You are right to show faith in this youngster Roy

There have been complaints from certain Liverpool fans that Roy Hodgson has so far not put his faith in young players. Evidence for this is cited in the acquisitions of the 30 year old Christian Poulsen and the 29 year old Paul Konchesky, and the sale of young Finnish starlet Lauri Dalla Valle as part of the deal with Fulham for Konchesky. It is opinion however that belies the faith Roy has already shown into two of our most promising youngsters, Martin Kelly and Dani Pacheco. I talked about Kelly in an article yesterday, and I thought in light of Roy’s comments on the young Spaniard today, I might talk about Dani Pacheco.

Many Reds fans who have seen Pacheco play over the last two years have implored for his greater inclusion in first team affairs. His performances at the European U19 Championships this summer, where he helped guide Spain to the final, backed up these claims, and he has undoubted talent which needs games if he is to develop further. It has been a long time since a player has managed to establish himself in the first team after making his way through the reserve ranks, and although he could be said to be a product of Barcelona, Pacheco does have the best chance among his contemporaries to do so.

After starring for Spain’s U19s in the summer, Pacheco questioned whether he needed to return to Spain to get first team football. Hodgson however phoned the player up, told him he would be included in the first team and gave him the number 12 jersey to symbolise his growing role in the squad. In the light of Dirk Kuyt’s shoulder injury, I also suggested yesterday that Dani could be a candidate to replace the Dutch forward in the team, and Hodgson hasn’t ruled that out, although he will mostly likely get his starts in Europe:

“He is a player that we really believe in. He is young but it is great that we can keep giving him these opportunities and moments on the field and I think these moments will get even longer as the season progresses. Now we are in the Europa League, it is good for me too that I will be able to give chances to the likes of him, (Jay) Spearing and (Jonjo) Shelvey. They need games and we will have plenty of opportunities in the coming months.”

Certainly for the likes of Jay Spearing, Jonjo Shelvey, David Amoo, Tom Ince and others, the Europa League could be a good proving ground for their talents, as well as for Pacheco. With Dani though, his quality could really be utilised now in the first team, and it is encouraging to here from Roy that he will be having plenty of opportunities to prove himself. Those fans who believe in his abilities will see whether he can cut it a senior level while those who haven’t seen him too often will be able to see what the fuss is all about.

In the first team at the moment, I believe Maxi will get the nod ahead of Pacheco in the forthcoming Premier League match against Birmingham City but Dani will be the first option for me to replace either Milan Jovanovic or Maxi from the bench. The wide forward role is the best opportunity for Pacheco to get a run in the team for his preferred role behind the striker will either be filled by Joe Cole or Steven Gerrard. In the wide role though he can still interchange with the likes of Cole, Torres and Gerrard, and create openings for others as well as getting into areas to score himself. If Roy is a good as his word then we might see a great deal of Dani Pacheco this season.

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