Liverpool is going to play Champions League finally after some painful seasons in the wilderness, trying to get their feet back together.
Now there have been strong rumours about Liverpool and Arsenal being interested in Swansea’s striker Wilfried Bony, who has scored an impressive tally of 26 goals in all competitions for the Welsh club. While Arsenal’s interest in the Swansea man is obvious as they want a striker to add depth, these rumours clearly give us an indication of where Liverpool are heading towards. Brendan Rodgers wants to keep the current set-up alive, with a diamond midfield and two strikers playing in front of an attacking midfielder. With Bony, they would get a good quality striker who can be more than a back-up for either Sturridge or Suarez.
The problem for both the clubs is the valuation of the Ivorian. Bony is a quality striker, yes. But is he worth the cost of £25 million pounds? Definitely, no. Bony can be a good addition if the price tag is around £15 million odd, but paying extra money for a substitute striker for rotation purposes than what they paid for one of their top performers Daniel Sturridge, doesn’t make sense. Yes, it is to price him away from Swansea but it still doesn’t add the sort of depth required to be a competent force in the Champions League. With the Ivorian set to play in the World cup next month, you can follow the football betting odds and see if chances are that his price might increase if he manages to have a decent campaign.
Playing a 4-1-2-1-2 diamond formation can hit Liverpool in the Champions League against teams with much better overall quality. Playing with a four man midfield, with the furthest midfielder being attack minded, can be a harmful tactic by Brendan Rodgers. Liverpool have had a leaky defence this season in the Premier League this past season and the Champions League will definitely have some good attacking teams than most of the teams in the Premier League. But here, even the defences of seasoned Champions League teams will be tough to break down.
Liverpool have had a roller coaster performances against Arsenal and Manchester City as well as registering a double loss against this season’s Champions League semi-finalists Chelsea. Liverpool need to strengthen their attacking midfield as they would need to field more midfielders in the Champions League as well as have more depth to be competent in both the CL and the EPL. Currently Liverpool have only two options in attacking midfield/wings in Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling. With another attacking option, Liverpool would be able to rotate their squad perfectly by using the 4-2-3-1 in UCL and the diamond in the league. A good number of midfielders give more control as well as defensive stability against some of the top teams in Europe. The question here is again, to maintain the balance of the squad.
Bony can be a good addition for the strikers department, but his price tag is too much, especially since he’s a striker with limited technique. The need of the hour is getting an attacking midfielder who can play along with Coutinho, Sterling and form a 3 man attack option behind Suarez and Sturridge. Next step is to find a defensive midfielder to replace Lucas and Gerrard and a left-back to cover for Jon Flanagan.