Liverpool FC
I was looking at LFC's team guide for Liverpool and I had to disagree with quite a few things, so I thought I'd try my hand at it. The way I see it, it's a great club to start with because you have some big names in there to push your early success but there's money and young players to build around as well. If you’re looking to remake the club in your own image, you're able to do that as well. This is mostly written by me but there's a few things taken from LFC's guide as well.
Finances and Budget
You start with a 15M/1.5M budget on the lowest challenge (Europa League) and it's honestly not worth the increased pressure for a marginally larger budget - but that's up to you. As LFC notes, transfer policy to date has been focused around high quality players as well as high-potential youngsters, which is an effective way for you to operate as well. However, if you want more money and more opportunity to play youngsters, you can cut deadwood and rebuild the club. I managed to easily cut away Suarez for 45M, Lucas Leiva for 25M, and Agger and Skrtel 8M each. That gives you a total budget of 106M with only those four players, and you can bring in wonderkids to your heart's content. My board was actually happy with my decision to offload Suarez and Lucas, but Agger and Skrtel are "long-standing members of the club" and can cause a bit of backlash. Still, 90M is plenty for you to remake the club in your image. If this is what you end up doing, we'll part ways here - the remaining players will easily fit into whatever tactic you want, but we won't go into that. The rest of this analysis will go with the idea of keeping your core together and moving on from there.
The First Team
Goalkeeper- is not a strong point at the squad. You’ll rely on Simon Mignolet, freshly signed for 9M in summer 2013 for 9M. The 25 year old Belgian international had a brilliant season for Sunderland last year and he’ll be looking to prove himself this year. The same can’t be said about your backup choice, Brad Jones. He’s far behind, but he’s better than nothing in the back. If Mignolet doesn’t impress, you should wait for Pepe Reina (loaned to Napoli) to come back – between those two you’ll have something going on between the pipes.
Left Back- Jose Enrique slightly edges out loanee Aly Cissokho, but both are quality left-backs. You’ll be able to rotate them without too much of a quality difference. The best prospect at LB is Jack Robinson, loaned to Blackpool.
Centre Back- Here’s where Liverpool is stuffed to the gills with big, strong, high quality talent. Recently signed French international Mamadou Sakho, 23, is a big, young, top-class player. He bolsters their already top-quality central pair of vice-captain Daniel Agger and Martin Škrtel. Martin Kelly and Kolo Toure are the next options, both of them are big and versatile enough to also start at right back. The youth prospects here are almost ready to start too: Tiago Illori and Andre Wisdom are pushing for a spot, and the other one should be loaned for a year.
Right Back- English international Glen Johnson is the clear first choice here, and there’s no other out-and-out fullback on the roster. Martin Kelly and Kolo Toure, as mentioned, are serviceable backups but not necessarily the greatest going forward.
Left Midfield- Somewhat an outdated position these days, but if your tactic features a left midfield player you’re going to be looking at Cissokho, or Jose Enrique to maintain defensive stability. For a more offensive punch, Raheem Sterling or loanee Victor Moses can provide pace on the left wing, but both are inferior options.
Central Midfielders- England and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is often described as being the image of Liverpool. Use him wisely – he’s can do pretty much everything but is best used as a DLP, BBM, or a CM these days. Lucas Leiva is equally talented but more defensive oriented. He can feature as a CM or a DM but he’s a creative asset going forward so use him as a BBM, DLP, or CM. This leaves two other players that can play central midfielder - Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen. Henderson is the more physical of the two and Allen is the more technical/creative of the two of them.
Right Midfielders- Wide midfielders aren’t a strong part of the team, so your best bet is to move Steven Gerrard out to the right or push Glen Johnson up. Alternatively, Raheem Sterling or Victor Moses can do a job as well, but not the best possible one.
Central Attacking Midfielders: Coutinho is a brilliant young central playmaker best suited as AP/Trequartista/Enganche. Behind him you could look to Iago Aspas or Luis Alberto. Both recently-signed Spaniards aren’t the best option but they have some potential and creativity.
Wingers: There aren’t a ton of specialist wingers, per se, but you can move Suarez, Sturridge, Luis Alberto, Coutinho, or Gerrard to fill a wing role. Dedicated wingers Raheem Sterling and Victor Moses are a ways from starting at the Premier League level.
Strikers- English striker Daniel Sturridge and controversial Uruguayan Luis Suárez make up 'SAS' and they have been absolutely prolific together. They’re not the strongest players, but dynamic, creative, fast, and will terrorize at will. Again, Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto are your main fill-ins, but I don't see them as great talents.
Tactics
Finding that perfect tactic can be challenging - either you fit your players into whatever tactic you want or you build your tactic around your players. I prefer building a tactic I like around my players, but you can find success either way.
Tactic 1 - 3-5-2.
You know, Brendan Rodgers has a point with that 3-5-2: it works! Sitting pretty as of December 8th (today) at number two in the league, you can't deny real-life results. Why does it work so well? Because it fits Liverpool to a T. Start with Sakho, Agger, and Skrtel to lock down the back, maybe allowing Agger as a BPD. You’ll cycle in Toure, Martin Kelly, and your choice of Illori or Wisdom for depth. Next are Jose Enrique and Johnson providing the width at wing-back, supplemented by Cissokho and a depth signing on the right. Controlling the central midfield is Gerrard and Lucas, cycled with Allen and Henderson– use them effectively as a DLP/BBM, DLP/BWM, or just plain CM/CM. Ahead you play Coutinho in a free central role – AP/T/EG – with Luis Alberto your main sub. Finally, Suarez and Sturridge form the SAS partnership and Iago Aspas is the main sub. Try any kind of combination: DLF/AF, DLF/F9, T/P, CF/DLF, CF/P – endless number of possibilities here as long as you stay away from the Target Man (you don’t want to bring back Andy Carroll do you?).
Mentality wise I stick with Attacking/Fluid, but you can safely use a Control or Counter mentality too.
Tactic 2 – 4-3-3
Want a more traditional tactic? Fit the players into a 4-3-3. It starts with Enrique-Sakho-Agger-Johnson in a flat back four, cycling in Cissokho-Toure-Illori-Kelly for depth or against smaller sides. In the middle, you’ll have Allen-Lucas-Gerrard with only Henderson for cover. On the wings, use Coutinho on the left wing and Sturridge on the right, both as inside forwards. Put Suarez in the middle as a false nine or a complete forward. This tactic is nice, but it takes the ball from your best creator, Coutinho, and places it in the controlling hands of Allen, Henderson, and Gerrard - which isn't necessarily bad, and it allows you to use Sturridge's pace coming in from deep. Alternatively, (and more effectively) you can easily morph this tactic into a 4-2-3-1 if you take out Allen, push Coutinho into the middle, and add another winger on the left (which isn't currently on the squad right now). This requires spending money on a good quality left-winger (I'm partial to buying Yarmolenko after selling Lucas Leiva) but it improves the 4-3-3 base structure a lot.
Control or Attacking and Fluid work for me, although Rigid can work too.
Tactic 3 - 4-1-2-1-2
Finally, we’ll try to combine principles from the first two tactics together into a narrow-diamond 4-4-2. We’ll stick with the four man defensive line, but use wingbacks instead of fullbacks. Lucas will be planted in at DM in a Regista or DLP role. Allen and Gerrard will be pushed together in the centre of midfield as BBMs, supporting both offense and defense. Coutinho will reprise his central attacking freedom and Suarez/Sturridge are reunited in front. This is a nicely adapted version of the 3-5-2 that takes on some 4-4-2 principles.
You can guess that I like Attacking and Fluid for most of my tactics, but find what works for you.
Spend Your Money Wisely
Now you know which players make up your team, and which players are not needed, you need to work on the obvious areas that need improvement. Here’s how I would spend my $15M budget.
Goalkeeper: I have to disagree with LFC’s initial assessment of signing Szczęsny. He’s too expensive and we just bought Mignolet. We need a backup keeper, but not one of Szczesny’s price. Attempt to get young/high potential guys like Jeronimo Rulli, Mattia Perin, or maybe Francesco Bardi, but if they’re too expensive pull in a veteran such as Ben Foster, Alex McCarthy or Jason Steele. They’ll provide decent goalkeeping at a decent price. Try not to spend much more than $4M here.
Right back- You can’t depend on just Glen Johnson at the right back position, especially if you use a 3-5-2 since Martin Kelly would fit better in the middle. Try guys like Sam Byram, Kyle Naughton, or Matt Lowton as cheap but talented right backs. I’d spend about $4M here as well.
Central Attacking Midfield: I found Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas to be huge disappointments. I brought in a young creative player to play behind Coutinho and versatile enough to plug in as a decent Lucas/Gerrard cover as well. I’d spend about $7M on guys like River’s Tomas Martinez or San Lorenzo’s Angel Correa, or if you want an English flavor try Will Hughes (but he’ll be more expensive).
Total: 4+4+7 = 15M.
Interestingly, I found Lucas Leiva and Suarez to be replaceable. To replace Lucas, I bought Pedro Obiang (8.5M) and reinvested the rest of the money into improving other areas (in this case Andriy Yarmolenko for 24M). Suarez…well, it’s hard to get exactly the same production back but I spent the money on Christian Benteke (20M) and paired him with Sturridge, not a bad pairing either. Not as fast or creative but the added aerial element was nice…and so was the extra 25M profit. If you do go the selling route, make sure to talk to your board and ask for more % of the transfer revenue, otherwise you’ll get only 60% of the transfer revenue. In other news, the Liverpool coaching staff is really crappy. Get rid of as many as you can and bring in new people.
Conclusion
LFC challenged anyone to find and describe their opinions, so here’s what I thought. Again, just an opinion, but I found more success doing this than in the other guide.
If you have any questions, feel free to comment below.
I was looking at LFC's team guide for Liverpool and I had to disagree with quite a few things, so I thought I'd try my hand at it. The way I see it, it's a great club to start with because you have some big names in there to push your early success but there's money and young players to build around as well. If you’re looking to remake the club in your own image, you're able to do that as well. This is mostly written by me but there's a few things taken from LFC's guide as well.
Finances and Budget
You start with a 15M/1.5M budget on the lowest challenge (Europa League) and it's honestly not worth the increased pressure for a marginally larger budget - but that's up to you. As LFC notes, transfer policy to date has been focused around high quality players as well as high-potential youngsters, which is an effective way for you to operate as well. However, if you want more money and more opportunity to play youngsters, you can cut deadwood and rebuild the club. I managed to easily cut away Suarez for 45M, Lucas Leiva for 25M, and Agger and Skrtel 8M each. That gives you a total budget of 106M with only those four players, and you can bring in wonderkids to your heart's content. My board was actually happy with my decision to offload Suarez and Lucas, but Agger and Skrtel are "long-standing members of the club" and can cause a bit of backlash. Still, 90M is plenty for you to remake the club in your image. If this is what you end up doing, we'll part ways here - the remaining players will easily fit into whatever tactic you want, but we won't go into that. The rest of this analysis will go with the idea of keeping your core together and moving on from there.
The First Team
Goalkeeper- is not a strong point at the squad. You’ll rely on Simon Mignolet, freshly signed for 9M in summer 2013 for 9M. The 25 year old Belgian international had a brilliant season for Sunderland last year and he’ll be looking to prove himself this year. The same can’t be said about your backup choice, Brad Jones. He’s far behind, but he’s better than nothing in the back. If Mignolet doesn’t impress, you should wait for Pepe Reina (loaned to Napoli) to come back – between those two you’ll have something going on between the pipes.
Left Back- Jose Enrique slightly edges out loanee Aly Cissokho, but both are quality left-backs. You’ll be able to rotate them without too much of a quality difference. The best prospect at LB is Jack Robinson, loaned to Blackpool.
Centre Back- Here’s where Liverpool is stuffed to the gills with big, strong, high quality talent. Recently signed French international Mamadou Sakho, 23, is a big, young, top-class player. He bolsters their already top-quality central pair of vice-captain Daniel Agger and Martin Škrtel. Martin Kelly and Kolo Toure are the next options, both of them are big and versatile enough to also start at right back. The youth prospects here are almost ready to start too: Tiago Illori and Andre Wisdom are pushing for a spot, and the other one should be loaned for a year.
Right Back- English international Glen Johnson is the clear first choice here, and there’s no other out-and-out fullback on the roster. Martin Kelly and Kolo Toure, as mentioned, are serviceable backups but not necessarily the greatest going forward.
Left Midfield- Somewhat an outdated position these days, but if your tactic features a left midfield player you’re going to be looking at Cissokho, or Jose Enrique to maintain defensive stability. For a more offensive punch, Raheem Sterling or loanee Victor Moses can provide pace on the left wing, but both are inferior options.
Central Midfielders- England and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is often described as being the image of Liverpool. Use him wisely – he’s can do pretty much everything but is best used as a DLP, BBM, or a CM these days. Lucas Leiva is equally talented but more defensive oriented. He can feature as a CM or a DM but he’s a creative asset going forward so use him as a BBM, DLP, or CM. This leaves two other players that can play central midfielder - Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen. Henderson is the more physical of the two and Allen is the more technical/creative of the two of them.
Right Midfielders- Wide midfielders aren’t a strong part of the team, so your best bet is to move Steven Gerrard out to the right or push Glen Johnson up. Alternatively, Raheem Sterling or Victor Moses can do a job as well, but not the best possible one.
Central Attacking Midfielders: Coutinho is a brilliant young central playmaker best suited as AP/Trequartista/Enganche. Behind him you could look to Iago Aspas or Luis Alberto. Both recently-signed Spaniards aren’t the best option but they have some potential and creativity.
Wingers: There aren’t a ton of specialist wingers, per se, but you can move Suarez, Sturridge, Luis Alberto, Coutinho, or Gerrard to fill a wing role. Dedicated wingers Raheem Sterling and Victor Moses are a ways from starting at the Premier League level.
Strikers- English striker Daniel Sturridge and controversial Uruguayan Luis Suárez make up 'SAS' and they have been absolutely prolific together. They’re not the strongest players, but dynamic, creative, fast, and will terrorize at will. Again, Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto are your main fill-ins, but I don't see them as great talents.
Tactics
Finding that perfect tactic can be challenging - either you fit your players into whatever tactic you want or you build your tactic around your players. I prefer building a tactic I like around my players, but you can find success either way.
Tactic 1 - 3-5-2.
You know, Brendan Rodgers has a point with that 3-5-2: it works! Sitting pretty as of December 8th (today) at number two in the league, you can't deny real-life results. Why does it work so well? Because it fits Liverpool to a T. Start with Sakho, Agger, and Skrtel to lock down the back, maybe allowing Agger as a BPD. You’ll cycle in Toure, Martin Kelly, and your choice of Illori or Wisdom for depth. Next are Jose Enrique and Johnson providing the width at wing-back, supplemented by Cissokho and a depth signing on the right. Controlling the central midfield is Gerrard and Lucas, cycled with Allen and Henderson– use them effectively as a DLP/BBM, DLP/BWM, or just plain CM/CM. Ahead you play Coutinho in a free central role – AP/T/EG – with Luis Alberto your main sub. Finally, Suarez and Sturridge form the SAS partnership and Iago Aspas is the main sub. Try any kind of combination: DLF/AF, DLF/F9, T/P, CF/DLF, CF/P – endless number of possibilities here as long as you stay away from the Target Man (you don’t want to bring back Andy Carroll do you?).
Mentality wise I stick with Attacking/Fluid, but you can safely use a Control or Counter mentality too.
Tactic 2 – 4-3-3
Want a more traditional tactic? Fit the players into a 4-3-3. It starts with Enrique-Sakho-Agger-Johnson in a flat back four, cycling in Cissokho-Toure-Illori-Kelly for depth or against smaller sides. In the middle, you’ll have Allen-Lucas-Gerrard with only Henderson for cover. On the wings, use Coutinho on the left wing and Sturridge on the right, both as inside forwards. Put Suarez in the middle as a false nine or a complete forward. This tactic is nice, but it takes the ball from your best creator, Coutinho, and places it in the controlling hands of Allen, Henderson, and Gerrard - which isn't necessarily bad, and it allows you to use Sturridge's pace coming in from deep. Alternatively, (and more effectively) you can easily morph this tactic into a 4-2-3-1 if you take out Allen, push Coutinho into the middle, and add another winger on the left (which isn't currently on the squad right now). This requires spending money on a good quality left-winger (I'm partial to buying Yarmolenko after selling Lucas Leiva) but it improves the 4-3-3 base structure a lot.
Control or Attacking and Fluid work for me, although Rigid can work too.
Tactic 3 - 4-1-2-1-2
Finally, we’ll try to combine principles from the first two tactics together into a narrow-diamond 4-4-2. We’ll stick with the four man defensive line, but use wingbacks instead of fullbacks. Lucas will be planted in at DM in a Regista or DLP role. Allen and Gerrard will be pushed together in the centre of midfield as BBMs, supporting both offense and defense. Coutinho will reprise his central attacking freedom and Suarez/Sturridge are reunited in front. This is a nicely adapted version of the 3-5-2 that takes on some 4-4-2 principles.
You can guess that I like Attacking and Fluid for most of my tactics, but find what works for you.
Spend Your Money Wisely
Now you know which players make up your team, and which players are not needed, you need to work on the obvious areas that need improvement. Here’s how I would spend my $15M budget.
Goalkeeper: I have to disagree with LFC’s initial assessment of signing Szczęsny. He’s too expensive and we just bought Mignolet. We need a backup keeper, but not one of Szczesny’s price. Attempt to get young/high potential guys like Jeronimo Rulli, Mattia Perin, or maybe Francesco Bardi, but if they’re too expensive pull in a veteran such as Ben Foster, Alex McCarthy or Jason Steele. They’ll provide decent goalkeeping at a decent price. Try not to spend much more than $4M here.
Right back- You can’t depend on just Glen Johnson at the right back position, especially if you use a 3-5-2 since Martin Kelly would fit better in the middle. Try guys like Sam Byram, Kyle Naughton, or Matt Lowton as cheap but talented right backs. I’d spend about $4M here as well.
Central Attacking Midfield: I found Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas to be huge disappointments. I brought in a young creative player to play behind Coutinho and versatile enough to plug in as a decent Lucas/Gerrard cover as well. I’d spend about $7M on guys like River’s Tomas Martinez or San Lorenzo’s Angel Correa, or if you want an English flavor try Will Hughes (but he’ll be more expensive).
Total: 4+4+7 = 15M.
Interestingly, I found Lucas Leiva and Suarez to be replaceable. To replace Lucas, I bought Pedro Obiang (8.5M) and reinvested the rest of the money into improving other areas (in this case Andriy Yarmolenko for 24M). Suarez…well, it’s hard to get exactly the same production back but I spent the money on Christian Benteke (20M) and paired him with Sturridge, not a bad pairing either. Not as fast or creative but the added aerial element was nice…and so was the extra 25M profit. If you do go the selling route, make sure to talk to your board and ask for more % of the transfer revenue, otherwise you’ll get only 60% of the transfer revenue. In other news, the Liverpool coaching staff is really crappy. Get rid of as many as you can and bring in new people.
Conclusion
LFC challenged anyone to find and describe their opinions, so here’s what I thought. Again, just an opinion, but I found more success doing this than in the other guide.
If you have any questions, feel free to comment below.
