Roy Hodgson Targets British Players

Well I would consider Degen, Plessis, El Zhar, Lucas, Riera, Kyrgiakos and Kuyt as dead weight if I were the manager. Not all will agree but thats what its about. But we have the 3rd highest wage bill and a massive squad which clearly is not good enough. So I think quality and not quantity is what we need. So I expect to see the exit door pretty much open all summer to be honest. We do have some good lads in the reserves, but these have to be identified by the managment and then have confidence installed in them. As I have previously stated I would like to see these younger players ( Shelvey, Kelly, Pacheco etc ) blending with the more experienced players we have and a young vibrant team playing good football can evolve with the added experience along with them.

Plessis, El Zhar, Riera

These guys yes, the rest no, they are at the very least good squad players.

Putting Kuyt in that bracket is a disgrace. The guys has more heart & soul for LFC some fans. He has been one of Holland's best players at the world cup.

And BTW. If anybody was paying attention whilst commentating at world cup, Roy said any manager would want Kuyt in their team. So he aint going anywhere.

Big Soto is good backup for the other guys.

Agreed about the youth as well. Get them more games.

Plessis, El Zhar, Riera

These guys yes, the rest no, they are at the very least good squad players.

Putting Kuyt in that bracket is a disgrace. The guys has more heart & soul for LFC some fans. He has been one of Holland's best players at the world cup.

And BTW. If anybody was paying attention whilst commentating at world cup, Roy said any manager would want Kuyt in their team. So he aint going anywhere.

Big Soto is good backup for the other guys.

Agreed about the youth as well. Get them more games.

Fair enough mate. I only put Kuyt in there because I do not feel he is being played in his proper position. As I said in my post, I like Dirk and if Roy wants to play him upfront and work on his game then keep him. His work rate is excellent but he needs to work on aspects of his game. And as you say, we need to give the youth more games so its good we agree there.

Sound mate. I just hate the slagging Kuyt gets when he has done so much ofr the club, played out of position, but still does it, and gives 100%.

I think he will play more up front btw. Maxi is our right winger now, and Jovanovich left side.

So already its looking better.

Yeah I agree. I actually favor a 4-3-3 formation as I have posted in a different thread and I had Kuyt on the bench. He is a good lad to have in the squad and as you say he gives 100% and maybe he does not always get the credit he deserves. If we play 4-4-2 then Kuyt could play up alongside Torres. If he is going to play off Torres he needs to improve that 1st touch so it sticks when we play the ball upto him. Kuyt relies on service so if he plays up top next season we have to use the width and get good crosses over for him to attack. Nando is decent in the air to so both of them up there will give us much more of a threat in the air!

I think we would be foolish to not even try and get Joe Cole. It probably won't work out as we probably wouldn't be able to pay his wage demands as even Chelsea couldn't. But, he would be a great buy.

Quite frankly, i don't mind whether we buy British or not. Arsene Wenger has the best attitude to this. He will sign the best players, regardless of their passport. I would obviously perfer British players but if the best player is of another nationality and is considerably cheaper, i would go with them. It is, however, important to take into account these new rules.

Fair enough mate. I only put Kuyt in there because I do not feel he is being played in his proper position. As I said in my post, I like Dirk and if Roy wants to play him upfront and work on his game then keep him. His work rate is excellent but he needs to work on aspects of his game. And as you say, we need to give the youth more games so its good we agree there.

Hmm, kuyt has always played in 3 main positions - on the right, behind the striker, and as the striker.

He plays for us in his Dutch position, because he gives good cover - he started off as a right back when he was young.

So I fail to see how he is being played out of position.

It's true there is a dearth of English talent, and that you pay over the odds for mediocrity - I don't know the answer to this, but it's certainly not to trim the squad down by 3 players in order to buy 1. We have the bare bones at the moment.

I would rather see some young English talent brought in (just like Shelvey and Sterling).

Hmm, kuyt has always played in 3 main positions - on the right, behind the striker, and as the striker.

He plays for us in his Dutch position, because he gives good cover - he started off as a right back when he was young.

So I fail to see how he is being played out of position.

It's true there is a dearth of English talent, and that you pay over the odds for mediocrity - I don't know the answer to this, but it's certainly not to trim the squad down by 3 players in order to buy 1. We have the bare bones at the moment.

Kuyt was bought from Holland where he had an excellent goalscoring record as a striker. So why do we play him on the right? That was the point I was trying to make but I see what you are saying!

If he targets british talent then he must atleast attempt to sign Joe Cole with no price tag clearly the best british option out there!.

Kuyt was bought from Holland where he had an excellent goalscoring record as a striker. So why do we play him on the right? That was the point I was trying to make but I see what you are saying!

To be fair, it's a lot easier to score in the dutch league.

We play him on the right of a forward 3 and let him rotate centrally and to the left for the same reasons the dutch national team does - because he's a good player, and he is able to do it.

But the thing is, apparently "British" players only count as English and Welsh players. What if Northern Ireland or Scotland produced a great player but under the new rules, we couldn't sign him because he would bring our number of foreign players over the mark?

From what I hear.. players like Stephen Ireland will count because he was borught through the ranks at City? So if the players come through the academy even if they're not from UK they count?

From what I hear.. players like Stephen Ireland will count because he was borught through the ranks at City? So if the players come through the academy even if they're not from UK they count?

Pretty much - "homegrown" rule doesn't just mean english.

From what I hear.. players like Stephen Ireland will count because he was borught through the ranks at City? So if the players come through the academy even if they're not from UK they count?

Except he wouldn't count as one of our homegrown players. You need at least 4 trained at your club for three years before the age of 21, Ireland has been trained at City. So although he'd count as one of the overall 8, we'd still need four from our club.

so lets get this right... when we say homegrown developed by us... can it be the lads in the ressies??? Pacheco?

so lets get this right... when we say homegrown developed by us... can it be the lads in the ressies??? Pacheco?

Yes Pacheco counts as homegrown

Yes Pacheco counts as homegrown

Fantastic

Hoping he will be brought more times in the 1st team next season

1. Cavalieri
                                                                                      2. Johnson
4. Aquilani
5. Agger
                                                                                      8. Gerrard
9. Torres
                    11. Riera
                    12. Aurelio

16. Kyrgiakos
17. Rodriguez
18. Kuyt
                     19. Babel
20. Mascherano
21. Lucas
22. Insua
                                                                                      23. Carragher
24. Ngog
25. Reina
                     27. Degen
                     28. Plessis
29. Nemeth
                     31. El Zhar
                                                                                      34. Kelly
37. Skrtel
40. Ayala
                                                                                       47. Pacheco
                                                                                       Darby


Ship out some of the players in the middle of this list and bring in some quality and we easily meet the requirements for the new squad limits.
Potentially add Ince, Ngoo, Coady, JJ, Silva, Sterling

Hmm, kuyt has always played in 3 main positions - on the right, behind the striker, and as the striker.

He plays for us in his Dutch position, because he gives good cover - he started off as a right back when he was young.

So I fail to see how he is being played out of position.

No he hasn't really, he hasn't always played in those 3 positions. His real succes in Holland came as a striker, he was never played as a right winger/midfielder or behind the striker at Feyenoord, only as the main striker. And on the right wing wasn't his dutch position, it's his Liverpool position, it became his dutch position only untill after and because it's where he is being played for us, Liverpool.  Though oddly he's being played on the left for the last 2 games for the dutch team, but that's only because Robben is just too good on the right. The only reason why Kuyt succeeds in the dutch team is because there's enough creativity already provided by other players like Robben and Sneijder. Don't get me wrong, he's great at what he does, but he's limited going forward.

Good to see Roy saying that the club needs British. THe club could do with players like Gary Cahill who would be a fantastic signing. We need British players for then future because once Gerrard and Carra go, then for a club that prided itself in posessing the finest British talent in the land decades ago, it would be really really sad. Yeah, it's a pleasure to see the likes of Torres and co playing for us and it should continue that way but we need a finer balance something that was lacking during Rafa's era. To see the club nurturing great young talent again under Hodgson would be a fine success on his part.

Good to see Roy saying that the club needs British. THe club could do with players like Gary Cahill who would be a fantastic signing. We need British players for then future because once Gerrard and Carra go, then for a club that prided itself in posessing the finest British talent in the land decades ago, it would be really really sad. Yeah, it's a pleasure to see the likes of Torres and co playing for us and it should continue that way but we need a finer balance something that was lacking during Rafa's era. To see the club nurturing great young talent again under Hodgson would be a fine success on his part.

The talent wasn't there, I don't see how you can blame Rafa.  Of all the British talent that came through the youth in recent years, only one has been anywhere good enough & that was Warnock.  If we look at the state of The Academy/Ressies, Rafa has left us with an embarassment of riches and if 1 or 2 make it as 1st team regulars, that will be a success, 3-4 will be brilliant, any more would be astounding.  Youth is a risk.  Look around, very few players make it through the youths, all the way through to the first team any more & the ones that do are usually 'poached' off other teams.  I've got high hopes for half a dozen of the kids that Rafa has left us and another half a dozen have potential and at the very least, their sales could help pay to keep The Academy running.  2-3 players for the squad every 5-6 years, 1 of those a regular would be a good turn over, especially if we can sell half a dozen or so at a profit, as I said before, to help with running costs.

If its british players were after I would expect more signings in the way of Shelvey, Ince, Wisdom and Coady not established stars that are in the 10 million plus bracket

I think the Germans are doing very well in the world cup. Probably they understand what their roles are. Their wage bill wouldn't be as big as the other teams in relative terms. Who's their superstar. Unfortunately I think this year Roy has been brought in to make sure we don't sink. I don't think he's been brought in to take us to the next level. Buying english players is being done at youth level. It's cheaper and you can afford to make some mistakes. If you say "but we have to give them a chance". Well we will use them because the rules will dictate this. If Roy says we will buy british it is because this is the PR spin meant to keep everyone happy. We will have to buy some british won't we. Those who scream "buy british" whilst also screaming "play like Arsenal" see if these statements are compatible. I think my overall points are these.
The team is the most important thing, the style etc the galacticos mentality is a marketing strategy. Secondly; If our club were trying to continue the work already done and fine tune the squad, upgrade what they see as deficiencies in playing style etc, they wouldn't have brought in Hodgson would they. They are trying to sell us hopefully and everything they do is engineered to this end. No publicised infighting.
They will probably sell the club for less than the asking price because they will take the sale value of our best assets of the original figure.

In a normal footballing world,I see nothing wrong with a manager buying British players,to eventually mould into a team.It's worked in the past for us,we've bought sometimes un-fashionable,English,Irish,Welsh and overseas players,that have come together to astound the footballing world.Our success is built on this.Unfortunately nowadays,instant success is demanded,so clubs are forced to "buy" instant success.This inevitably requires buying the best players available at the time from around the world,this requires financial backing.Regretably we have lost one of the few men who could do this on a "sell before buy" strategy.So now we are faced with a situation where our new manager is trying to compete with other "free-spending clubs",who have already spent more than double his total transfer budget on one single player,when arguably we need at least 4 players of the same quality to compete?I respect Roy the man,because who else would undertake this no win challenge?