Liverpool replace reserve team boss

Segura takes over reserves

Liverpool FC confirmed today that Academy technical director Pep Segura will take charge of the reserve team for the remainder of the season and will be assisted by U16s coach Steve Cooper.
 

John McMahon has passed his responsibilities as reserve team manager to Pep with immediate effect.

A Liverpool FC spokesman said: "The Club have conducted a thorough review of all operations based at our Academy as part of our overall strategy to constantly improve our youth and professional player performance.

"We have a clear vision of the way ahead and a number of changes will now be put in place to help us to build on the considerable progress already made. Pep Segura will step in as reserve team manager on a temporary basis for the remainder of this term only, before a revised structure is put in place this summer. He will be assisted over the next few months by Steve Cooper."

                                  http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/segura-takes-over-reserves

I thought John McMahon was doing a decent job.

Just seen the news.
Thanks John McMahon. Good luck in the future.
Segura in charge on a temporary basis before the structure is revised in the summer.
Hope the revised structure is one that gets the talent in our current academy through to the first team

Bit of a shock that. Wonder what has happenned.

Heard rumours of that the last few days, can understand to be honest

I don't think he would have been sacked, at least i hope not.

I thought John McMahon was doing a damn good job, only thing I can think of is he doesn't like the new revised structure and he's decided to take a break 

Hope it doesn't affect the players, they've had a lot of matches in the last few weeks, and doing well, hope they keep the momentum going to the end of the season.

Not since the halcyon days of Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen have young creative players flourished at Liverpool. The question is WHY? For me, the answer can (partly) be gleaned from John McMahon's recent comments about Liverpool youth prospect Suso:

"He turned 17 on Friday and hopefully he has a bright future at the club. He'll only have that future if he keeps working hard and listens to what the coaching staff are saying to him. But he knows that and we hope he will start working twice as hard now.

"We are looking at developing the whole player here. He has good attributes going forward and in the wide areas but he still needs to learn the other side of the game. He needs to know about the discipline and work that's required in a team, like tracking back, tackling and staying with runners. By playing him in midfield, like we did with Pacheco last year, it will hopefully add that other side to his game".

As a fan of creative players - and the club - these comments really make my blood boil. It's the same old outdated English football thinking that has blighted the sport for decades: complete disregard for the creative aspects of a young player's game and the institution of a system of coaching that 'breeds out' creative instincts by placing the emphasis on tackling, tracking back and 'working hard'.

As we have seen many times over the years, this process of destroying a youngster's creative instincts leads to demotivation and disinterest, with the end result being the young player leaves the club. And who can blame them? When these players are being told all the time time that they're not tackling/tracking back enough, and their natural instincts are being curbed, it's inevitable that they will grow frustrated and ultimately end up leaving.

Furthermore, McMahon's emphasis on 'developing the whole player' is equally maddening. Why do we need a team full of players who can do everything, and play in 5 different positions?! What happened to developing postional specialists? Does Lionel Messi play in 5 different positions? Can he?! WHO CARES. He's a specialist at what he does, and his creative talent has been nurtured and encouraged, and this has allowed him to thrive.

The opposite is true in English football: being good creatively is not good enough; being a specialist in your position is not good enough; you are not deemed to be 'premiership ready' unless you can run 10 miles a game and spend 90% of your time tackling and tracking back and/or playi

To underline his view on 'developing the whole player', McMahon also said the following about Dani Pacheco:

"The boss (Roy Hodgson) is keen on him. He sees Dani filling those wide roles, so when he plays for the reserves he occupies those positions and learns to adapt and play in them. It's good for his development to learn several roles and it will only benefit him, especially if he's required to do a job for the first-team."

Again, instead of developing his creative strengths, McMahon seems dead-set on forcing Pacheco to learn 'several roles'. Apparently, this will 'benefit him'. More than likely, it will dilute Pacheco's effectiveness and have a detrimental impact on his development. No wonder he allegedly wants to leave.

It really is massively frustrating to see this attitude at Liverpool. It is clear that the entire coaching philosophy for young creative players at the club is WRONG and needs to change.

Quique Gonzalez, the former Cadiz youth team coach, said this about Suso when Liverpool signed him:

"He is a left-sided midfielder with extraordinary talent. He has great quality, a good shot, his vision is great and his passing is outstanding. He has a bit of everything and I think they have signed a jewel. He can dribble well and does have great vision. He could be effective playing in the middle.

"What is very important though is that he can score goals. He likes to go into the area as part of the second wave. He has scored a good number of goals from distance too, that is one of his qualities".

Well, Liverpool fans can forget about ever seeing any evidence of this 'extraordinary talent' - if Suso ever makes it into the first team, all evidence of that individual flair will have been exorcised, and he will have probably have instructions to defend for 90% of the time. See Ryan Babel for a prime example of this.

Like so many before him, Suso will not make it; he will not be allowed to make it as the criteria for judging his 'development' will be the following:

* Does he defend enough?
* Does he track back enough?
* Does he tackle enough?
* Does he run enough?

On these counts, he will fail. Messi would also fail this test, as would Maradona, Zidane, Ronaldo, McManaman, Fowler and countless other superb creative talents down the years.

To his credit, Trevor Brooking is fighting a thankless battle to change this anachronistic and outdated approach to coaching in England. He summed it up best with the following insight:

"We...need to change what is being coached. Let's have more small-sided games so that they have more ball time. Let's allow them to have fun, take away the importance of winning and stop the young players being afraid of making mistakes. Concentrate on first touch and technique, allow that a short pass can often be more of a killer ball than the big hoof up to the centre-forwards."

That is the problem in a nutshell, and John McMahon's comments should be a cause for concern for every Liverpool fan, and the Liverpool FC hierarchy (IMO).

When it comes to creative, attacking players, Liverpool's youth coaching philosophy needs to change. 12 years of abject failure is proof of that.

It's time to start allowing creative youth players thrive. It's time to start developing, encouraging and PRIORITISING the attacking talent and technique of young players. If that means they don't spend all their time expending energy on tackling and tracking back SO BE IT.

Did John Barnes and Peter Beardsley run as much as Dirk Kuyt? NO. Did McManaman and Fowler constantly track back all the time? NO. Did it make a blind bit of difference to their superb creative impact on Liverpool FC? NO.

STOP STIFLING THE CREATIVE INSTINCTS OF LIVERPOOL'S YOUNG PLAYERS.

If a positive coaching change is not implemented then Liverpool will have another 12 years of creative youth failure to look forward to.

And won't that be nice?

For your own sanity then I might suggest you read more of the insights from Rodolfo Borrell and Pep Segura. These are the men who have been charged, only last season, with turning our youth system around. It is clearly working at the youth level. Maybe now, at reserve level, they have been given further influence to instil their vision within the club.

Clear that McMahon didn't fit in with the ideas that the club have for our youth development.

It is such a difficult area for the club to focus on, and I'm sure the Academy Director knows what he is doing.  At the end of the day the buck stops with him.

If he feels that the Under 18's are moving up to the reserves and hitting a brick wall in development then he has to replace the man in charge of the reserves.

Hope these changes in the summer don't touch the Academy's coaches that are doing a terrific job I think.

Having led Olympiakos to a league and cup double, it might seem surprising that Pep Segura has accepted to move back into youth football. Yet, that is where he seems to be most comfortable at.

“I have been in football coaching for the past twenty-six years but only for the past three years have I been working in the senior game.

I was the link between Barcelona B and the first team in my final season at the Nou Camp and then spent two years in Greece.”

Given their success in the Champions League with a squad built around home grown players, it is fashionable to try and copy the Barcelona model.
That seems to be what Liverpool have gone for and Segura, with eight years of experience at the Catalan giants, seems perfectly suited to do just that.

“One of the keys to success at an academy is to have a clear training and playing ideology throughout the different age-groups so that the players can learn about their positions. Once that’s in place you can leave them on their own.”

“Then there’s the ability to spot players: Messi, Bojan and Iniesta are there because they’re good.
True, they came and liked what they saw so they decided to stay at Barcelona.
That is also very important.”

“Yet, the secret to continuing with this production line is that everyone knows what their role is, which makes it all easier. Once you have set up the way you work, then year on year you can build on it and get results. I remember that there were some problems when the 4-3-3 style was imposed but they were overcome and the teams play well.”

Source:   Spanish Newspaper   A S. (Archive) May 2009.


4-3-3.
Remember that Chavs?

Thanks for your time and effort John

Burdogcallingbat21

Great post - you highlighted a lot of problems with english coaching.

Beardsley was told he'd never make it because he wasn't big enough - like quite a few other players.

We need a different mindset - football isn't all about physical attributes, or being rigid.

Kinell, it's supposed to be a free flowing game, full of guile, intelligence, skill and a certain amount of athleticism.

Unfortunately, athleticism and rigidity have become the benchmark - which is why we never do well in international tourneys.

Thanks for your efforts John, but you're out of date mate.

Hope this can improve the chance of youngsters from academy to develop in reserve and step up into first team. I believed that Segura and Borrel were worked together for long time they also form the same model at Barcelona, so I can see good things to come.
And like Brian78 said above, Thanks for your time and effort John.

Dont want to turn it into a rafa thread but do you thibk this could be an opening for him?

Dont want to turn it into a rafa thread but do you thibk this could be an opening for him?

Just goes to show you never know what's happening behind closed doors. On one hand they are saying the youth set up is great, then they go and change it. Funny that.

Just goes to show you never know what's happening behind closed doors. On one hand they are saying the youth set up is great, then they go and change it. Funny that.

What?

Maybe I've read this wrong and it's me being F***ing stupid but is it not the case that the great progress being made at youth level is being stifled at reserves level and that's why the change is being made?

Dont want to turn it into a rafa thread but do you thibk this could be an opening for him?

Seriously Shabs, Rafa isn't going to be returning anytime soon, stop going on about him returning.

Cheers for your efforts John, but he clearly had a different philosophy to what we wanted, so been replaced. Another step taken on the road to restarting that conveyor belt of talent, everyone on the same wavelength from U18's to the first team.

If this move means that the obvious talent we have at Youth level will have a better transition into the 1st team then I'm all for it.

It's good to see that the Club aren't afraid to change the status quo for the benefit of everyone.

Thanks for the work you've done John and good luck in the future.

I have to agree with the general mood here, the reserves are struggling to make the step up so a lot of them are stuck in the squad whilst the youth who are progressing well are then struggling to get into a crowded reserves squad. The production of players at a club has to run smoothly from the bottom to the top. When the club goes out and signs a 15 year old they have to have a clear vision of where they want him to be and how to get him there! And I think this move is a statement of intent, we have the players, lets use them!

Sorry for throwing out the usual examples but Barca and Arsenal have that smooth tranistion through the stages. Come to think of it Southampton is a very good example too. People think bringing in a young player is a risk, is it more of a risk than bringing in a player from abroad on a big fee and big wages with no experience in the Premier League or understanding of the clubs philosophies. Or bring in a player that has worked his way up for that moment, been bred into our footballing ways, monitored by a team of our own coaches and costs relatively little?

I'm a big fan of producing your own talent, I find they have that little bit more hunger and desire, and a better understanding of the club and fans. This move ultimately is for the best interests of the future of our club.

Thanks John. YNWA

What?

Maybe I've read this wrong and it's me being f**king stupid but is it not the case that the great progress being made at youth level is being stifled at reserves level and that's why the change is being made?

Oh come... Didn't think I needed to spell it out. Our previous boss appoints two coaches in the youth set up "leaves them alone" they do well he gets the credit. He appoints the reserve team coach works with him and it fucks up, Kenny replaces him and he still gets the credit hehehe you couldn't make it up honestly.

Ya Rafa deserves great credit for bringing in them 2 coaches in, we will reap the rewards of the next couple of years. Do you really think John McMahon was Rafa appointment, ya sure he was. Our youth set up was not working and Rafa made the right changes