Before Comain took over, Liverpool had already made signings and purges. The biggest signings were Glen Johnson for 17 million pounds and Qin Xiong for 35 million pounds. The total investment was more than 50 million pounds.
In terms of purges, apart from the free transfers of veterans Hyypia and Jermaine Pennant, most of the rest were First Team substitutes and Second Team players who were abandoned. They did not make much money. Arbeloa, who had a year left on his contract and was determined to go to Real Madrid, was also sent by the club to Real Madrid before Comain's arrival and received about 4 million pounds.
All together, Liverpool's income in the transfer market was close to 10 million pounds.
Comain analyzed the team's list with his coaching staff in the boot room.
Now he agreed with Mourinho's approach to building the team.
The First Team did not need too many players. Around 23 players were enough.
This would make the team more stable and prevent many players who could not play in the game from complaining negatively and affecting the morale of the team.
He looked at them one by one.
Liverpool's First Team had three goalkeepers in the goalkeeper position, which could be said to be a reasonable allocation. There was no hoarding or streamlining of control in this position.
The first goalkeeper would be Reina, the second goalkeeper was the Brazilian goalkeeper signed last season, Cavalieri, and the third goalkeeper was the Frenchman Yitanjie.
The reserves on the defensive line were not rich. There were substitutes for almost every position.
Right back: Glen Johnson and Degen.
Left back: Aurelio, Dossena, Insua.
Comain learned that Dossena's performance in Liverpool last season was not ideal and was often booed by the fans. He decided to purge the Italian full-back and give the young Argentinian Insua some opportunities to perform and train if needed.
There were six players in the center back position.
Carragher, Skrtel, and Agger were the main or rotating main players. The remaining three were young players who had performed well after being loaned out. Martin Kelly, Darby, and Ayala.
As the center backs needed experience to grow, Comain was worried that he would sell the wrong talented players. Therefore, he decided to loan out Darby and Ayala. One of them was 21 years old and the other was 18 years old. In the key position of center back, players who were too young could easily be crushed by the pressure. One game could lead to an irreparable psychological trauma.
The depth of the players in the middle of the midfield was sufficient.
Qin Xiong, Alonso, Gerard, Mascherano, Lucas, and Plessis.
Comain put Plessis on the list of loanees.
The reserve of offensive wingers was relatively average.
Riera, Benayoun, Flynn, Elzar.
Of course, if the midfielders who could play on the wings or the forwards who could play on the wings were included, there should be more attacking wingers.
Flynn was still young, only twenty-one, while Elzar was already twenty-three.
If an offensive player could not play at a certain level at this age, it was basically difficult to have high expectations.
Therefore, Comain planned to loan out Flynn and sell Elzar.
Liverpool's level determined that their offense was actually more demanding.
Strikers were the most hoarded.
Nemeth, David Ngog, Babel, Kuyt, Voronin, Torres.
Nemeth, Babel, and Ngog were all young strikers, all under twenty-three years old.
Among them, the latter two showed a lot more talent and strength than Nemeth, so Comain felt that there was no need to worry about this issue and directly sold Nemeth.
As for the three strikers who were over twenty-five years old, Torres was a star player, Kuyt was a versatile player, and Voronin was over thirty years old. Comain felt that Voronin's existence was of little value when there were two new frontline stars who could take turns to act as substitutes, so he decided to sell him.
In this way, Comain streamlined the First Team's thirty-player roster.
In the end, twenty-two players were left. If there was a need during the season, they could also transfer outstanding young players from the reserve team. They were not much different in strength from the young players who were loaned out or sold from the First Team.
The next day, Comain submitted the list of players for sale and loan to CEO Wilcot, and then he personally talked to each player who left. He told each other in an open and honest manner, taking care of each other's emotions. At the very least, the basis of the negotiation was frank.
Then, Comain officially began coaching the team to prepare for the new Premier League season!
Although there were fewer teammates on the training ground, Liverpool was full of energy. Comain next had to determine the team's technical and tactical system.
After he fully understood the technical characteristics of each player, he found an awkward situation.
What position should Qin Xiong play?
Mascherano and Alonso formed the double defensive midfielders in the midfield, and Gerard was in the attacking midfield.
It was not appropriate to move Gerard to the wing, and letting Qin Xiong play as the organizing midfielder would leave Alonso with nowhere to go.
At the end of the training on August 4, Comain let Qin Xiong stay.
The master and apprentice strolled on the sidelines of the training ground. Comain said frankly to Qin Xiong, "Qin Xiong, it is undeniable that you are the most powerful player in the team, but the problem we have now is, what position should you play? First of all, I want you to be honest with me, what position do you want to play? "
Qin Xiong thought about it and said, "Actually, I don't know. I can only answer your question by elimination for all the positions in the front field. The center forward can't do it. I need space to run and cover to better play my strength. Although the right winger can play, using the left foot to shoot and dribble to advance is always not as flexible as using the right foot. Then I can do the remaining two positions. I can ambush in the middle of the front field behind the center forward, and the left winger is also fine."
Comain nodded as he listened. In fact, before Qin Xiong left Ajax, Comain had modified Qin Xiong once.
At first, he played the organizing midfielder position. Later, after the double defensive midfielders were established and Galasek was responsible for connecting the offense, Qin Xiong's position became the attacking midfielder.
During Arsenal's time, due to the growth of Fàbregas and Wenger's later use of the defensive counterattack idea, Qin Xiong and Henry became the double arrows of counterattack in the front field. Qin Xiong's position was actually not fixed, covering the entire front field. He began to develop to the wings and accumulated experience when attacking from the wings.
When they arrived at Real Madrid, Bosque's modification of Qin Xiong activated his offensive ability to plug in from behind, making him a shadow striker. The entire front waist line existed with Qin Xiong's figure.
Therefore, there was no need to discuss the specific position Qin Xiong was fixed in. His flexibility needed the team to adapt, but at the same time, he also needed to be able to play to his full strength.
According to the changes in his role on the field during his career, it could be seen that Qin Xiong said that returning to the position of holding back from behind would limit his play. This was not aimless or acting like a big shot, because he had not been fixed in the role of the organizing midfielder for a long time.
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