Thoughts on a Summer of Change at Liverpool

Well, after a season that can be described as nothing short of catastrophic, it was easy to surmise that Liverpool would undergo serious changes this summer. The first bit of business was the signing of Roy Hodgson to replace Rafa Benitez. I believe Benitez is one of the two or three best tacticians in the game, but a people manager he appears not to be. Add that to the untenable situation with the board room and something had to go. While I would have preferred that something to be the American owners (who may yet be on their way out), a bit of change wasn't necessarily a horrible idea.

Hodgson has a proven track record. He's immensely experienced and he is evidently very persuasive. Add to that the fact that he knows how to get the best out of his players and spend well with a frugal budget and he looks to be just the right candidate for Liverpool's managerial job.

Let's have a look at some of the players leaving Liverpool this summer. Fabio Aurelio is off. Emiliano Insua heads to Italy. Riera is leaving, probably to Eastern Europe, Benayoun has left for Chelsea, and thankfully Philip Degen has been told (two years too late) that he is surplus to requirements. Mascherano and Torres are question marks, but I'll deal with them later. Of course, Voronin has left as well thankfully.

And the players in are Milan Jovanovic, in a deal negotiated by Benitez, Jonjo Shelvey, Danny Wilson, and Joe Cole. Jovanovic and Cole came in on free transfers, as their contracts at their respective clubs had expired. Shelvey is in from Charlton, and is supposedly a talented young midfielder. Wilson is another young one, but he was essential in Rangers's title defense last term. And of course, persuading the Londoner Joe Cole to come to the Northwest over Tottenham and Arsenal must represent something of a coup for Hodgson.

So how does that leave the squad looking?

GK: Pepe Reina, Diego Cavalieri, Charles Itandje, and Peter Gulacsi

LB: Jack Robinson

CB: Jamie Carragher, Danny Agger, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Martin Skrtel, Danny Wilson, Dani Sanchez Ayala, and Martin Kelly

RB: Glenn Johnson and Stephen Darby

CM: Javier Mascherano, Steven Gerrard, Alberto Aquilani, Lucas Leiva, Damien Plessis, and Jay Spearing

AM: Joe Cole, Maxi Rodriguez, Ryan Babel, Dirk Kuyt, Jonjo Shelvey, and Nabil El Zhar

F: Fernando Torres, Milan Jovanovic, David N'gog, Dani Pacheco, Nathan Eccleston, and Krisztian Nemeth

Left Back and Forward seem to be the trouble spots. The left back listed here, Jack Robinson, isn't even 17 years old yet, and hardly good enough to be even the second string left back for Liverpool. Maybe Hodgson expects Agger to back up the left back position, but that seems a risky proposition for me. At forward, only Torres is proven. Ecclston, Pacheco, and Nemeth are still acadmey players, although Pacheco has seen a bit of first team action and looks talented enough to play at that level. Another forward is essential, though, unless Hodgson notices (as have most Liverpool fans) that Babel is actually much better as a center forward than as a winger. But if he moves Babel up the field, there will be a shortage of attacking midfielders, unless Gerrard or Aquilani also move up the field, but then there would be a shortage of defensive midfielders. For this reason, another top notch forward is a must, and another midfielder wouldn't hurt. And if Torres or Mascherano go, that could fund the transfer of three or four highly talented players. We'd be sacrificing a bit of quality, but increasing the depth of the squad wouldn't be a bad thing.

Well, that's all for now. I'll report back with any other big deals later in the Summer. The players linked with a move to Liverpool so far have been Valencia midfielder Ever Banega (he would be an excellent pickup), Nice forward Loic Remy (don't know anything about him), and out of favor AC Milan forward Klas Jan Huntelaar. There has also been talk that Brede Hangeland could follow Hodgson from Fulham, but that seems a bit excessive given the plethora of talented center-backs already at our disposal. Dempesy was similarly linked. Paul Scharner of Wigan was as well (wouldn't be my pick).