In Jack Robinson’s first match for Liverpool’s senior team against Hull at the end of the 2009/10 season, it came as somewhat out of the blue despite it being well known that he was a very talented full back in the Liverpool Under 18s. Rafa Benitez had however seen something in the youngster and had already given Jack the opportunity to train with the first team. Becoming the youngest player ever to play for the Reds at 16 years and 250 days old, it was inevitable he made the headlines, but it was the last we heard of him in the first team for a little while.
The next glimpse Reds fans got of him was when he was receiving instructions on the touchline from Kenny Dalglish in the match against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium after Fabio Aurelio had suffered another of his niggling injuries. It was apparent that Kenny was trying to settle the lad’s nerves by telling a few jokes and relaxing the player before having to go out and face Theo Walcott. The trick seemed to work as Robinson went out and performed magnificently well in the circumstances.
Still only 17 years of age, Robinson looked assured, calm and collected, tracking the runs of the England international playing against him, using his good positioning and a great deal of pace to ensure he had the winger in his pocket. On the couple of occasions he was caught out by Walcott, he managed to recover using his speed to close down any impending danger from the winger.
One of the player’s most notable characteristics, compared to compatriot John Flanagan, is that Robinson has already developed physically to cope with the demands of the Premier League. Combined with his good positioning, pace and crossing ability, Robinson should have what it takes to make it in the top flight of English football.
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good article until he mentioned ngog>>> I dont believe he will make it although I still think pacheco has a chance to make it….. I echo the sentiment about the article though….. we need to bring in a mixture of young players from the resevres/academy and also 4-5 top class players for the immediate first team.
Barcelona, yes those that whacked that other crappy team on saturday had 8 players in its team from the reserves/academy. they must be doing something well
17 years of age says it all. He needs to be nurtured for the next few years with just occasional games in the 1st team for experience. He is too young to be overplayed, and that goes for our other youth stars. If anything, loan them out to the 1st division, then the championship, but not to be subjected to the stress and strain of the premiership 1st team.We want these talented youngsters in our 1st team when they are in their 20s, not burnt out before they get there.
Anotther poor and factually inaccurate article from this so called fan. Robinson 2nd appearance was against Man City when he started at left back not as the sub in the following game v Arsenal.
Wrong. He made his debut against Hull last season. Aurelio started in the game against Man City. Robinson’s second appearance was as a sub against Arsenal replacing Aurelio.
There is no point in LFC wasting money on signing yet another leftback this summer. Instead Robinson,Kelly,Flanagan and Johnson should barring injury be well able to cover the position for the 38 games in the Premier League. This policy of loaning out the young players to the Championship and the First Division has not worked, the players such as Amoo and Ecclesstone have not made an impact with these clubs and this has been the case with so many of the young players in the last few years. LFC need to get the promoted clubs interested in taking some of them on loan each season.
Robinson isn’t ready to be backup in the Prem yet – people seem to be getting very carried away yet again and forgetting that Insua actually looked better than him before making the step up.
Flanagan looks better than Robinson at the moment to me too anyway, and I’d be pretty worried even if he was our second choice right back next season too
People should realize because the club is not in Europe next season there will be no major signings only crappy Bosmans like Marveaux, there is no point in the club wasting what little money they have on more crappy fullbacks and bitpart midfielders. Robinson and Flanagan are more then ready to play an active part in several Premiership games next season, the Premier League is where these players deserve to be playing next season and not going backwards playing tinpot reserve team football or being sent on loan to play dreadful Championship or First Divison football. If this same criteria about age had been applied by Ferguson at United then Ryan Giggs would never have established himself in the United first team at 17. Rooney debuted for Everton at 17. I am not advocating playing Flanagan and Robinson in every Premier League game next season because of burnout fears but for any person to say that these two are not good enough yet for the Premier League is seriously incorrect.
@ Kenny –
I didn’t say anything about their ages anyway – all season I’ve been saying something similar to what you said, and advocating highly performing reserves taking the place of highly paid, underperforming wasters like Skrtel, Maxi, Poulsen et al. Robinson & Flanagan have never been the standout performers in our reserves from what I’ve seen though.
My point was that Insua was better than Robinson and even he wasn’t ready to be second choice. Almost any of our decent reserves could/should be 3rd choice and able to cope with filling in for 3-6 league starts easily enough, but expecting much more from someone such as Robinson is too much at this point imo.
No 3-6 league starts is way too little, there is plenty of scope for these guys to play much more then that especially in the 19 home games. Having all these young guys playing a significant role next season will create a momemtum at the club from the first team down to the youth setup that will serve to inspire all the players in the youth setup that there are opportunities and openings in the first team if these youth players work their socks off and play to the best of their abilities. It is vital for the club’s future that the youth system finally connects into the first eleven after years and decades of failure.
Jay, in your opinion who are the standout performers in the reserve team, please?
I was convinced that Suso (particularly first half of the season), Pacheco (from previous seasons), Coady, Ince were players with the quality to add something to the first team. (Sterling, Ngoo, Morgan and Flanagan were the ones that I was on the fence about and would’ve like to see from the bench, and Amoo also just because of the lack of pace in our team)
This season was the perfect opportunity to throw the kids out there though, seeing as it became obvious months ago that the season was a write off – no trophy aspirations or threat of relegation meant no pressure to deliver results – and so we’d have been better off experimenting to see what we had in the reserves instead of wasting time persisting with the flops. Next season, it would be a bit much to expect a bunch of reserves with no experience to just step up and contribute heavily to a title charge now though.
Aside from any clear standout performers, I still say that the rest of the reserves should take baby steps into the first team, with 3-6 starts being more than enough (unless the first teamers continue to be such limited footballers as Cole, Poulsen, Konchesky, Maxi etc, who are no better than our reserves anyway)
Kenny you wanted Mavinga as back up left back a couple of months ago so why should anyone listen to you? Your “There is no point in LFC wasting money on signing yet another leftback this summer” is glaringly silly. There is every point in getting a 1st choice left back, we don’t have a recognised one who can stay fit! Johnson can play there but is more comfortable on the right, ditto Flannigan and if anyone thinks starting a 17 year old at left back in the EPL on a regular basis is clever then I wholeheartly disagree. He’s not Maldini and while throwing kids in the mix may sound good let’s look at someone who was widely seen as a highly promising talent in the summer of 2009. Insua, he then got thrown in the deep end in 2009/10 and were he is now. Liverpool should not rush Robbo if he plays 50 EPL games in the next 3 years he’ll have be close to the 74 Stevie G had played by the time he was 21 and we all knew he was extra special even then. Furthermore as regards signings why are you always so negative? We can and will sign class players Spurs did it and they had no European football till this past season and no offence to them but they’re not in the same bracket of a club as us. I like the look of the kids we’ve got coming up but they should be implemented gradually, into a quality squad not be important parts of the squad when they’re still teenagers.
Dalglish clearly has no interest in Mavinga even though that is a mistake. LFC have 9 defenders excluding Aurelio and at least 4 of them can play the leftback position in the 38 game Premier League. LFC’s money raised from getting rid of all the crap should be spent on someone like Barrios of Dortmund because it is goal power that this team and squad seriously lack. Insua failed because he had no speed and was clearly like Dossena more of a wingback then a fullback. Johnson is not a viable option at rightback, sure he is good going forward but defensively he has been shown up time and time again in the rightback position eg in the 2-1 defeat at home to Blackpool. LFC have wasted too much money in the last 20 years signing bitpart players for positions that should have been filled by a proper youth policy.
first >> we must get enrique and we must get perotti.. or marveux or duzscak ..to cover for left side.. then we must sent robinson to play at germany for 2 years loan.. he must play early in 20 because he have a great play.. robo must learn how to defending his zone and make a farious run beside wideline.. he will great at 22…
2nd >> i like if liverpool get downing at right. He will great option.. kyut and suarez will play up beside caroll.. i like to see how the great movement with 1 top striker and 2 attacking midstriker.. so we will get combination 5 midfield.. 5 striking option and 6 deffending line automaticly..
………………….reina……………….
………..cara….skertel….enrique………
………….gerrard…….lucas…………..
downing…….kyut……..suarez…….dzuscak
………………..caroll………………..
Flanagan has 3 times the potential that robinson has. For me Flanagan looks better defensively than Kelly also, and isn’t as slow. Of the young players we have at the moment, the ones I cant wait to see in the first team are Sterling, Pacheco, and Suso. The reason for this is that these types of players are what we DON’T have right now. I truly hope we buy a midfielder who can pass, in the mold of Alonso as Suso isn’t ready for full games. And we desperately need pace all over the pitch. For me Shelvey, and Spearing may work hard but that is ALL they are good for. We have too many players whose only reason for being in this team is hard work. We need midfielders who don’t need two touches to control the ball every time, and don’t give passes that require two! A player like Yossi Benayoun, or Aquilani, would be very useful right now, and I guarantee that Kenny knows this. I really hope that Pacheco gets plenty of first team game time next season, he is far more talented than Shelvey or Spearing, has pace, a wicked cross, and a robbie fowler like eye for goal (Euro U21 top goalscorer for spain). I can already see him linking well with Suarez. Suso IS our Jack Wilshire, insanely talented sixteen year old who passes as well as Alonso and makes space for himself. Sterling has pace and skills and also deserves a shot next season. Maybe when we are 2-0 up Suso, and Sterling will get a chance….I sincerely hope so anyway. Looking forward to seeing some much better football next year under the KING. YNWA
So called fans should seriously stop getting carried away. The likes of Flanagan and Robinson are promising but they’re no where near good enough to be playing in the first team on a regular basis. Flanagan has come in and done an average job, that’s all I’d say while Robinson is not ready yet. Give these two guys one or two more years and then possibly loan them out to the Championship or newly promoted teams so they can get some experience. You have to acknowledge that while these two are bright prospects, they are not yet good enough to be starting for the first team every week. On top of that, with no Europa League next season, these guys will have less playing time and it is highly unlikely that they will be playing much in the league. It’s not as if Flanagan is currently good enough to challenge Kelly and Johnson for the right back spot and it’d be ridiculous to suggest that Robinson should be our first choice left back or even second choice left back. Dalglish should consider loaning these two players out next season to the Championship as we have enough options at full back. At right back we have Kelly and Johnson and at left back we will most likely be signing someone while we also have Aurelio, Mavinga and possibly Insua.
Ridiculous comments. Do not over estimate the Premier League, it is a poor standard. There is nothing to be gained by loaning players down to the Championship, time and time again it has not worked to LFC’s advantage. Johnson is one of the worst defensive rightbacks ever in the game. LFC fans looking for the club constantly to waste money to fill positions that can and should be filled by youth players has been one of the major reasons for the club’s inability to win the title since 1990 as this money could have been spent on buying marquee players that would have carried the club over the finishing line.
Lets get things right here, the EPL was awful this year, and for us to finish 6th leaves me disappointed, that was the ex board’s fault for appointing a man so far out of his depth it was a certainity he’d drown. But to call the EPL poor is stupid, it’s still in the top 3 leagues in Europe. I’ve been to games in Germany and France this year and the standard is not that of the EPL. Your baseless comments go further with “Johnson is one of the worst defensive rightbacks ever in the game.” That’s just silly, and I think Johnson’s defence has always been poor but he’s better at defending than most professional players. Think about it how many leagues are there in England,? let alone the rest of the world and all the players who’ve played! I know England are a joke but if he was that bad defensively he wouldn’t get in their team regardless of his attacking abilities from right back. Furthermore your insistance on youth shows an almost complete lack of understanding of the physical and mental demands of the Premiership. It’s the most physical league in the world and you want to put teenagers in all the time when they still haven’t fully developed physically. That’s without the mental demands involved of playing in the EPL, the expectation level alone you are placing on them would have fried my head when I was in my late teens. Don’t quote me fergie’s kids, they had Schmeichal, Bruce, Pallister, Irwin, Keane, Sharpe, McClair, Cantona, Cole, Giggs, May and Parker and both Newcastle and to a lesser degree us threw the title away that year. As for your claim our kids could have got us over the line, please tell me whom because outside of playing for Liverpool only Warnock and Wright could claim to be anything like EPL regulars since leaving Liverpool since 1997. Instead of making baseless claims do some research, I’ll bet you any money you want that Kenny buys a left back this summer and forgive me I’ll trust him rather than you.
Have you got a split personality disorder. You give out to me for saying the Premier League is poor but yet you then say it is. You give out to me for saying Johnson is shocking defensively but yet you then agree he is. How come Rooney is still one of the top players in the world despite coming in at Everton at 17 and he is hardly an adonis? How come Giggs has played at the top level for 20 years despite coming in at 17? How come Wiltshire has coped in the Premier League since he debuted at 17? If Dalglish wastes money on a leftback this summer then do not complain when there is not enough money to buy a quality goalscoring striker? Liverpool’s youth system was always rubbish under Heighway because he admitted to Hansen in a BBC programme that he did not see his job was to develop players for LFC’S first team and who appointed Heighway the one and only Dalglish.
Some of the youngsters are not yet ready to cope with the physical demands of the Premier League. While the likes of Flanagan and Robinson may be promising, they are not physically strong enough to survive. To say that they are ready to play in the first team week in week out is ridiculous and they are hardly good enough to play for Liverpool’s first team yet. Kenny should instead take a look at Ayala and Mavinga who are now ready to step up to the first team. People seriously need to stop getting carried away with Flanagan and Robinson cause while they might be great prospects, they are not ready to play for the team every week.
In my post listed above on this page I have not advocated playing Flanagan and Robinson in every game due to burnout fears but to say that they cannot play anything more than single figure games next season is a huge mistake. They have proven they can hack it physically. You are mistaken on Ayala, he has looked even overawed by playing in the Championship, he has no pace or commanding presence that a centreback in the Premier League would need in order to survive.
Wikipeadia has listed james mcCarthy or wigan as a liverpool player. Pls is it true?
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McCarthy_(footballer)
I would love to see Baines come in this summer and I believe we have the best young defenders in the country coming through a ready made back 4 of Flanagan-Kelly-Wilson-Robinson
Liverpool should seriously stop favouring British youngsters over foreign youngsters. I know many fans would like to see more local guys playing for the first team but the foreign guys who are equally as good, if not better, should be treated with the same respect. Flanagan and Robinson are promising but Dalglish should not forget about Ayala and Mavinga who are ready to step up to the first team now. Wilson, whenever he has played, has disappointed me. This player is not ready yet and needs to be loaned out to get some experience. The likes of Mavinga, Ayala and Pacheco who are talented foreign guys should be treated with the same respect as there’s no reason for them to only favour playing British guys.
pls keep flanagan and robinson for next season at the senior team
I agree with Eric. Too much racisim in the English game at the moment. Play the foreigners, win games.