Liverpool Squad is too Big

Liverpool squad is too big

UEFA's general secretary David Taylor has led calls from the governing body questioning the need for the very biggest clubs to maintain such massive playing squads, with the the case of Liverpool, who have 62 senior players registered, being highlighted by Taylor as especially baffling and unhealthy.

"Ridiculous. 62? You could have two full-size practice games," Taylor told The Observer.

"You can only field 11 at one time. It's an open question as to how many you actually need. Is it 20, 25?"

The same newspaper also reports that Taylor responded to a question asking him what benefit he felt clubs such as Liverpool gained from such a huge squad he responded, "You'd have to ask them."

Taylor also supports limiting the size of club's squads, as in the Champions League where only 25 players can be registered. He added, "UEFA has been in the vanguard of this and we certainly feel it's very useful. But that's for organizers of domestic leagues to decide among the clubs."

Liverpool have loaned out 17 players this season to a host of clubs, with many youngsters feeling frustrated at the lack of opportunities, according to The Observer, with one player, Craig Lindfield, aged 20, on loan at Accrington Stanley, saying, "That's the difference between Liverpool and other clubs, young lads get more of a chance elsewhere."

Meanwhile, Gordon Taylor, head of the PFA agrees with UEFA's general secretary and also feels it leads to players being lost to the game who actually have the talent to earn a living from it.

"Six hundred each year join Premier and Football League clubs at 16," he said.

"Of those, 500 will be out of the game by 21. It's a big wastage and not good enough. We have got to look at improving the ­success rate of academies and centers of excellence.

"Those who don't make it at the top don't necessarily make it lower down. Skills and technique don't always count as much as strength and ­competitiveness. We're finding a big black hole between 19 and 21."

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=goal_uefa_secretary_slams&prov=goal&type=lgns

I was surprised to see 62 players in the squad so I decided to check for it my-self and indeed it is true. 62 is a crazy number of players to have on your books, should be looking more towards 40-45 players in the first team and reserves.


1    Diego Cavalieri    GK
2    Andrea Dossena    D
3    Sami Hyypia    D
4    Daniel Agger    D
5    Steven Gerrard    M
6    Fernando Torres    A
7    Andriy Voronin    A
8    Albert Riera    M
9    Fabio Aurelio    D
10    Xabi Alonso    M
11    Yossi Benayoun    M
12    Jermaine Pennant    M
13    Alvaro Arbeloa    D
14    Dirk Kuyt    A
15    Ryan Babel    M
16    Javier Mascherano    M
17    Lucas Leiva    M
18    Emiliano Insua    D
19    Jamie Carragher    D
20    David Ngog    A
21    Pepe Reina    GK
22    Jay Spearing    M
23    Philipp Degen    D
24    Damien Plessis    M
25    Krisztian Nemeth    A
26    Charles Itandje    GK
27    Nabil El Zhar    A
28    Stephen Darby    D
29    Martin Kelly    D
30    Ryan Flynn    M
31    Steven Irwin    D
32    Martin Skrtel    D
33    Craig Lindfield    A
34    Nathan Eccleston    A
35    Martin Hansen    GK
36    Peter Gulacsi    GK
37   Godwin Antwi    D
38   Daniel Sanchez Ayala    D
39   Vincent Lucas Weijl    M
40   Vitor Coutinho Flora    A
41   Victor Palsson    M
42   Zsolt Poloskei    M
43   Dean Bouzanis    GK
44   Emmanuel Mendy    D
45   Nikola Saric    A
46   Paul Anderson    M
47   Gerardo Alfredo Bruna Blanco    M
48   Daniel Pacheco    A
49   Mikel San Jose Dominguez    D
50   Jordy Brouwer    A
51   Ryan Crowther    M
52   Sebastian Leto    M
53   Gary Mackay-Steven    M
54   Andras Simon    
55   Ray Putterill    M
56   Francisco Duran    M
57   Robbie Threlfall    D
58   Miki Roque    D
59   Jack Hobbs    D
60   Ronald Huth    D
61   David Martin    GK
62   Adam Hammill    M

Some of these are in the academy too, but also some of this 62 man are on loan too. But still it is a crazy number. But even so, these foreign kids still join Liverpool FC despite the number at the club which is a good thing and also there is plenty of competition for places which keeps everyone of them on toes.

1    Diego Cavalieri    GK
2    Andrea Dossena    D
3    Sami Hyypia    D
4    Daniel Agger    D
5    Steven Gerrard    M
6    Fernando Torres    A
7    Andriy Voronin    A
8    Albert Riera    M
9    Fabio Aurelio    D
10    Xabi Alonso    M
11    Yossi Benayoun    M
12    Jermaine Pennant    M
13    Alvaro Arbeloa    D
14    Dirk Kuyt    A
15    Ryan Babel    M
16    Javier Mascherano    M
17    Lucas Leiva    M
18    Emiliano Insua    D
19    Jamie Carragher    D
20    David Ngog    A
21    Pepe Reina    GK
22    Jay Spearing    M
23    Philipp Degen    D
24    Damien Plessis    M
25    Krisztian Nemeth    A
26    Charles Itandje    GK
27    Nabil El Zhar    A
28    Stephen Darby    D
29    Martin Kelly    D
30    Ryan Flynn    M
31    Steven Irwin    D
32    Martin Skrtel    D
33    Craig Lindfield    A
34    Nathan Eccleston    A
35    Martin Hansen    GK
36    Peter Gulacsi    GK
37   Godwin Antwi    D
38   Daniel Sanchez Ayala    D
39   Vincent Lucas Weijl    M
40   Vitor Coutinho Flora    A
41   Victor Palsson    M
42   Zsolt Poloskei    M
43   Dean Bouzanis    GK
44   Emmanuel Mendy    D
45   Nikola Saric    A
46   Paul Anderson    M
47   Gerardo Alfredo Bruna Blanco    M
48   Daniel Pacheco    A
49   Mikel San Jose Dominguez    D
50   Jordy Brouwer    A
51   Ryan Crowther    M
52   Sebastian Leto    M
53   Gary Mackay-Steven    M
54   Andras Simon   
55   Ray Putterill    M
56   Francisco Duran    M
57   Robbie Threlfall    D
58   Miki Roque    D
59   Jack Hobbs    D
60   Ronald Huth    D
61   David Martin    GK
62   Adam Hammill    M

Being brutal that could be next season (Sammi taking a coaching role of course)

To be honest - it has got nothing to do with UEFA how many players Liverpool have.

As Liverpool are not funded by wealthy individuals then the club has the right to amass as many talented young players from the UK and abroad who will hopefully either become first team regulars or amass a substantial fee for the club on their sale.

Liverpool have used 30 players this season so far in first team games, and at least 15 of that 62 must be out on loan.  With the requirement for 18 squad players to be picked per game, and the fact that due to the reds success they find themselves playing generally two games a week - having any less than about the 45 'active' we have would mean sending players to reserve games etc when they could be missing a first team game, or a European game for instance the next day.

So my message to David Taylor would be one of 'go F**k yourself'.

Isn't it ironic that we're the number one and most feared club in Europe at present.

And we're being used as an example.....

Isn't it ironic that we're the number one and most feared club in Europe at present.

And we're being used as an example.....

Very true.  Maybe if UEFA stopped adding the number of subs on you need and went back to one sub then clubs wouldn't need such big squads?

Bunch of bellends.

Why do they always quote us, are they trying to undermine us again now that we are flying. Frankly its none of their business how many staff we have.

I think there is a case for having a Liverpool B team in the, league 2 this would give smaller teams bigger attendances and the chance for liverpool B to gain league experience without stupid loans all the time. The teams who do have B teams in the league should not be able to play in the league cup so there is no clash of values, FA cup they should be banned from meeting, . Just a thought. Lets face it there is goint to be a european league within five  years anyway.

I think there is a case for having a Liverpool B team in the, league 2 this would give smaller teams bigger attendances and the chance for liverpool B to gain league experience without stupid loans all the time. The teams who do have B teams in the league should not be able to play in the league cup so there is no clash of values, FA cup they should be banned from meeting, . Just a thought. Lets face it there is goint to be a european league within five  years anyway.

Well that is what they do in Spain and I remember a couple of years ago a few manager were complaining the reserve league is too poor and not good enough jumping block to the first team.

They're should definitely be a higher standard of reserve games.

I think Liverpool reserves went 4 weeks or so without a game in February.  What's that all about? I'm sure I read somewhere that, maybe Scotland, they are introducing B-teams for Celtic, Rangers etc.  Why not do it here - it's done in Spain and Italy isn't it?

To be honest - it has got nothing to do with UEFA how many players Liverpool have.

It is the whole platform thing on the issue of cap and squad number restriction and from someone who follows the MLS who have strict rules it sucks big time.

UEFA don't really have much say in the matter to be honest.  They set a squad cap on the Champions League which is fair enough, of 25 players but even they allow teams to change that in January.

Obviously at some point in the past week United must have released a player taking their squad to 61, so now UEFA feel it's an important time to discuss this.

UEFA should be spending their time clamping down on the hooliganism in Rome, their chosen home for the European Cup Final, and learning how to ticket a major sporting event, and maybe putting fans and not big spending corporations first before trying to make an example of their number one ranked football club.

Personally I don't like the idea of having reserve sides in the football league.

At what level do they start? And if our reserve side goes straight into League 2 then what about those in the confernce, Burton for example who are walking away with it, who've worked all season to get there just to be told "sorry lads, Liverpool's reserve side is taking your place" or the other side those who will find themselves being relegated because of it "sorry Bournmouth, we know you've knocked off the 15 points we docked you before a ball was kicked and you've now put Chester and Grimsby in trouble of going down but you're going down as well because Liverpool's reserves want to play in the league."

So for us to go straight into the football league would end up F***ing those who deserve to be there about or congesting the fixtures so much that there's 50 games a season. Because you can't just stop at Liverpool and the other big clubs. Even League 2 sides have reserve and youth sides as well, so don't they deserve a place?

Plus what happens if our reserve side do end up being promoted to the Premiership. What happens when the first team meet the reserves? What happens if Benitez wants Agger for example to sit on the first team bench but Ablett wants Agger in his reserve's starting XI?

For me it's just a bad idea all round. But the FA do have to do something about reserve football because it's quickly disappearing into a thing of the past. They have to somehow rejuvinate that level of football because otherwise it won't exist in 10-15 years.

Why do uefa have to pick on us leave us alone and let us do what we want

On the note of our squad being too big, isn't the old phrase "if you've got it show it"

isnt half of this big squad thing the fact that to name players for CL then they must be in the squad, so by naming a big squad, probably only half are senior squad, if that, rafa has let options open on choices on CL games, if a certain youngster is showing good promise, or we are severly depleted through injuries in one area.

in reality i believe we have a fairly small senoir squad compared to the like of manure n chelski. they have serious strengh in depth, and can have 50 million plus sat on the bench, ridiculous amounts.

Personally I don't like the idea of having reserve sides in the football league.

At what level do they start? And if our reserve side goes straight into League 2 then what about those in the confernce, Burton for example who are walking away with it, who've worked all season to get there just to be told "sorry lads, Liverpool's reserve side is taking your place" or the other side those who will find themselves being relegated because of it "sorry Bournmouth, we know you've knocked off the 15 points we docked you before a ball was kicked and you've now put Chester and Grimsby in trouble of going down but you're going down as well because Liverpool's reserves want to play in the league."

So for us to go straight into the football league would end up f**king those who deserve to be there about or congesting the fixtures so much that there's 50 games a season. Because you can't just stop at Liverpool and the other big clubs. Even League 2 sides have reserve and youth sides as well, so don't they deserve a place?

Plus what happens if our reserve side do end up being promoted to the Premiership. What happens when the first team meet the reserves? What happens if Benitez wants Agger for example to sit on the first team bench but Ablett wants Agger in his reserve's starting XI?

For me it's just a bad idea all round. But the FA do have to do something about reserve football because it's quickly disappearing into a thing of the past. They have to somehow rejuvinate that level of football because otherwise it won't exist in 10-15 years.

They wont just walk into the league.They would have to earn it just like other teams.Let all the clubs who want their reserves to play in Legue 2 put them in a lower league & whoever can qulaify for league 2 should play in it whether it be Liverpool reserves or Chester.

Regarding conflict of interest if the reserves also get promoted to Pl,that is never going to happen.Real Madrid B team has been playing in the lower league for so long & have never been promoted to the PL.Theres a reason behind that,if some player is playing superbly in reserves then either he would be called up for the first team or loaned out to some other club playing in the top league or a top foreign league.

I believe this idea of Liverpool B playing in a lower league is a fair shout & would only increase the competetiveness of the league which would be good for all.

They're should definitely be a higher standard of reserve games.

I think Liverpool reserves went 4 weeks or so without a game in February.  What's that all about? I'm sure I read somewhere that, maybe Scotland, they are introducing B-teams for Celtic, Rangers etc.  Why not do it here - it's done in Spain and Italy isn't it?

They should return to the old reserve system  where the reserves played the reserve team that the first team was playing.If the first team was at home to Bolton for example the reserves would be away to Bolton.It is ridiculous that the reserves can go 4 weeks without playing a match

They should return to the old reserve system  where the reserves played the reserve team that the first team was playing.If the first team was at home to Bolton for example the reserves would be away to Bolton.It is ridiculous that the reserves can go 4 weeks without playing a match

That's what it should be. They should play matches every week. They aren't going to develop playing a match every other month.

They should return to the old reserve system  where the reserves played the reserve team that the first team was playing.If the first team was at home to Bolton for example the reserves would be away to Bolton.It is ridiculous that the reserves can go 4 weeks without playing a match

What incentive is there for lower clubs' reserves teams then?

It opens up a massive debate but they should start in the Conference IMO.

Do we have the biggest squad in the world?? i dont think so. i thing a lots of other clubs have simliar size of squad as Liverpool!

We do seem to have a lot of mediocre players that are never going to be good enough to play at the top level and i think Frank Mcparland is looking at this very issue at this moment.It got nothing to do with Uefa, Fifa  or the FA. I think that all Squad players should be playing each week in either the 1st team or reserve team but the reserves dont seem to play that much these days.We do seem to have a scatter gun approach to finding young players and bring in far too many in my opinion.
What worries me most is that after Stevie and Jamie finish who will be our local lads its hard to imagine a Liverpool team without local lads in it.

62 players is just absurd, honestly. The other 40 players or so well, to be honest, they will never break into the first team squad. Others are just getting loaned and loaned out, and its like we having a huge but poor playing quality staff. We'll need to revamp this. Firstly we'll have to get rid of the players not needed at all, either release or just sell them away. Then we'll have to go to the streets of Mersey to unearth the next Gerrard. We can just keep employing random squad players in hope of discovering a potential star.

Do we have the biggest squad in the world?? I dont think so. I thing a lots of other clubs have simliar size of squad as Liverpool!

doesn't make it a good thing necessarily though. i'm not saying we need to turn the clock back to the dark ages but the way the big clubs hoover up all the talented players of all ages and just keep so many of them hidden away rotting is hardly a good thing...OK for the handful of top clubs like us but not forsmaller clubs,l not for ypunger players in general, and not for the overall health and competitiveness of the sport of football in general.

basically too much power is concentrated in too few clubs. you may not be bothered about it now but the Premier League is basically doomed as I see it. Already most of the teams are only playing for survival and the few that achieve UEFA Cup places can't afford to compete fully in them. So what exactly is the point of the Premier League. It is becoming exceedingly boring.