Alex99
Rehab's Pete Doherty
- Joined
- May 30, 2009
- Messages
- 16,095
I've not said we need 24 world class players. However, it'd be quite easy to argue that we currently have none. The problem that we have is that we have far too many players of "squad player" level and not enough that are actually of a level to compete at the top, which is where we want to be. Even of the ones that are potentially good enough, there are concerns over fitness (Shaw, Martinez), age (Casemiro, Varane) or tactical suitability (Fernandes, Rashford) with some of them.Which players are medicore is very subjective. You can't have 24 World Class players, every squad even title winning squads need squad players who are good enough to come in and do a job while not actually being good enough to be first choice. Selling 20-25+ players and bringing the same in over a 2-3 year period is something this club has tried twice now. The first time under LVG it was a spectacular failure and hobbled his predecessors for years with Solskjaer only clearing out the last of the shit he bought in 2020-2021. We've embarked on a similar gutting of the squad over the last 2 years and all indications are it isn't going any better this time around.
Personally I'd like to see a manager get more out of the players we currently have, while upgrading on them in a more organic way.
How much is a handful?
I've also not said we need to do this in a summer or two. It's precisely why I said:
It's likely to be a slow(ish) process but we can expect to see significant overhaul within three or four seasons.I think there's a reasonable chance we finish outside of the top 6 next season, even with a new manager bringing better performances.
I've gone over this before, but of the squad Klopp inherited (Mignolet, Clyne, Moreno, Can, Milner, Firmino, Coutinho, Lallana, Lovren, Lucas, Sakho, Skrtel, Henderson, Benteke, Ibe and Sturridge all starting at least 10 league games), only Milner, Firmino, Lallana, Lovren and Henderson (and Gomez, who was injured for most of 2015/16) remained when Liverpool won the PL. Of those, only Firmino, Henderson and Gomez made 10 or more starts, and both Lallana and Lovren were let go the following summer.
The squad Arteta inherited at Arsenal is similar. Aubameyang, David Luiz, Leno, Pepe, Lacazette, Kolasinac, Guendouzi, Sokratis, Cabellos, Ozil, Torreira, Maitland-Niles, Bellerin, Mustafi, Chambers all made 10 or more starts in 19/20. None are at the club this season. In fact, only Xhaka, Saka and Tierney made 10 or more starts in 19/20 and were still at the club last season, and only Saka remains now.
Just because we've fecked up overhauls previously doesn't mean that's not what we need now. As I said, anyone expecting us to get back to the top (or even close to the top) while we're still relying on the likes of Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, McTominay, Evans and Martial to play regularly is deluding themselves.