Rafa's thoughts on reserve team football

From www.teamtalk.com

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez wants the reserve teams of top clubs to be allowed to play in the Football League.

The Anfield boss claims the reserve set-up in England is "not working" and preventing the progress of his young stars.

Benitez, speaking the day after holders Liverpool reached the FA Youth Cup final for the second consecutive season, is worried that his best young players are not getting quality opposition at reserve level.

He said: "It is clear that the reserve system doesn't work, the reserve league is nothing.

"You can see youngsters playing just 18 games a season, that is nothing. Certainly not enough for the development of these players.

"It is something that we can improve in this country. Or if we do not change we will find other solutions, sending youngsters out on loan like I have done recently.

"I do not want to see reserve teams with four or five senior men playing without passion. These games are for young players."

Liverpool's youngsters beat Newcastle 7-3 on aggregate to set-up a final against either Manchester United or Arsenal, in which they will be attempting to become only the fifth club in the 54 years of the youth competition to retain the trophy.

But Benitez fears for the immediate future, and said: "Between 18 and 21 years old in this country, the players do not know what to do. If they are good enough at 18 they are with the first team but on the bench all the time.

"If you want to improve their level you must change the reserve league system."

Benitez has experience of the Spanish system which allows the second string at major clubs to play in the second division.

He said: "I used to be the manager of Castilla, Real Madrid's reserve side, and I had players who were 18, 19 years old playing in the Spanish second division championship.

"They were playing against men. They were winning and we finished sixth and fourth. The question is, what improves the quality of the players?"

He added: "It is something that must improve here. You cannot play in a reserve league with players who are 34 years old and coming back from injury.

"They don't work hard. What happens to the 18 and 19 year olds, because they should not play games with senior men in the reserves.

"I would like to see reserve teams of the big clubs like ourselves playing in the Football League. Why not if they have enough quality?

"The key is that the young players may have the quality but not the experience for the first team. They are only on the bench.

"That will bridge the gap between the youngsters and the first team. If you do not give young players the chance to play competitive football and to learn things, things become impossible."

Benitez has seven youngsters currently out on loan. Godwin Antwi and David Martin are at Accrington, Besian Idrizaj has gone to Luton, Lee Peltier at Hull, Danny Guthrie with Southampton, Adam Hammill at Dunfermline and James Smith with Ross Country.

The Spaniard would prefer to see them all still in a Liverpool shirt, but facing tougher opposition. He said: "We can go a month without a reserve match, it is crazy. You then play against teams full of senior players.

"That was the situation like us a couple of seasons ago. The senior players in the reserves were there because they were not in the first team.

"So you send them, say, to Newcastle for a reserve match. They go without any passion, they go just to play. The young players are trying to improve and it does not help, the senior player is only there with the reserves because he can't be with the first team."

He added: "It is something that needs to change clearly. I have been here three years and have talked to many people about this, and what I see are players who are 17 years old and they cannot progress.

"How can you use a 17-year-old in the first team, unless he is a really top talent like Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney or Michael Owen? Players of that ability can play in the Premier League, but you have to be special to do that so young.

"The rest of the lads need to play at another level, but the reserve league is nothing. And I am not sure about them playing in League Two, either; they need really to be playing against good players, then they will learn more."


TBH I'd have to disagree with Rafa regarding putting our reserve teams in the lower leagues as I feel it would de-value those leagues, but he does have a point that our youngsters aren't getting enough football in the reserves. It isn't ideal having to send them out on loan either, firstly as they won't be being trained 'the Liverpool way', and secondly if this is our first team of the future (hopefully) it makes sense for them to be playing together rather than going out to different clubs. I can see two possible solutions, either sort out the reserve league so we have a full fixture list (at least 30 games a season) or we need to start having feeder clubs, someone like Tranmere would be ideal. They're nearby, and they're at a level where I feel our youngsters would benefit them. Whatever happens something needs to be done, Rafa's got it spot on when he says players develop quicker in Europe cos they get more games at a younger age.

Good points, I have never really liked the loan idea myself and as you say surely playing together week in week out would benefit a player more than going to say Stoke for a couple of months and then being moved on again. For me the best way forward would be to revamp the whole reserve league setup to enable them to have a full fixture list, the feeder club idea has been mentioned before and after turning down Everton for being to small a club I think Tranmere would work really well maybe also a European one similar to the Mancs and there Dutch connections. When I was younger reserve team games would be full of internationals or rising young stars, now they never set foot out of the first team unless for a warm up game after injury so the sooner the reserves get more competitive experience the less we will have to wait for one of them to break into the first team.

I beleive that to play in the championship you need to earn it as much as you earn the right to play in the premiership. I would be agree as long as the youth team start from the bottom and get promoted by their result and not just by their name. How unfair it would be for clubs of lower league to see suddenly the youth team of Liverpool or Chelsea playing in the championship straight away!..