Progression for young players already looks markedly improved compared to previous managerial regimes, but is there a chance to go a step further? Wth the Reds very unlikely to qualify for Champions League football next season, the league could give the Reds the opportunity of perhaps filling the bench with some of the Reds brightest young talent. The 9-0 victory over Southend in the FA Youth Cup may not mean much in the long run, but for some of the youth players playing in that match, perhaps a few minutes of competitive first team action here and there this season could do the world of good for their development.
For players such as Raheem Sterling, Suso, Conor Coady and Jack Robinson, the outings would demonstrate to them the demands that are required to play at the top level, while it would give the Anfield crowd the opportunity to see whether our youngsters do have a chance of making it. Giving greater game time to a player such as Dani Pacheco could also provide us with enough information to see whether he genuinely has the ability to play in the Premier League. At the end of the day, there is no point keeping players at the club if we don’t at least try and see if they can succeed and Pacheco is a case in point where someone needs to take a risk to see if we do actually have a first team prospect on our hands.
Although the aim this season must be to finish as high up in the table as possible, with little to play for in the league, this is the ideal opportunity to try some things out in the last couple of months of the season before we really begin anew next campaign with a squad which will mostly likely have greater depth, and therefore less opportunities for youngsters to break through.
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INTRODUCING THE WINDOWS PHONE 7!
This week it is Former Liverpool WAG Clio Zenden!
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good article, this is exactly what i was waiting for rafa then roy to do. ive been saying this for a long time.
we might as well put the rest of the season to good use and start giving the real talent at anfild some games. some of these guys are gonna mature into amazing players but they have to begin somewhere.
i’d rather see sterling, pacheco, suso and coady in the first team and remove the dead wood. we already have some great players but we have too many weak links ie ngog, poulsen, kuyt (n-one in history can run and work more than him but he left his goalscoring skills in holland) and maybe even lucas.
if we give them games now we shall be in a better place start of next season.
no point having the academy if it aint benefitting the 1st team squad.
ynwa
my fear is that if we play the youngsters in the first team before they are ready and they have a couple of bad games, the same fans wud get on their backs and criticise them…
this wud be counter-productive as it wud be a huge blow for their confidence..
U get nowhere without tsking risks. I would’ve said that youngsters would be given time if i hadn’t seen the responses to Wilson recent games, much less the response to the likes of Insua or Ngog, but at the end of the day they have to be thrown into the pool and left to sink or swim sooner or later – nobody learns to swim by just splashing in the bathtub.
We’d all be better off seeing what the players have got to offer now, while expectations (and the quality of the first teamers that are blocking the youngsters progress) are so low, rather than waiting for the pressure to be on in a new season or due to better players being in the first team…
You’ve reiterated a lot of the points that I’ve been making all season, although u say that the aim has to be to finish as high up the table as possible whereas I say the priority should be to be as prepared for next season as possible.
I’d much rather see the team finish 10th this season if it meant that our youngsters gained enough experience to help them contribute to a title contending team next year, than for us to battle our way to 5th/6th and depend on players like Kuyt and Maxi again next year when any of the new signings are unavailable…
Coady,Wisdom and Ngoo should all be given plenty of game time between now and the end of the season, but unless Gerrard and Carragher agree to it it won’t happen as those 2 pick the team. Fans lambast Wilson but what people forget is that every top defender in the Premier League had some poor games when they made the jump from youth to firstteam football.
I can remember a youthful Gerard and Carragher when they began and at the time there was many who thought they were a waste how wrong they were.
Wilson will be okay and so will some of the other kids but if you are expecting instant superstar then you will be disappointed.
Get rid of Maxi and Ngog who offer nothing to the team and give Pacheco a chance in the first team instead. They’ve had their chances in the first team but have done nothing to convince people that they’re worthy of a place in the team. Ngog has only scored 9 league goals in nearly 60 appearances for the club while Maxi has no pace and no guile and just passes the ball back or sideways every time he gets the ball. These two players should be dropped as soon as possible.
Wilson is clearly not ready for the first team yet. The guy has potential and is a star in the making but his performances have suggested that he’s not up for it yet. Maybe in one or two seasons time he’ll be good enough.
Wilson only signed a 3-year contract,so if the club wants a return on their investment he needs to be bought through and established this season.