Steve McManaman-Spastic Extraordinaire.

Brwned

Is that the same as Arsene Wenger too, was he being arrogant when he put Van Persie on the bench because he had a 'slight knock' yet showed he was fit enough to play when he came on. Both had injury hit seasons last season and so they both decided not to take the risk.

A 7/10 is a solid performer imo, that's all you really need for your full backs. That would constitute a good buy for me.

samabachan

You need better players than your opposition in as many positions as possible. If your rivals have world class fullbacks you need more than 7/10 run-of-the-mill slightly-better-than-Paul-Konchesky fullbacks. I'm not saying he'll ever reach 7/10 anyway.

Oh and Rio>>>>>Torres.

Brwned

But full back is probably the most unimportant position in the team, as long as you have defenders who can defend then that's 75% of the job done. Both Dossena and Arbeloa can defend. Liverpool still need wingers though, badly. Without good wingers they'll never challenge.

I'd put Rio on a par with Torres right now.

samabachan

Torres is only any good if you give him space. Rio and Vidic won't so he'll never be able to beat them unless they come over all Bramble.

Brwned

That is pretty much the same for any striker, but the good ones make space. The last two times Torres played us he was playing basically on his own both times, and as good as he is he can't take on both \t the same time. Maybe Keane will help him out a bit this year.

samabachan

That's the point, he rarely makes space. He's very clinical when it comes to capitalizing on chances where defenders give him space as he did today against Sunderland. I think he basically said as much himself when he said about how easy he finds it to deal with defenders here compared to Spain. In Spain I think they all got nice and tight to him, whereas a lot of teams here don't seem to have cottoned on to the fact that giving him space is a very bad idea.

Brwned

Ahh I get your point now, maybe you're right.