All The King's Horses, And All The King's Men

We've made no secret here our love for Daniel Agger. He very well may be the most important player on the team, considering all the things he can do, what he means for both sides of the ball, and how he affects the players around him. Going forward, whatever the club was going to be, it was Agger who was going to be the lynch pin in the back line. Not Carragher, not Skrtel, but Agger. But now you have to ask if that's the most solid plan.

The news today is that Agger is out for the season, and it becomes clear that we simply cannot count on him any more. He's too injury prone. This is not Steven Gerrard consistently breaking down at ages 19-22 when a still developing body couldn't handle the rigors of Premier League football consistently and everything about his life and body had to be changed. Agger is 26, probably just about to enter his prime as a defender, theirs come a little later, but has never managed more than 23 league games. There isn't any evidence to suggest that in the coming years he can give you 30 games a season. Though I love him so, the new top of the summer spending spree is going to have to be an assured, ball-playing center back, and they're not exactly in the bargain bin at Target. ideally, he could be paired with Agger, but does anyone expect that to happen often? If Liverpool are going to return to a passing, attacking team they need someone who can start that from the back. It is Agger, but we no longer can expect that he'll be there often enough to make the team effective continually. It hurts to say, you never want to criticize someone who simply has their body breaking down on them, but Rafa told us facts are facts.

The other news is that Glen Johnson is out a month, which is pretty much the season, too. Martin Kelly should be able to return soon, but who mans the other side is anyone's guess. Fabio Aurelio will do so for the 17 seconds something on him doesn't go twang, but after that? Most likely Danny Wilson in his fish-on-land act out there, and past that I haven't got a clue.

This hurts in so many ways. Now we can expect 10 times the hoofing up to Carroll's skull we would have gotten. Moreover, this team just won't have any width. With its lack of wingers, Liverpool counted on their fullbacks to get forward and provide it. Now they'll have one at best, and he's 20 and fresh off a hamstring injury. My only hope is that the return of Gerrard provides more of a link when Lucas has to drop back to get the ball off Skrtel and Carragher to prevent those hoofs than Spearing did, allowing Meireles to still stay up the field and aid the attack. But that is the only option, isn't it?

God, there's so much to be done this summer. Fullbacks, now another centerback at least. Help on the wide parts of midfield, probably another striker, and a couple other pieces. Who's excited?