lol, but Downing is good in a way because net versus Torres he only cost -£30m
Not saying Liverpool's buys were great, or that they shouldn't have bought other players instead.
As far as the forwards go:
Out:
Torres
Babel
In:
Suarez
Carroll
Bellamy
That was a net spend of £0. At the time, I thought it was excellent news, and we'd done well there. Torres wasn't performing anywhere near the superb level he's shown when he first joined Liverpool. Carroll has unfortunately matched a lot of people's expectations of him and obviously if we sold him we'd get nowhere near his £35M fee. Suarez is obviously a decent player, and needs to play alongside an out-and-out goal-scoring striker (which was what Carroll was meant to be obviously). Even in the very limited number of games that Suarez, Carroll and Gerrard have played in together we've looked more promising in attack.
Bellamy came in on a free transfer, and is a very good player. Unfortunately, he can't play week in, week out, otherwise I'm sure he would be starting every game.
As for midfield:
Out:
Meiereles
Aquilani
In:
Adam
Downing
Henderson
None of these three have set the world on fire, and Dalglish's insistence in playing Henderson and Adam virtually all the time confuses the hell out of me. Wasn't overly excited when we signed Downing, but I think he can do a decent job in a settled side. Adam is OK at times, and was probably fair value at £7M. Henderson might be one for the future, but he's not producing performances that we need at the moment. The fees paid for Downing and Henderson means that the fans can be upset at what they've delivered in return.
I wasn't happy when Meireles went. I think he's a decent player, and we didn't really benefit from the replacements who came in. Aquilani never seemed to get a game for whatever reason - maybe it was the English game that didn't suit him as he's done OK in Italy.
If Lucas and Gerrard had been fit all season, then things might be a lot different. For the previous two seasons, Lucas was one of the most important and consistent (if not the most important and consistent) players in the side, and although Jay Spearing provides some cover he's not in the same class as Lucas. A fit Gerrard is an incredible player, and hopefully his injuries are behind him and he can continue to get back to his best.
Defence:
The side hasn't been bad defensively this season (the last match was the exception rather than the rule for most of the season), and would have been more solid if it could have been a consistent Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Jose Enrique in front of Pepe. Skrtel has been a revelation this season (again, last match excepted) and is by far the player of the season so far. Jose Enrique has been an excellent signing and has come in and filled a hole we had at left back. But we've missed Agger and it's unfortunate that he seems to be made out of balsa wood.
We've also signed some young players who will come into the side in the future (such as Coates), as well as a group of players playing in the reserves. I'd like to see Shelvey get more games in the side as he's performed well when he has, and he looks ready to me.
The problem is quite clearly not scoring enough goals. Part of the problem is up front, as it's their job to score them. But the biggest problem (imo) is that the supply from midfield isn't good enough. Delivery from set pieces is shocking. Loads of corners don't get beyond the first defender, and we simply don't create enough goal-scoring chances from them. Also, the midfield should be coming in with more goals themselves, especially if the service isn't good enough for the forwards to get the goals.
Should Kenny go? Not yet imo. He's been given a side in transition, and all the Liverpool fans had hoped that we'd do well this year and be challenging for a top 4 spot. We've not come close to achieving that - which is a disappointment. It'll be interesting to see who we bring in over the summer (the rumours are flying round already), but I'd suggest that a couple of quality signings would make a massive difference. If there's no improvement next season, then I think Kenny will move on. Not sure who we'd replace him with, but to replace him now wouldn't achieve much (again imo).
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