takanohana

Would be great to watch going forward, terrifying when we are defending.

I guess tactics first which informs the personnel you get. I think we should have got another DM this summer. Maybe BR thinks he has who he needs to sort our defence or maybe he is just more focussed on attack which I dont think we should do. In terms of teams that win on basis of expansive attacking approach, not sure I agree there are as many although there are those like Spanish teamswhich can get away with it more due to buying the best forwards in the world. We cant currently do that.

Indeed, our main worry is around defence this season, not attack. I hope Rodgers isnt developing a Wengerish blind spot to how essential a solid defensive base is if you're to challenge at highest levels.

See this is too simplistic a way of looking at it to my mind. Our defenders aren't all crap, it's the way the team as a whole is set up to play. We've had a midfield that teams have carved through in the last couple of years, leaving the defence exposed. The flipside when we finished 2nd is that we were scoring for fun so it masked it a little. Last year we didn't even have that. With a team properly set up to defend as a unit, our individual defenders are good enough or certainly not as bad as being made out. This is Rodgers biggest challenge for next season.

Agree those look likely rotations. Oddly though there's an Adder in another thread incredulous that Lovren could start instead of Sakho. I agree with him

So has Benteke failed his medical and we signed Kevin Davies yet?

Well there goes my pre-season optimism

Man City will be flaky again and finish 5th.

4th and league cup winners.

Sure but the most successful ones do so by being v effective at limiting how many they concede, not by focussing too much on how many they score. We havent got the first part of that equation right of late.

I dont think relying on outscoring is a realistic way forward.History shows it rarely works. Last couple of seasons we've clearly had major defensive issues that cost us. Cant help thinking a specialist DM is what we need to balance our attacking instincts. Lucas is probably one, agree we need another.

True, not an uncommon problem amongst young, err, dribblers. Hopefully our new fangled coaching team can improve that.

Reckon Sterling moving on could help Ibe step up another level this season, give him more space to develop and opportunities to play. Looking good in pre-season, hopefully he can take that into the games that matter.

Tidy

Rumours the bus is having an MOT today

Manquillo gone isn't he?

If we're going to buy Benteke hope we do so earlier, rather than getting him later on after extensive discussions and still paying in or around the 32m. With the fixtures we've got, don't really want him playing 'get to know you' with teammates in the first weeks of the season.

My main concern about Benteke is not his ability or suitability for our playing style, but how robust he is injury-wise. Some problems with his hip again last season. May be no link to the hip injury that he has had before though, and I guess that's what medicals are for...

I'd like to think that could happen, but Sterling and his agent have done some pretty thorough bridge-burning here.

I thought we didn't care about his baldy head.

That's some pretty weird opining right there

Milner's gonna get the 'ump

Interesting philosophical conundrum thrown up by the Mirror survey at the end of that story. What would 'Nowhere' entail, if he doesn't end up at Liverpool, Man City or stay at Barca...?

Rodgers kept calling him a boy, Sterling considers himself a man.

V good player when fit but would be a gamble I don't think we should take. We have 1 striker with an iffy injury record. We can't run the risk of having 2, given our (apparently) limited resources.