7 points of 4th. If we match that then I wouldn't say I'll be happy but I'd be satisfied to see that improvement.
