The decision to nurture Manquillo instead of Wisdom is baffling. Was there really that much of a difference between those 2 when Rodgers decided to bring Manquillo in? We even had Flanno.
Anyway, Manquillo has been playing well, but I feel Wisdom would've been just as good.
I agree with you bringing our own youth players up through to the first team. Funnily enough I always thought Big Andre had all the physical attributes to play CB rather than full back. Not sure if he has ever played many games at CB?
The thing with CB's is there's a huge step up from youth football to professional level. They need to learn their trade as a "defender" before being thrown in at the deep end, this is why they usually make the step up at FB. It's easy to look at this move with hindsight and say he'd have been better staying, as I doubt very much that Brendan is thinking of him long term as a FB but as a CB.
The decision to bring in Manquillo was meant to be as cover for Glen and Flanno, nobody expected him to play as much as he has but due to the injuries both have suffered we've had no choice.
Brendan needs Andre to be playing regularly at as high a level as possible and that's exactly what he's doing, in his eyes he wouldn't have been getting that if he'd stayed.
We've not had much success with the loan system over recent years and I can understand why a lot of fans feel it's a death nell for the player when they do, however this is one of the reasons Brendan got rid of Rodolfo and McParland. Brendan uses the loan system to give the lads playing time in preparation for their senior career at Anfield. Some will come back as a success, others won't.
Andre is a superb CB, he's strong, an excellent header, great tackler, a good passer and he reads the game well but he needs playing time to make mistakes and learn from them away from the limelight. You can see how much he's improved in the last 12 months or so and he will only get better.
We have two excellent, young, right sided CB's away on loan in Andre and Ilori and for me it's no surprise that Brendan didn't replace Skrtel in the summer, as these two are our future.
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