We don't great the chances that our possession merits. The first half against Arsenal away was one our best performances of the season. However we didn't create that many clear cut opportunities.
To be fair, nether Tottenham or Chelsea created many clear cut chances against us. Midfielders and strikers who are capable of opening up top sides will cost a lot. Hopefully Barkley can develop into that player.
You also need a perfect blend between your strikers and your midfield. I think Lukuaku would suit a more counter attacking side, so he can hang on the shoulder of the last defender. We are never going to play like that under Martinez.
Liverpool have the perfect strikers for counter attacking football. I don't know what strikers would fit our passing style.
Good post and agree completely with the bolded part. As much as I would like us to keep Lukaku, I'm not sure if he'd be a good fit long term for the style of football Martinez likes. A striker that could play as a false 9, a less inconsistent Mirallas, a more mature Barkley and someone more effective that Pienaar. Pienaar keeps possession better than most of our other attacking players, but that's not good enough if we want to progress to the next level. He just doesn't produce enough key passes, assists, goals.
Defensively we're good enough to challenge, but for how long? Howard (is Joel the answer? hopefully he'll get more playing time over the next season so we can tell whether he's the man or not), Distin, Barry, even Jags don't have many seasons left in them. Howard and Barry, if he stays, should be good enough for at least 1 more season, and Gibson will hopefully be fit to play from time to time! As for Distin I think this Summer should be the time we bring in a young centre back like Martins Indi.
But yeah, attack is the priority. I think someone like Lavezzi would be a perfect striker for our system. A number 10 to start phasing Osman out. A replacement for Pienaar, even if we keep Deulofeu for another season. I would like to see us play Barkley a bit deeper, him and McCarthy behind a new number 10 could be quite good to watch if Barkley's work rate improves.
One thing is for sure, we will need to spend all of the money we have "saved" from the past few windows... and more. Extremely unlikely given our recent history but at least we will very likely have some very big deals fall through on the last day, or some takeover rumour, or possible new stadium plans to get us excited.
