A Unique Position

I have been mulling this over for a while, and I believe that we are in a very unique position as a club -  and it could if we are clever really play into our hands for next season...

Lets be honest, our season has gone a little differently than we would have liked with a manager sacked and a significant injury list. With 13 games left we sit in 9th place with a 12 point gap to the covered 4th spot and Champs League. We, by virtue of the League Cup, have a spot in the Europa (unless City drop 6 points to Utd and fall out of CL places) so no real need to push for 5th place.

So – why don’t we start blooding some of these young players in and giving the first team players a chance to get back to full fitness and be ready for the new season.

Im not saying throw the towel in, far from it... I also appreciate that some of the first team will want / need games to keep in form and upto the level they are used too – the FA cup and Europa will become their competitions in essence.

The benefits for me outweigh the risks;

We could unearth a few gems in the youth setup (Tex, Yesil, Brannagan, Illori)
      If we don’t, we put a lot of players who may never make it in the shop window to bolster transfer funds

   Out First team players will be a lot fitter and used to the pressure of the new style for next season (Sturridge, Origi, Hendo)
      They can adapt their training for this system to be ready for this from now to September
   
   The cups will get the best players with a chance we may even be able to field very strong teams without injury worries
      No issues on 3 games a week for some players as the rotation would be massive

I know this wont happen but even on a smaller scale would this not be worth us trying to do..?

Makes sense.

But I wonder what the 45,000 fans at Anfield who pay £50 every week will think watching Randall & Stewart play.

Makes sense.

But I wonder what the 45,000 fans at Anfield who pay £50 every week will think watching Randall & Stewart play.

In the case of Randall I think they would be happy to see some young local players given the chance over players like Lallana, Moreno, Benteke and Migs who have delivered nothing this season... Stewart is a London based player, but still from the youth setup and again I would rather see him get a chance over some of the dross we have put out.

I think we'll see one or two fairly well integrated by the end of the season mate.

Some of the youngsters who've been playing in the FA Cup games have shown they can be relied on when needed and at this stage of their development that's all that's required, certainly with the younger ones. 

Do that consistently, for the whole game and they'll start to be selected regularly.

Makes sense.

But I wonder what the 45,000 fans at Anfield who pay £50 every week will think watching Randall & Stewart play.

What a DM who can actually run, nah the faithful will hate it!

Makes sense.

But I wonder what the 45,000 fans at Anfield who pay £50 every week will think watching Randall & Stewart play.

They shouldn't care if we start playing better football and are actually winning games.

They shouldn't care if we start playing better football and are actually winning games.

Ok. Derby is coming up in a few weeks. Shall we play the cup team that played down at Exeter then? Will we play better football and win?

Despite how sh*t our first 11 is at the moment I wouldn't be very happy watching a youth/inexperienced team for the rest of the season in PL games that I pay a fortune for every week.

The young lads have done ok in the cups but haven't exactly been convincing apart from Exeter at home. We've scraped through a few rounds to be honest.

What a DM who can actually run, nah the faithful will hate it!

Are you actually suggesting playing Stewart ahead of Lucas?

Or that the Kop would prefer that?

What a load of bollocks.

Are you actually suggesting playing Stewart ahead of Lucas?

Or that the Kop would prefer that?

What a load of bollocks.

Well if we won with Stewart playing I can gaurantee you the kop would be happy.

Ok. Derby is coming up in a few weeks. Shall we play the cup team that played down at Exeter then? Will we play better football and win?

Despite how sh*t our first 11 is at the moment I wouldn't be very happy watching a youth/inexperienced team for the rest of the season in PL games that I pay a fortune for every week.

The young lads have done ok in the cups but haven't exactly been convincing apart from Exeter at home. We've scraped through a few rounds to be honest.

The thread isn't about that though is it?  It's about starting to integrate one or two into the league games, not play an u21s starting 11.

I want to see committed players, ones willing to bust their bollox off for the shirt.

I don't care if they are 18 or 28, if they are good enough play them.

Cant do a lot worse than what our so called international players are giving us.

I'm not sure anyone is advocating changing the whole team but I'm all for playing a few of the youngsters and see how they get on, we might as well, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain. Think of it as a return to Rafa's rotation :-)

I saw Fowler, Owen and Gerrard when they were kids and it was clear early on they had a big future I haven't seen any of our current crop of youngsters that are even close to forcing their way into a first team position and then making it their own.
Its the old dilemma of not having enough experience but not getting the game time to gain it.  I think Jürgen has been good in giving a lot of these lads a chance and I expect he will do the same again next season. Its unlikely we will go on a ten game winning streak in the league but until the top four is gone we have to keep trying.

The thread isn't about that though is it?  It's about starting to integrate one or two into the league games, not play an u21s starting 11.

That was my point - I wouldn't envisage the under 21's starting every prem game - but having 2 or more a game mixed in (not just given 5 mins at the end).

The point really was, I guess - should we carry on playing the lads who have delivered the results we have had this far or really see how the academy is developing and get some options?

Are you actually suggesting playing Stewart ahead of Lucas?

Or that the Kop would prefer that?

What a load of bollocks.

Lets be honest here - if we had signed Vardy and played him would you have liked that..? How do we know how good these players are until they get a run of games? They wont get this at the start of next season and 2 games at the end of this season will be pointless...

Reality is we are 9th in the league with almost nothing to play for so blooding youngsters may be a way of taking something out of this season into the next 3 or 4. What do we gain by playing the current crop we have week in week out?

That was my point - I wouldn't envisage the under 21's starting every prem game - but having 2 or more a game mixed in (not just given 5 mins at the end).

The point really was, I guess - should we carry on playing the lads who have delivered the results we have had this far or really see how the academy is developing and get some options?

Lets be honest here - if we had signed Vardy and played him would you have liked that..? How do we know how good these players are until they get a run of games? They wont get this at the start of next season and 2 games at the end of this season will be pointless...

Reality is we are 9th in the league with almost nothing to play for so blooding youngsters may be a way of taking something out of this season into the next 3 or 4. What do we gain by playing the current crop we have week in week out?

I've no idea what Jamie Vardy has got to do with this thread.

As Walt says, when Gerrard Owen and Fowler broke into the team you could tell from the first time they touched the ball they were special talents.

Who out of our youth/reserves do you think is good enough to play for Liverpool on what you've seen so far? Because we've scraped past a couple of rounds in the cups by playing the kids, against mediocre/poor opposition and not one has stood out. Ibe has been the best player out the lot in those teams yet he looks completely out of place in a proper PL game.

As I said before regardless of how sh*t we are at the moment, I don't think you can ask the paying fan who goes week in week out to sit there and watch our reserves or youth team players every week. How do you think a season ticket holder would feel with that? Paying £800 at the start of the season and then mid season just sulking and f**king everything off, dropping everyone and playing a few kids just to see if they can win a game.

 

It would be a big decision.

Are we really prepared to write off top four already? Previous managers woudl have been cricified for doing so.

If so I would definitely like to see a lot more of Ojo and Smith on the pitch  - they have both delivered in the brioef chances they have been given.

I've no idea what Jamie Vardy has got to do with this thread.

As Walt says, when Gerrard Owen and Fowler broke into the team you could tell from the first time they touched the ball they were special talents.

Who out of our youth/reserves do you think is good enough to play for Liverpool on what you've seen so far? Because we've scraped past a couple of rounds in the cups by playing the kids, against mediocre/poor opposition and not one has stood out. Ibe has been the best player out the lot in those teams yet he looks completely out of place in a proper PL game.

As I said before regardless of how sh*t we are at the moment, I don't think you can ask the paying fan who goes week in week out to sit there and watch our reserves or youth team players every week. How do you think a season ticket holder would feel with that? Paying £800 at the start of the season and then mid season just sulking and f**king everything off, dropping everyone and playing a few kids just to see if they can win a game.

 

Apart from yourself I would have thought most season holders would be happy and excited to see the likes of Ojo or even Kent get a run out rather than the plods Lallana and Milner.

Apart from yourself I would have thought most season holders would be happy and excited to see the likes of Ojo or even Kent get a run out rather than the plods Lallana and Milner.

Don't rate Lallana or Milner to be honest but I'm not confident Ojo or Kent have what it takes to play for Liverpool either from what I've seen of them so far.

I've no idea what Jamie Vardy has got to do with this thread.

As Walt says, when Gerrard Owen and Fowler broke into the team you could tell from the first time they touched the ball they were special talents.

Who out of our youth/reserves do you think is good enough to play for Liverpool on what you've seen so far? Because we've scraped past a couple of rounds in the cups by playing the kids, against mediocre/poor opposition and not one has stood out. Ibe has been the best player out the lot in those teams yet he looks completely out of place in a proper PL game.

As I said before regardless of how sh*t we are at the moment, I don't think you can ask the paying fan who goes week in week out to sit there and watch our reserves or youth team players every week. How do you think a season ticket holder would feel with that? Paying £800 at the start of the season and then mid season just sulking and f**king everything off, dropping everyone and playing a few kids just to see if they can win a game.

 

Our Youth doesn't have to be of the quality of Owen, Fowler or Stevie though, yes it's great when we get those types coming through but we should still be able to utilise the odd one or two for rotation purposes otherwise we just keep going out wasting money on more squaddies.

As for the fans, I think you're looking at it from a personal pov or from the perspective of someone coming to Anfield for the first time, or who doesn't get there very often or maybe from abroad as most of the regulars I know are crying out for the Academy lads to get a chance to show what they're capable of.

Our Youth doesn't have to be of the quality of Owen, Fowler or Stevie though, yes it's great when we get those types coming through but we should still be able to utilise the odd one or two for rotation purposes otherwise we just keep going out wasting money on more squaddies.

As for the fans, I think you're looking at it from a personal pov or from the perspective of someone coming to Anfield for the first time, or who doesn't get there very often or maybe from abroad as most of the regulars I know are crying out for the Academy lads to get a chance to show what they're capable of.

It does have to be that standard of quality though otherwise we just have another Jay Spearing or Martin Kelly on our books. We are guilty of rating our players well over the top, especially ones that are scouse or are brought up from the academy. Flanno is the perfect example. Reading the comments on here you would think he is the best full back the world has ever seen but in reality he is very average and pretty basic but we love him because he wears his heart on his sleeve.

Usually you can tell quite quickly if a footballer is special. You can see that raw talent in them. Might be on my own here but I've seen nothing from our younger lads or reserves to suggest they are good enough or will be good enough to perform at the highest standard.

I can say with confidence that Randall for example will be playing championship/league 1 football sooner than later. Harsh, but true.

Personally, I'm all for this but it has to be limited a little.  There is no sense in rotating the lot as we wouldn't have any frame of reference for the young lads to play to. However, if we rotate 2 or 3 each game and see how they perform alongside the "senior" players then we'll have a good barometer for which (if any) of the young lads have what it takes. 

As you mention, it would also allow us to keep our best players fresh and play them in the more important cup games that we actually have something to play for....

It does have to be that standard of quality though otherwise we just have another Jay Spearing or Martin Kelly on our books. We are guilty of rating our players well over the top, especially ones that are scouse or are brought up from the academy. Flanno is the perfect example. Reading the comments on here you would think he is the best full back the world has ever seen but in reality he is very average and pretty basic but we love him because he wears his heart on his sleeve.

Usually you can tell quite quickly if a footballer is special. You can see that raw talent in them. Might be on my own here but I've seen nothing from our younger lads or reserves to suggest they are good enough or will be good enough to perform at the highest standard.

I can say with confidence that Randall for example will be playing championship/league 1 football sooner than later. Harsh, but true.

That's an absolutely ridiculous statement to make and shows how little you know about Youth football.

"Prodigy's" coming straight out of an Academy into 1st team football at 18/19 are very, very rare, not unheard of obviously but still very rare.  To produce 1st team level teenagers, ready for the PL is virtually impossible and even at prodigy level there is still so much that can go wrong in those early years that even they can fall by the wayside.

Occasionally, in the past, there have been more than a few who came through together, the class of 92, Messi, Xavi and Inniesta to name a couple but since then - maybe the German NT that emerged recently but that was down to their FA deciding to take matters into their own hands.

What we should be able to rely on the Academy to do is bring through 1 or 2 every 3-5 seasons who are capable of earning a squad place, eventually becoming a 1st team regular and hope that every now and then we get a superstar and then keep hold of them. 

As for producing lower league level players, we've at least helped them fulfill their dreams of becoming professional footballers.  About 1 in 5000 coming through any Academy will make it at the very highest level, so I agree that most of the lads we've seen so far won't be good enough but we won't know who until they get the chance.

That's an absolutely ridiculous statement to make and shows how little you know about Youth football.

"Prodigy's" coming straight out of an Academy into 1st team football at 18/19 are very, very rare, not unheard of obviously but still very rare.  To produce 1st team level teenagers, ready for the PL is virtually impossible and even at prodigy level there is still so much that can go wrong in those early years that even they can fall by the wayside.

Occasionally, in the past, there have been more than a few who came through together, the class of 92, Messi, Xavi and Inniesta to name a couple but since then - maybe the German NT that emerged recently but that was down to their FA deciding to take matters into their own hands.

What we should be able to rely on the Academy to do is bring through 1 or 2 every 3-5 seasons who are capable of earning a squad place, eventually becoming a 1st team regular and hope that every now and then we get a superstar and then keep hold of them. 

As for producing lower league level players, we've at least helped them fulfill their dreams of becoming professional footballers.  About 1 in 5000 coming through any Academy will make it at the very highest level, so I agree that most of the lads we've seen so far won't be good enough but we won't know who until they get the chance.

So while you admit that our youth players aren't good enough we should just go ahead and play them anyway? Why?

They might look half decent playing in an U21 or an U18s game but putting them on the Anfield pitch with 45,000 spectators and playing against a proper experienced PL side then its a completely different game. How is it a ridiculous statement? Usually you can tell pretty much immediately if a player is special. Owen, Fowler, Gerrard all had that magic about them. Rooney did at the blueshite. Even defenders like Ashley Cole & John Terry were special when they broke into their senior teams. Everton signed a 19 year old Stones who looked special straight away. Its more rare actually that a player goes through his career without getting noticed and then suddenly turns into a world beater over night - like Jamie Vardy.

The first time I saw Jay Spearing play for Liverpool I knew he wouldn't make it. I can say the same about several of our current youth players and would be happy to place a bet with you right now and see where they are in 5 years time. Seems pointless though as you've confessed yourself they aren't good enough yet you insist on playing them?