After a great season last year, it was pretty much inevitable that Charlie Adam would leave Blackpool to continue his career in the Premiership after the club were relegated. Understandably there were a few interested parties, but in the end Liverpool were the ones to stump up around £7million for the 25 year old midfielder. But was this the right buy for Liverpool, with the central midfield they have currently, and will it signal the departure of other squad players?
Teams like Manchester City and United can seemingly afford to spend £7million on a player without it necessarily being a big risk or compromising them in securing other targets. But Liverpool are on a more limited budget, and the arrival of Adam means potentially less money in the kitty for new arrivals. This begs the question of how Dalglish will adjust his squad this season and will he change the system to accommodate new players.
Are we yet to see the full extent of Liverpool’s transfer budget being splashed, or will supporters miss out on more big names? Well, if reports are to be believed, then the likes of Stuart Downing and Juan Mata could be lined up as further potential additions. Looking at the current squad they have, it seems sensible for the Reds to bring in some sort of wide man for next season, as Joe Cole and Maxi Rodriguez don’t appear to feature in their plans.
The introduction of Adam into the midfield makes for high competition for places in the centre of the park. When Gerrard is fit, he will surely again be allowed to try and command one of the positions and it would be difficult to leave Meireles out of the starting line up. With new signing Jordan Henderson looking to break into the team in his first season and Lucas also looking for a place, it’s tricky to envisage what King Kenny has in mind for the structure of the team this season. I have no doubt that Adam is good value for money and player capable of excelling at this level, but could it be a case of too many cooks spoil the midfield broth?
There are several solutions for Liverpool to think about, obviously dependant on any more additions to the squad. They could shift the midfield in, making it narrow with Gerrard, Henderson, Adam or have Lucas in there possibly further back. Or they could shift one or two of them out wide, and keep four across the middle. Gerrard or Henderson can play more towards the right if necessary and Adam further left, as he has demonstrated he can relish occupying a space less central at times so that he can ping out those long range cross-field passes he had become accustomed to.
This does bring into question the role of Kuyt, whether or not he will play just off the front man, or if they will play two up-front will he push back into midfield as well or even drop to the bench which seems harsh. However, the role of Lucas could become even more important if Liverpool choose to utilise him in defensive midfield, especially if they only have three occupying the midfield and Adam being occasionally prone to conceding possession.
Personally, I would like to see a midfield four who can start to gel and keep possession of the ball with quick simple passes when looking to control the game and build an attack. I think that the introduction of Adam is potentially a good one and If they can find a good balance and get into a decent rhythm, possibly rotating the line-up slightly from week to week, it could become a unit that compliment each other nicely.
Adam could be used in a playmaker style role and hang back a bit, waiting to pick out the long ball when appropriate or on the counter. Henderson can be utilised on the right and drift around to free up space for Gerrard or Meireles and also put crosses in for Carroll. Suarez had a great season and could do well from good service, with Kuyt potentially filling in for Carroll to better link the midfield if two strikers are not the plan at the time.
If anything, it gives Kenny the good kind of headache – too many options and scenarios to consider, but as long as they get a clear strategy and don’t switch it about or mess with it too much, it could work out to their advantage. However, I still think Liverpool would do well in bringing a quality left winger into the equation to give them that little bit more creativity and balance of width. All things considered, they do seem to have a lot of the necessary components to construct a more organised and competitive team this season, who can bring the fluidity and consistency back to the eagerly anticipating fans.
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Do we want “big names” or do we want players that will fit in?
Well, ideally a combination of the two I would guess – yes they need players that will fit in, but they need a quality player who has the ability to match the ambitions of the club and fans.
‘But Liverpool are on a more limited budget’???
who says? whos your source? poor article.
you should write for NOTW!!
Well no, ok, we don’t know the exact transfer budgets but I think Liverpool are expected to spend their money more wisely to build a team for now. I doubt Liverpool would be granted the same amount of money as City, United or Chelsea to buy a quality player to go into their first team either.
Gerrard + Adam + Aquilani + Henderson would mean that we’d always have a couple of experienced players available for the more attacking central roles in a 433, with an experienced option on the bench also. With the likes of Suso & Pacheco ready to step up whenever the opportunity arises, this looks like a great balance in the centre of midfield for me (although Coady would be the only specialist backup for Lucas as a holding midfielder though)
This is assuming the likes of Meireles, Cole, Poulsen, Spearing etc are moved on asap of course…
Why was my comment removed?
All i was pointing out was that this article is very similar:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rorysmith/100017722/kenny-dalglish-has-got-his-man-now-liverpool-must-work-out-what-to-do-with-charlie-adam/
I didn’t see your other comment, maybe it didn’t post correctly, appologies. Anyway, there are obviously a few articles on Charlie Adam following his move, I wrote this one on the 6th, before the one you quoted was published.