I waited a couple days to write this post, because quite simply it didn't need to be done on time. Liverpool were quiet, signing only one youth player, and nothing for the first team squad. In a normal year, that may have upset some people. Sure, there were rumors about a Demba Ba-Carroll swap, and then maybe a Tevez-Carroll swap, but I wasn't on board with either of those. The latter because a club doesn't really need an utter twat on its hands, who will give you maybe a season of sublime play and then start bitching uncontrollably. Ba certainly would have been intriguing, but we're talking about a striker who has had a decent run for all of 27 Premier League games. He had a decent scoring record with Hoffenheim, but not something that will make anyone tumescent. Didn't we learn our lesson about splashing out for strikers who haven't scored regularly for a whole top flight season?
And as I've said before, with the formations Liverpool like to play, another striker might not be necessary. Lately, it's just been one up top, with Suarez returning. Either Suarez is going to get a majority of those starts, or Carroll will join him, or Bellamy. Without European competition, there aren't enough games for a new striker to A)build any sort of chemistry without dislodging a member of the first team and B) simply play at all. It's far better to wait until the summer, when there's more time, when there might be some form of European football to offer, and to get a better idea of what assets you have.
Central midfield? Well-stocked there. Whatever player was brought in would immediately be chucked down the depth chart when Lucas returns next season, and the club probably still wants to develop Jay Spearing into his deputy, as they should. While Spearing can be a toddler after his first soda at times, you can see the seedlings of a very effective defensive midfielder one day.
The defense has hardly been the problem, and there are capable deputies at each position (with the assumption that Fabio Aurelio will continue to intake oxygen for the next couple minutes).
The only place I could have seen adding something was in the attacking wide positions. Not a winger, per se, but someone to score from those positions. Only Bellamy has done so regularly. Downing has simply been a disappointment, where his out and out winger tendencies haven't meshed with Liverpool's need for that to combine with a scorer out there. Kuyt only recently has been a regular starter, and before that didn't deserve to be. Maxi had his inexplicable spasm of goals, and then the normal town drunk wandering down Main St. Performance. Only Hells Bellamy has provided a threat from the wide midfield role. And this is the area I expect Liverpool to address in the summer first, especially if Carroll has a strong close to the season.
After last year's stroke-inducing activity, it was a bit of a hard come down in this transfer window. But teams that have to really wheel and deal in January are either managed by Harry Redknapp and his shark like need to not stand still just to be noticed or breathe, or they're in some serious trouble. While Liverpool's league position isn't what we'd want, it can't be described as "serious trouble" either. I'm all for the sensible approach this time around.
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