The squad we have domestically and for Europe till Janauary..

How would you set up for both?

We know the window was disappointing but we do have player's who will come in and freshen up the squad..

Domestically I'd go

Gordon and Bain rotating

Ajer/Lustig
Boyata
Benkovic/Simunovic

Forrest/Arzani
Broony/Mulumbu
Ntcham
Tierney/Izzy

McGregor/Arzani/Morgan
Rogic/Edouard/Sinclair/Johnston

Edouard/Griff

I think 3-4-2-1/3-4-1-2 or 3-4-3 whatever way suits us best at home, especially with Benkovic happy to play on the left side of defence..

Then we have squad fillers in Christie, Bitton, Hayes, Gamboa, Hendry, Allan, Kouassi..

In Europe we could opt for something similar in a few game's, particularly at home but away with Mulumbu and Benkovic in...we can now go and be more pragmatic against side's with pace, especially on the counter..

Gordon

Ajer
Boyata
Benkovic

Forrest
Mulumbu
Broony
Ntcham
Tierney

Edouard
McGregor

McGregor away away for the likes of Leipzig due to his work rate and legs. Has played up and off a striker before..

Think a side like that gives us plenty for countering and no being countered in the middle..

 

A lot of people say we are weaker now but I still think we are stronger, even losing Dembele, Roberts and Armstrong.

Boyata, Ntcham, McGregor, Forrest and Tierney are all better than ever, Edouard getting better and better although not quite as good as Dembele yet and Ajer better than Jozo/Erik.

The only position that has weakened is striker but not much as Edouard is close to Dembele and right-back since Lustig has declined. But centre-back, left-back, centre-mid, right-wing are all better than they were in the last 2 seasons. Ntcham and McGregor both better than Armstrong, Forrest better than Roberts, Ajer and Boyata better than the partnerships before and Tierney just getting better and better.

 

Injuries?

 

I don't think we're stronger, but we are still quite strong..

If we added a right back for the first team and a forward, not necessarily a first teamer in that department....then we'd be in a pretty good place and flexible..

The reason why I think we're best with a 3 is simply because we only credibly have a slow Lustig, who may no be finished just yet, if we have a solid/mainstay defence for 4 at the back..

Christie is a concern at 3rd choice in waiting up top. That can't be denied and will seriously need sorting in January..

We just have to hope we don't pick up any injuries and cope until them..

 

Three of the main injured players were Dembele, Armstrong and Roberts though, they only started I think 65 games between them last season, Brown started like 56 alone.

The depth is lesser in some areas but stronger in others: Bain, Gamboa, Lustig, Hendry, Simunovic, Izaguirre, Mulumbu, Eboue, Hayes, Sinclair, Johnston, Morgan, Christie and Griffiths is plenty back-up.

 

Fair enough but I still think we are weaker as a squad.

 

I honestly don't think we are, Boyata is far better now than he was 6/12/18/24 months ago, he's made great strides into becoming a real quality solid centre-back. Ajer despite not really being a centre-half is progressing all the time and is a step up or three from Erik and Jozo. Tierney always getting better.

McGregor now is twice as good as he was a year ago, same with Edouard, Forrest and Ntcham - they're all aside from maybe Edouard who hasn't really had a great run in the team so far very consistent quality players now.

A lot of people always hype up the decline of Lustig(me included) but very little talk about the massive progress of Boyata, Ajer, Tierney, Ntcham, Forrest, McGregor, Edouard which has really made the team significantly stronger - only Dembele would get a game who has left in the last 2 years.

 

I used to have £1M, I lost £900k but I feel richer...........

 

Thats not what happened though, as I was saying Ajer, Boyata, Tierney, Ntcham, Forrest, McGregor - those 5 positions in the team are now at their strongest point under Rodgers. Ones that have remained the same are Gordon, Brown, Rogic and Griffiths. The only weaker ones are right-back which isn't massively weaker and striker which again isn't massively weaker.

If Benkovic is decent which he should be if somecunts paid £13million for him then he will also take over and improve upon Lustig, making 6 of the starting XI positions stronger than 1 year ago and only 1 weaker.

For me i'd always rather have a 20% stonger XI than a 20% stronger bench and weaker XI.

Ironically as well, Lustig the weakest player in the team was once a problem for when we played the huns yet now he's fine for games against them as they no longer have McKay or Windass who could do him for pace and who he just couldn't keep up with. Now they only have Flanagan, Barisic, Murphy and Lafferty who are all quite slow and can't really bother him.

 

If everyone were fit and at their best, I would opt for a line-up similar to this against élite sides:

Bain
Benković Boyata Šimunović
Forrest Mulumbu Brown McGregor Tierney
Ntcham
Édouard
​

Gordon
Ajer
Izaguirre
Morgan
Rogić
Sinclair
Griffiths

There is plenty of grit and determination and running there. I would start Šimunović over Ajer, only because Šimunović is more experienced, and Ajer is a more versatile option from the bench.

 

I said in another thread that the first and second XIs are strong enough to win domestic honours, and there are half a dozen good squad players in the third XI:

Bain
Gamboa Boyata Benković Tierney
Brown Ntcham
Forrest McGregor Sinclair
Édouard

Gordon
Lustig Ajer Šimunović Izaguirre
Mulumbu Bitton
Morgan Rogić Arzani
Griffiths

De Vries
Ralston Hendry Compper Hayes
Eboué Allan
Johnston Henderson Benyu/Okoflex
Christie​

 

It’s interesting, as the squad should look different come the end of the Jan window.. should being the operative word..

Losing Dembele may help Griff capture the form we know he can produce..

Gordon
Ajer Boyata Benkovic
Forrest Brown Ntcham KT
McGregor Rogic
Edouard

Bain
Gamboa Boyata Benkovic Izzy
Brown Ntcham/Mulumbu
Morgan/Johnston McGregor/Rogic Arzani/Sinclair
Griffiths

In Europe Away

Gordon
Ajer Boyata Benkovic
Forrest Brown Mulumbu KT
Ntcham McGregor
Edouard
​

Come Jan we will need 2 x CBs a Boyata and Benkovic won’t be here for the CL Quailifiers, a ST, RB and we need to find a longterm replacement for Broonie. Not to mention a GK..

But we look ok, but short term ok, serious quality still needs to be added to the squad..not to necessarily huge amounts of cash but serious quality.

I can see Mulumbu becoming a cult hero here btw..

​

 

Hard to say as we have not seen Benkovic, Arzani or what Mulumbu is like at the moment. Arzani looked like he was playing against amateurs in the YouTube vids.. As long as the attitude is right and application is sound, we should win 8IAR no probs.

Europe.. I don't know. We are so weak in our defensive shape and so rarely tested properly domestically, I feel we will still concede too many basic goals. Even domestically we get caught out far too easily - even yesterday towards the end. The ball to Tavernier split us wide open - nobody tracked the runner, but he's pish, so missed it by a mile. In Europe that won't happen. They score.

 

Griffiths should return to his best playing every week ( be that on Thursday or Sunday )

 

best 2 strikers in the league by a distance , best midfield and wide options. Defense has looked a lot better since Boyata has came back and still got Mulumbu ,Arzani and Benkovic to come into that + better depth off the bench.

20m+ raked in For Dembele' i'd expect a chunk to be spent on January to bed players in for the summer qualifiers and evolve the squad so were not caught short again like this summers qualifiers.

 

I personally can't wait to see Morgan and arzani

 

I agree but it makes it all the worse that we didn't strengthen the team further. We've rested on our laurels.

Rodgers talked about it being difficult to build here. He was right.

I think we haven't gone backwards but we could've made big strides forward in the window just closed. Shame.

 

I think we'll get out the Europa group then probably get put out the last 32 or 16 depending on draw.
To do something substantial in the competition we would have to spend far more money on the team and that goes for CL too and have a kind path.

Domestically Rodgers is the one constant , great manager and i can't see him being beaten even when we sell the odd player.