There has always been a clamour for young talent in football. Even when it isn’t there, and over the last 6 years I’ve seen no greater demand for it than at Liverpool.
Since Fergie landed the title with his ‘kids’ back in the 90’s, everybody wants a bit of that action. Liverpool haven’t produced a ‘star’ player since Gerrard 10 years ago, and that’s been a thorn in the side of many a fan.
The battle lines were drawn whenever it was deemed unacceptable to pick Johnny Foreigner over ‘one of our boys’. An example last season was Lucas Leiva being picked ahead of Jay Spearing. I don’t claim to be an expert, I simply observe, but from what I observed last season, Jay Spearing isn’t in the same class as Lucas, as hard as that is for some people to get into their skulls.
The demand for young English talent comes from… well, I don’t know where it comes from but it’s everywhere and it’s relentless. The solution has yet to be found, over the last 10 years various clubs have produced batches of promising starlets. Crystal Palace, Man City and Everton have all contributed to the next helping of hype. Remember all the fuss over Micah Richards? What about Walcott? Don’t forget Michael Johnson either! I wonder whether Jack Rodwell will fall into their category. Even as a Liverpool fan, it is interesting to be able to see a young players career develop.
In Houllier’s era, Liverpool imported a lot of French youngsters, Florent Sinama Pongolle being the greatest success. Besides him, none of them impressed despite the promise. Then came Rafa, and using Houllier’s rejuvenated facilities, he began to overhaul the youth system which ruffled a few feathers. Major ins and outs were afoot and some well known names were discarded.
Since the Spanish inquisition started 6 years ago, Liverpool signed player after player as they scoured the Earth looking for talent. Some young players were deemed good enough to get a tasted of Premiership football; Lucas, Ngog and Insua were the notable ones. Despite their youth and promise, many felt aggrieved that the English lads were not getting a chance. Spearing, Guthrie and Hobbs were often talking points.
Out of the three above examples, only Spearing remains, and in my opinion, I wouldn’t be sad if he was moved on. This isn’t a grudge against Spearing, I genuinely hope he has a long career at a high level. For me, however, he just hasn’t got it, and sadly this is a theme running through a lot of our English young talent, and foreign too for that matter.
Pub talk is usually a source of amusement to me but over the last season I noticed a lot of it was criticism of Rafa’s reluctance to play the young English boys, and especially so when young imports have been selected ahead of the English. Following Rafa’s dismissal, I heard a lot of chatter about the future, naturally, but a lot of it was how Roy Hodgson would play the Brits. Personally, I think this type of philosophy is outdated in todays game and I’m not sure if it would pay dividends in the Premiership.
Barcelona are the only team I think who have had regular success with true homegrown talent, but they should rightly be seen as unique. It may just be me, and i hope it’s not, but football is an international game and therefore I favour Liverpool and it’s academy thinking internationally. England is a small pool to pick from and it’s league is the most demanding in the world, the sums just don’t add up.
I suspect that Roy Hodgson will give all the young players a chance, and everyone will have a clean slate. Giving Lucas the captains armband in pre-season was a brave decision following the 3 years of criticism directed at him. I will be very interested to see how many young players the manager chooses to play, especially in the Carling Cup (or whatever it may be called this season) where he has history of playing ‘weakened’ sides.
On a side note, it is a shame really, that the only player we have at the u19 Championships happening at the moment is Pacheco. Despite his promising performances, our Academy should have more representatives there.
My point, should I waver from it in my rambling, is the expectancy and misguided philosophy that British is best. British hasn’t been best since 1966 and I don’t think that’s going to change soon. The English are still teaching the kids to play with passion and fight, whereas the rest of the leading nations are teaching their kids to play with technique and guile. The revamp can’t start at Liverpool, it needs to start earlier than that.
The kids we have at the moment are all very promising, but the likelihood is 95% of them won’t have the honour of playing 1st class football at Anfield. Of that 5%, the amount Brits that will get the chance is very low indeed. I just hope that should Hodgson be reluctant to throw Spearing, Kelly or Darby in the mix, then he shouldn’t be judged on that fact.
If two experienced and dedicated managers follow similar patterns with our youth, will the calls for one type of youth player (British) stop? Or will we continue to complain that they aren’t given a chance?
The very argument that players are being denied the chance to play due to a managers stubbornness is generally idiotic and ignorant. Do we really think that a player who shines in training regularly wouldn’t be used in this cut-throat game? The value and demand of such players would almost force the manager to showcase such talents, whether it be for a financial reward or footballing reward. I think it’s simply a touch of anxiety from fans who want to see the new Gerrard or the new Fowler. The game moves fast though, and even since Gerrard came onto the scene as a raw holding midfielder, everything has changed.
Change is hard to take for the traditionalists, especially those who recall the all-conquering British teams of the 70’s and 80’s. Things aren’t like they used to be though, any issues Liverpool have with new talent won’t be solved by simply throwing British players into the mix.
Just a thought…
Follow us on twitter @live4Liverpool
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at editor@live4liverpool.com
I think Spearings development has stalled becasue he hasn’t been given a chance, when he first appeared in the First Team he looked promising but since then he’s only got a handful of games.
Lucas, Ngog and Insua were all brought in and not brought through the accademy like Spearing, Kelly, Darby – even Nemeth and Pacheco have been in the youth/reserves for a few years now and they’ve not been given much chance.
“a lot of it was criticism of Rafa’s reluctance to play the young English boys” – a lot of the critisim i heard and had myself as at Rafa’s reluctance to play anyone from the reserves – again Lucas, Ngog and Insua were all brought in not brought up. Plenty of players have been brought in at youth or reserve level but Rafa chose not to use them.
I think Lucas was given the captains armband in pre-season as he was the most experienced Liverpool player. There was only Lucas, Kyrgiakos, Aquilani and Ngog who had played fairly regularly in the first team and Lucas has played the most for Liverpool.
Interesting article and I agree to a certain extent but not all the way. I don’t think most Liverpool fans have been clamouring to see our young English talent as much as they have simply for our young talent. I don’t want them to be brought in because they’re English only irresepctive of whether they are actually good enough. When i say good enough, I do mean with the potential to develop, I don’t expect Spearing to come in and be a Gerrard.
But is Spearing really the best of our English talent? If so I am very disappointed as frankly he is nothing more than good. When Gerrard was 17 he was already being described as ‘an outstanding young talent’ but not seen any such hyperbole regarding Spearing, least not from people who know about football rather than a blinkered hysterical fan who hates any player who wasn’t born within line of sight of a Liver Bird.
Ngog has had a fair chance…. not good enough. Lucas has had a fair chance…. worth persevering with despite some fans unfairly lambasting him for not being Alonso! Insua has had a fair chance…. not good enough. Will Pacheco be given a chance or will he be sent out on loan? I hope he stays and gets a few games, he looks promising.
Play the youth Roy but only on your terms and to your expectations. If they are not good enough, that isn’t your fault. But don’t fail to bring in new 16 year olds who could well be the future Gerrards.
Too many liverpool fans want to see Spearing succeed because he is a local lad. Lets face it, the guy is nowhere near good enough. Honest and hard working yes but a championship player at best. for a young player to make the breakthrough at liverpool you would have expected him to played at some youth level for England. Spearing has not done this at any level. I agree that there are a number of young guys in the reserves that i would like to see being given a chance but Jay is not one of them.
And also we have Mavinga at the U19s
Don’t disagree with the article sentiments but just to correct one point in that Chris Mavinga is also at the u-19’s and will play against Pacheco in the final for France.
I think if anything Hodgson favours the brit boys looking at the trials.
I must say i think there should be more spanish and german kids in the academy they have been outstanding at youth levels.
I will be interested to see what happens to Buchtmann also.
i don’t like lucas but i can observe the gap between lucas & jay in K’slautern match. spearing, eccleston, pacheco had all been given some playing time by rafa lat season. macheda also played few games but he came on & exerted his presence. our lads are just NOT READY. it shows in the K’slautern friendly.
the reserves AND the seniors couldn’t perform up to mark the last season. sometimes, in view of the big picture, can we afford to lose another match? do we take out benayoun or torres in the dying minutes and throw in spearing or eccleston while chasing a game? damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
the view that development has stalled because he hasn’t been given a chance or rafa’s reluctance is just flawed. the coaching staff had to be replaced as the problem of not producing stars after gerrard exists. the recent revamp does not bear fruits overnight. the lads just have to be patient. i can see tom ince developing well!
My apologies, Mavinga is indeed at the Championships.
the trouble with liverpool’s kids these days is……………THEY ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
jay spearing is the most mentioned but i’m sorry, if he’s the best, then i fear for the future of our club! hopefully roy with the help of king kenny, can do a better job than bungling benny
To be honest when players play a long time (I mean years not a season or so). in the reserves nowadays they don’t usually make it at the top level Warnock probably the exception. The likes of Darby, Spearing, Mellor, Guthrie etc never Owen, Fowler, Gerrard, Carragher never played much reserve football before establishing themselves. I doubt Kelly, or Jack Robinson will either as they will play much more for the first team – hopefully anyway.
The problem isn’t, in my view, that the kids at the club aren’t good enough, it’s that they’re not quite ready. Half a dozen players all got their league debuts last season (Ayala, Kelly, Darby, Spearing, Robinson, Pacheco and Eccleston) and you’d expect thos careers to progress this season. benitez did a lot of work in this area and will be disappointed he didn’t get to reap the fruits of it. In five years time, this could be our first XI: Gulacsi; Kelly, Wisdom, Wilson, Robinson: Amoo, Coady, Shelvey, Sterling; Pacheco, Dalla Valle. Now, we all know that not all 11 players will make it, but if 5 or 6 are regular first team players in 5 years time the club will be in great shape. Here’s hoping!
Yeah, Mavinga is indeed @ the championship playing for France and will meet Spain @ d final. Secondly, d article is one sided, let’s c what Roy can do with d young guns before any conclusion at least with a victory over rabotnicki with a relatively young team, i will say He has started well.
How may I attain the income from my rapidly payday loan?