Who do we miss most from last year's squad?

Guly would certianly have got a decent amount of playing time over the last month or so, as the only attacking sub we'd have had!

 

Simple answer for me Jrod and Lambert..........

 

I'm going with beddytare. Rickie for positional sense, unlocking games, scoring from important free kicks and actually hitting the target most of the time. JRod for directness with the ball.

 

I think some people are over hyping the players we had last season.

 

Would be nice to have Rickie for depth but don't think he'd be the solution for unlocking defences, we were having the exact same problems last season and it was about this time last season when the blame was being placed squarely on him with him going through a similar run of form to Grazi. Likewise having Jay back already would be lovely but not sure he'd be improving us that much, Mane and Elia have filled his role pretty well and not sure he'd offer much more than Long as a lone striker. Lallana is the one player we haven't like-for-like replaced and who would add something we don't currently have - the ability to create something out of nothing. Wouldn't say we 'miss' him by any means, or that he'd even change our fortunes that much, but would be the nicest option to have for me.

Chambers, Shaw and Lovren are obviously no brainers, we've replaced them with better.

 

The team is doing just fine, so I wouldn't undo any of the moves we made.

But if we could have any one player back, it would have to be Lallana. We need a creative attacking mid, capable of playing in the center (or either left or right but ending up in the center). We seem to have expended most of our effort trying to replace/improve that position, so if we hadn't used our resources on Elia, Djuricic, Mane, maybe we could have brought in a striker.

We've had exactly one penalty kick, so Lambert can't help us out in that department. And tbh, he was fading at the end of last year and I feel he would have trouble breaking into the starting eleven for us.

I can see the argument for Rodriguez, because he could well have stepped up his game this season. But we'll never know. As is, he would be maybe a slightly better Shane Long, or maybe Mane without the possible attitude issues.

I would have liked to have had Cork the last few games. I think he would have started over Davis/JWP the last few games. Not sure it would have made that much of a difference though.

But yeah, mainly we're doing okay so I'm not really bummed out by any of it, or thinking "If only...." It's hard to imagine us doing much better than we are.

 

Putting rating of a keeper aside, I'm amazed that Mad Artur (as you called him) gave you more confidence. I never feel like Fraser is going to do a step over, take an extra touch or juggle the ball doing arm keepie ups.

 

Jay Rodriguez - really was making great strides. 17 goals in 4/5ths of a season and scaring the crap out of defences.

Just what we need right now.

Love Rickie, but we hadn't seen the top drawer Rickie for a while before he left.

Lallana is an excellent player but we have players who can take people on in a different style, but can do it. Mane/Elia

 

Rickie at present

 

As much as I hate to admit it, Lallana.

 

I'd have to go for Lambert who would be good cover for Pelle and Rodriguez if he counts. They would solve our scoring problems.

 

There were games last season when Rickie was on his heels, as Pelle is at present. JRod is the biggest miss by far.

 

Lallana 2013/2014 season:
Played: 38
Scored: 9
Assists: 8

Tadic
Played: 24
Scored: 3
Assists: 8

Lallana isn't some world class player.

 

Come on Beef, much more to the game than goals and assists. And you don't need to be a world class player to improve our squad.

 

I don't think we miss him is all. We miss what we have always missed(needed) a poacher and a guy that assists like crazy. We have needed both for ages now and none of our old players brought that.

 

Rodriguez could make a goal out of nothing so he's the stand out.

 

Of the first teamers who left I don't think we miss Lallana, Lovren or Shaw at all. Chambers would have been useful in the couple of games Clyne has missed but is no great loss. While I prefer Boruc to Forster, with the best defensive record in the league I can't really argue we miss him.

So at this point it's Lambert. Even though he was past his best he had a slightly better goal record last season than Pelle does this season and also had far more assists. If he was still here he might not be first choice but he'd be a fantastic guy to have in the squad and at the very least could be used to give Pelle a rest.

 

A Lambert at his peak last season would be the goalscorer that we require currently.

 

I know he's getting older but only Gerrard, Suarez and Ozil had more Premier League assists than Lambert last season.

EDIT: Actually, depending where you look, it might only be Gerrard and Suarez.

 

Lambert is getting on tho. We badly need to see if Djuricic can be that player. Then buy a striker.