The Liverpool squad as it stands today is not a million miles away from being able to give Manchester United and Chelsea a run for their money. The timing of a takeover is important because we badly need players in key positions. If we are going to be a threat to the other contenders for the Premiership title next season it would be a massive advantage to be able to bring in these players during the January transfer window.

Liverpool have been a transition club from the day Gerard Houlier took over, right up to the present Rafael Benitez era. We have been playing catch-up in all these years to Manchester United and Chelsea. Every year we have had to improve our squad and it has cost us dearly. We are a team that starts the first half of the season badly and finishes the second half strongly. This is not our only reason for poor starts - inferior players that our budget forced us to buy had a hand in it.

Next season could be very different. The Premiership is the hardest league in the world and probably the hardest to get used to, so if we can get our new signings acclimatised by the start of next season we should have a very strong team that is capable of getting off to a running start. Our defence is very good as Jamie Carragher and Co have become real stingy in giving goals away, but we still have the problem that has haunted us for the last couple of seasons - putting the ball in the net.

Even though we have the majority of possession in games, we lack the creativity and the natural goal-finishing instincts of a young Robbie Fowler in his prime. Up front Dirk Kuyt is the closest we have to a 20-goals-a-season man, but I think he is having to play a little out of position further back trying to create chances for other players.

The Bolton game was a perfect example. He set up the first two goals from a position between midfield and the forward line but when the game loosened up and we could afford him to go further forward, he scored the third and he is deadly once he gets a sniff of a goal. But we also need a striker who is more selfish and is only concerned with putting the ball in the back of the net.

The main positions we need to fill are the wings - we lack world-class quality there. At the moment we have Jermain Pennant, who can send in a huge amount of crosses in a game, but sadly most of them do not hit the target bad and he seems very unwilling to cut into the centre and run at defences. Mark Gonzalez on the other side seems very lightweight, but he is going through our normal problem of settling in.

Both these players fail to offer attacking creativity. A fit Harry Kewell would be a very interesting prospect but Liverpool cannot afford to gamble on his fitness, so we must buy two world-class wingers and if we can get them now, next season could be a whole new ball game.

Where do you think Liverpool need to improve? Sportingo welcomes your views and comments.