Are Liverpool FC still in a rebuilding phase?

It has been 3 months since a summer of change at Anfield. A total of 7 players were brought to the red half of Merseyside on transfer deals, but most of them still haven’t gelled into this Liverpool FC team.

The rebuilding process realistically started way back in January 2011, when Kenny Dalglish took over and completed the signings of the then record signing Luis Suarez and shortly afterwards, the club record signing of Andy Carroll. Carroll arrived with injury problems whilst Luis Suarez had a splendid start to life at Liverpool, securing his first Liverpool FC goal on his first appearance against Stoke City.

Andy Carroll endured a tough start to life at Anfield, but he got the Anfield faithful’s hopes up with a superb brace against Man City at home.

In the summer, Kenny Dalglish had to solve this issues:

A left winger was required
A leftback was required
A central midfielder was required
To get Andy Carroll back amongst the goals
To get more young talent into the club
Keeping Reina

Generally, you could say in terms of achieving those goals, he has been a success in the summer transfer window. He did get what was considered essential for Liverpool FC to be back amongst the Champions League places, but it hasn’t been that simple, as seen so far this season.

No doubt our defence is much more stable with Jose Enrique as our leftback and Martin Skrtel and Daniel Agger proving to be a reliable central defensive pairing, but the fact is that I am slightly less confident with Reina in goal these days. He almost seems to be sleeping when he has to do his job, that being not often. We play in such a way that opposition hardly find chances against us, but on the odd one or two occasion(s), they find the net. Reina has dropped a few easy saves this season, resulting in vital points being dropped.

Our midfield is still evolving. We don’t seem to have consistency when it comes to who plays out wide and in the center. Kenny Dalglish hasn’t consistently decided who the best option for the left OR right wing is, whilst in the center, despite making a choice when it comes to Steven Gerrard and Jay Spearing/Lucas Leiva, he still hasn’t decided on whether Charlie Adam or Jordan Henderson should remain in the squad (although he has indeed been leaning on Henderson’s side a little).

Up front, it can be said that Andy Carroll is still slightly short on confidence, although he did score quite a cracker from mid-week. Liverpool FC lack of depth in attack, with no other solid options if either Suarez/Carroll are injured. Bellamy operates much better as a winger, when he is given some space to run into.

This January, Kenny Dalglish will now have to address these issues: