The transfer terrorists and their sneaky, little dirty bombs

If you are like me, you are already tired of all the speculations and half-fabrications pertaining to potential transfers involving our beloved club.  The silly season is upon us and since my two pence is worth at least one-fiftieth quid, I figure I'll have a go at deciphering through this radioactive mess.  I don't claim to have an advantage of who we may bring in, but I can at least give my thoughts on who is 'surplus to the cause'.

Lucas Leiva
I'm really on the fence about Lucas.  As much as I think we should keep him, part of me thinks the Lucas of three seasons ago is gone and he shan't return.  His injuries have become too frequent and though his passing and ball-handling skills have improved, he appears slower than ever and that's saying a lot considering pace was never one of his strengths.  At least now, with the addition of Can, we won't have to rely on him as much.

Daniel Agger
Absolutely not, losing Agger would be a greater loss than losing Suarez.  He was our best centre back last year and unless Sakho proves his worth early on next season, Agger should be around for a few more years.

Iago Aspas
Here's an interesting stat concerning Aspas... oh wait, there are no interesting stats concerning him.  Give'em a ticket and say bon voyage.

Fabio Borini
Even without the addition of Rickie Lambert, Borini should be shipped out.  In 2692 Premiership minutes, playing for Sunderland, Liverpool, and Chelsea, he has scored 8 goals, 3 of which are penalties, and assisted on 3 more.  For a comparison, he scored 9 goals in 1680 minutes for Roma in Serie A.  He doesn't have the pace nor the technical ability to make up for the lack of pace to make it in the Prem.  I say sell him to Sunderland or use him as bait to get a versatile defender like Federico Fazio.

Ousama Assaidi
Assaidi had a decent spell at Stoke last season, but not enough to really consider keeping him.  His ccp90 of 1.53, shooting accuracy of 45%, shot % of 20%, and a TTI90 of 8.6 are all respectable numbers, but he'll be 26 in August.  If he was 23, I'd say keep him around for another season, but it's time to cut ties and try to get back at least some of what we paid for him.

Jack Robinson
Robinson's loan spell at Blackpool probably did more for his character development than it did for his skills. Blackpool started the season in decent form, sitting on 31 points 17 matches into the season, than the ship ran aground.  They lost 20 of their remaining 29 matches, even bringing in Barry Ferguson as the manager did little to help their slide.  Was Robinson integral to their fall? Not really.  Despite picking up 3 red cards, 2 of which were in their first 17 matches, Robinson's output was respectable:

npgp90	0	pass%	71.7	gap90	1.44	intp90	2.27
gcp90	0.1	bp%	37.3	gsp90	0.83	clrp90	5.3
ccp90	0.77	sacc%	8.3	gop90	-0.61	bsp90	0.35
ap90	0.1	shot%	0	tgop90	-0.61	adwp90	1.4
ccv	12.5	TTI90	11.7	tp90	1.95	adwon%	57.1
				tack %	51.3

Ferguson even deployed Robinson at left mid for 4 matches with mixed results.  Being only 20, I expect him to be loaned out again and hopefully show more promise than last season.

As for Suso, Wisdom, Kelly, Coady, Yesil, and Ibe, unless they vehemently demand to leave, we should hold on to them.  The first three can contribute now, while the latter three probably need seasoning at a Championship side to improve their game.

How Liverpool & Suarez can benefit from his ban

Instead of looking on the punishment FIFA dished out Suarez as a huge dark cloud that will doom our season, let's look at some possible positives.  First and foremost, Suarez needs some time off.  Despite his two goals in the England match, he was dreadful, and he was even more useless against Italy.  In fact, since his hat-trick against Cardiff on March 22nd, he scored 3 goals and had 1 assist in our final 8 league matches.  In the previous 25 matches, he had 28 goals and 12 assists, he is clearly burnt out and an extended rest will do him wonders.

His absence allows others to get more playing time, specifically Emre Can, probably Rickie Lambert, and possibly Samed Yeşil & Jerome Sinclair.  Though I believe Rodgers brought Can in to eventually be our first choice DM, he can play box-to-box just as effectively.  I for one can't wait to see how he, Gerrard, Hendo, and Lucas are played and interact. I also think Yeşil and Sinclair deserve decent chances to show us what they can offer, probably just in cup ties though.  What I don't wish is for Borini to get more pitch time.

Everybody stay calm, we still have Sturridge, Sterling, Coutinho, and hopefully, Suso.  The latter might now benefit the most from Suarez' absence and I hope this convinces Rodgers to let him stay and play.  What worries me about Sturridge is that he will get burnt out as well, but if BR knows what's best for him, he'll let our number 15 stay home from all the off-season promotional tours and rest up until the season starts.  If we truly added Sanchez then we'll have even less issue with player wear.  If we add Shaqiri, we won't miss a beat.

Finally, we are now no longer one of the favorites to win the league, which is not necessarily a bad thing.  Pressure's off, no one thinks we have a chance, much like last season.  If we can come out and be competitive until Suarez' return, we'll be in great position to win the league.  I have a feeling if Suarez is still around, he's gonna come out on fire and give everyone else a rest as he wins a few fixtures by himself.  He's done it before.