The manager needs to establish one preferred system and one preferred best starting XI. He should then build a squad around that set-up. And no other top European club has two big star players for every single position, so we should be able to do well under the same circumstances.
Who in our current squad is a given starter, the best in his respective position? And is he really good enough or should we look to improve?
For example, the right back position: Maicon is fantastic going forward, but not equally good defending. Zabaleta is all round very good, but we might need more then very good, we might need great. As for Richards... I don't know what to think. The best way to foresee the future is to look into the past. he's been injured a lot the past years and seems to be a very fragile beast.
So we have at least three players who could play right back, but is anyone of them given starters?
Get rid of anyone who isn't either 1) a given starter or 2) a great sqaud member, who's willing to accept his primary role as a back-up.
Build a formidable starting XI, keep great sqaud players to make the numbers, such as Zabaleta, Milner and Pantlimon and bring in more of the same calibre.