After seeing the great football played by us against manure and the skill of Suarez running at people and beating them, then us lumping the ball up to Carroll was quite a contrast...
Bar a miracle, we aren't going to get anywhere near Europe next season and this summer will be a time of taking stock and rebuilding, there are shoots of recovery with Suarez and Merieles (the two best things about this season) but in order for us to challenge the top 5 then we will need to be canny in the transfer market and be willing to sacrifice certain players if good offers come in...Reina, Johnson and Aquilani spring to mind...
Lucas and Dirk are fine as squad players and on top form can do a job...but only Dirk would have a chance of being in the starting eleven because even though he gives the ball away a lot, he balances that with his workrate and can also make the difference in tight games as we've seen...
Thursday night was a perfect opportunity to see Lucas as the attacking midfielder he once was...and yet i can't remember one forward pass all game (it's not rugby lucas, you're allowed)
They might still be here next season, but as for the others?
Skrtel had some good tackles on thrusday night but still lacks confidence..
Carra would play brilliantly if he was 85 if it was against manure but for the future...Absolutely need a new centre back..
Maxi did nowt...Cole at least tried in the first half but faded badly.....Spearing is never going to be another Gerrard and hasn't got the quality... Poulsen is poulsen...
Kyriakos and Johnson might stay around...
but as for Ngog (who to be fair put some life into the game when he came on) i think its best for all concerned that he leaves...no matter how hard he tries, he'll never be of the required standard...lucas is pushing that required standard mark already)...
Wilson has much to learn..Pacheco will go in the summer, no manager trusts him it seems, Roy or Kenny..
So who does that leave? Suarez, Carroll, Merieles, Agger, Reina, Kelly, Gerrard and Kuyt...bench players lucas, skrtel, carra, kyriakos and johnson...maybe cole if he continues to improve vastly...
We need a left back, left winger, right winger, central defender and a creative midfielder...and they aint going to be cheap...
We've already got Aquilani as that creative midfielder and as Juventus seem to want him on the cheap and in debt for 40 mil or so, i'd not sell him for less than 15 mil euros... Suso will also be in the squad next season, from what i've seen...
Insua (4 assists) coming back might also mean that we have at least one proper left back...
so that leaves 4 players we need desperately and if we sell the following eleven players (Cole, Jovanovic, Poulsen, Konchesky, Pacheco, Aurelio, Maxi, Ngog, Spearing, Degen, El Zhar) and get them off the wage bill and maybe get 20 mil for the lot..
We can afford to have a smaller squad next season because of the lack of involvement in europe...we have the makings of an excellent squad and with Kenny at the helm, then i'm sure we will be reborn next season...