I don't understand the first point. As I said, we got overrun in midfield too easily and that was addressed (to a point) by Henderson playing in one of the front 4 positions. By doing that we lost something in attack.
Not that hard to understand is it, when Allen (or a.n.other) came in for him in the losses 2nd half of the season we were no where near as fluid in attack or compact in midfield.
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by saying we lose something in attack when he plays? We scored around 30 more goals last season opposed to Kenny's season. We were also a darn sight more attack minded when he was in there providing the legs in midfield and was our highest scoring midfielder from open play and only behind Suarez, Sturridge and Coutinho (all arguably given more licence to attack).
I don't see Allen as a certain starter. He'll provide competition/cover for the 2 deeper CM roles. Something which I can't see Henderson doing - 2 successive managers have refused to play him there and you have to ask yourself why. You can sit there and be stubborn, saying that he should play in midfield but it's not going to happen - I'm not sure what you're basing your argument on either seeing as he's barely played a game there for us since he joined.
Well, I wouldn't use Kenny as an arguement for anything
eek
this was the guy that prefered Adam in CM
It's also well known that BR wanted Henderson out before he had even seen him play (didn't he nearly sign for Fulham for 4 million or something).
Also, in an ideal world, I don't see Lucas as a certain starter either. In a 4-2-3-1, with Gerrard most likely being one of the 2, we need a more physical, powerful defensive midfielder which is why I raised the question about whether you'd sell Henderson to pay for one.
I don't think any of us can say for certain who will be a definite starter for us at the moment, there is far too much in the air regarding our '1st 11'. I think it hinges on what happens with Suarez -it wouldn't surpise me if we had an home team/style of play & an away team/style of play.
He wouldn't be the first player I would sell to fund a move for a DM but he's expendable. It's clear that Rodgers (Dalglish didn't either) doesn't see him as an option in one of the 2 deeper CM roles and his opportunities in other roles have been marginalised by the arrival of Aspas and Alberto. Mkhitaryan would be the killer though - he'd do the exact same job that Henderson did (both tucked in on one of the wings or off the front) but he'd provide a genuine attacking threat too. He'd provide the energy and extra legs in midfield without having to sacrifice anything in attack.
I'd say Mkhitaryan is more a replacement for Downing or even Suarez at a long shot, with Sturridge becoming the main focual point of the attack:
---------Sturridge---------
Coutinho----------Mkhitaryan
I would also not play to much into 2 deeper CM's like we did last season as BR has gone on record as saying he prefers a 1|2 situation in midfield rather than 2|1 we did last year (mind you BR has also stated he sees Allen as the furthest forward of the midfield 3). Bear in mind this was the start of last season when we thought we would get "sterile domination" rather than the counterattacking team we evolved into.
Lastly, I could see us going nuts and playing 3 at the back on occasion (Gerrard as a Lothar Matthaus'esque sweeper):
--------Mignolet--------
----CB---Agger---CB----
--------Gerrard--------
-----Lucas---Hendersen-----
Alberto-Mkhitaryan-Coutinho
---------Sturridge----------
Yeah! lets go Champ Manager styleee
(apologies for the long windedness and not really having much to do with the sub-forum)
