Day After

24 hours later and I still can't quite make sense of the madness. Waking up to the stories of Andy Carroll not really wanting to leave Newcastle didn't help my mood much. Still, one hopes that he'll eventually see that this is probably a step up in his career, and if certain things bounce our way a big one at that. Whether he's up to the challenge, we just don't know.

And that's what gets me. Whatever state we may be in right now, it is clear the ambition of all supporters and the new owners is to return Liverpool to title contenders. Nothing less will do. But it's hard to identify the last team to claim the league without a guaranteed 25-30 goals from someone. Chelsea had Drogba last year. United did it with Rooney and/or Ronaldo crashing home everything in sight. When Arsenal last reigned it was Thierry Henry.  In United's previous run it was Ruud Van Nistelrooy. Liverpool just sold their one guarantee of that.

When Pool hit previous heights, it was Torres and Gerrard each banging in 20. Can we count on Gerrard to ever do that again as he gets to the wrong side of the age scale? Are Andy Carroll or Luiz Suarez going to be that guy? Hard to say a definitive yes. If they're not, there's no possible way NESV is going to splash out another 30 mildo to find another one. And if they're not, how far can Liverpool go?

While the promise is great, we have no evidence. The thought of a new formation, going to the 4-3-3 that Chelsea and United have used to dominate the league seems on the cards, and I for one am excited to see it. Meireles, Gerrard, and Lucas are perfectly built for it, especially if allows Gerrard to get forward instead of hanging out by the center circle hitting passes that have no chance of success.

But whatever business sense deadline day brought, whatever promise it holds, whatever the scarred emotions may be, I can't get past that Liverpool just lost one of the biggest blocks to building a champion, only replacing it with a "maybe". On the pitch at least, that hurts.