I, like any other Liverpool supporters, have bemoaned the lack of squad depth that the Reds have possessed over the past 18 months to two years. A lot of this has been down to the previous owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks, and a smaller part can be attributed to Rafa Benitez not always bringing the right replacements in for the quality that has left the club. Over the past six months, specifically since the arrival of John Henry and the Fenway Sports Group, I have repeated the need to strengthen in four key areas: wingers, left back, centre half and central midfield. I have stated that if we are to compete for the Premier League title again that these positions need to be addressed or otherwise we will continue to be also-rans for the championship.
With the success of the Academy over the last 18 months, and the rise of youngsters to first team level to play successfully against the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal, such as in the guise of John Flanagan, Jack Robinson and Jay Spearing, the question becomes: how far should the Reds go to accommodate these players into first team affairs? The conflict in the desire for immediate success and long term planning will be no more apparent than this summer, for if we go after players in some of the positions that I have suggested above, then it will inevitably lead to some of the youngsters being relegated down the pecking order.
Of course, there has to be some realism in these considerations, good performances from Flanagan and Robinson don’t necessarily mean these will translate this into fantastic form over 10 to 20 game appearances, but the arrival of new blood in the summer may stunt the progression of these players into first team footballers. Some might say that extra competition from new signings may motivate the youngsters to improve more rapidly, but I have said in a previous piece today, how can you expect youth players to improve if they are not given a chance playing regular first team football?
It is a fine line to be had, and really, it is a good dilemma to have considering the lack of players that have come through the academy in recent years. Kenny praised the work of the Academy in recent times after yesterday’s match against Arsenal:
“Flanno (John Flanagan) is experienced, that was his second game! Sometimes the second game is the worst to play in but he did brilliantly today. Young Jack (Robinson) coming on – he’s still available for the youth team next year. He adapted really well. It’s really daunting to play at the Emirates against a team chasing the championship. It was fantastic, the way he went about his work. Jonjo (Shelvey) did fantastic, and wee Jay (Spearing) was fantastic on Monday and turned in another great performance today. We couldn’t ask for any more from them. It’s them that’s pushed us. I don’t make that decision, they do. In the last year and a half the development and improvement in the Academy has been fantastic. We’ve also got to be really careful that we don’t throw them in and ruin them. That was a slight reservation about Jack playing at the Emirates, but he never let anyone down.”
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This week it is LFC WAG Alex Curran! ————– CLICK ON THE IMAGE OR HERE TO GET TO THE GALLERY
If we are going to win anything we need experienced players and young players pushing for a starting place. Get a new LB and left Flano cover for him instead of Aurelio. On the wings we defo need 2 good signings.
And in midfield we still lack loads of creativity. Spearing and Lucas are great but they are midfield destroyers and nothing more. We cant have 2 of those in the same team. A midfield of Gerrard, Lucas and Meireles would be fantastic.
We should not let Aurelio go, he is a skillful LB, who remains injured a bit too often. With the new fitness trainers and doctors at the help, perhaps that can be sorted out. Like all others I do not care about Konchesky, Jack was great on Sunday. Given the situation if we can keep Aurelio on his feet our LB woes might be finally over.
This is a good debate to have. We want LFC to compete and win 3 domestic trophies and also in Europe. If this is our wish, we need to be serious about the composition of the squad. I think the back should have 10 players with 2 for each position plus two versatile player. This would give Flano and Jack a chance. That gives 4 youngesters (with the versatile Kelly and Wilson added) a chance. If we keep Agger, Carra, Johnson and Skertel; we still need 2 quality signings (a quality LB and a CB). For LB, Amero or Y. Rakitskiy look good to me. For CB, Cahill or S. Kjaer or D. Chygrynskiy or M. Musacchio or P. Gerommel or Borja Gomez will be great.
In the midfield, we need to give opportunities to Jonjo, Spearing and Pacheco. If we add Gerrard, Lucas, Kuyt and Meriliess to that list, we are still short of 4 quality players. We need two more good DMs (Veloso or Y. M’Vila or C. Trasch or Gustavo Colman could be considered). We also need two wingers (A. Young or A. Turan or Willian or Honda or Douglas Costa or Giuliano or Taison look good enough for LFC).
In my view, the bleeding of the youngsters should not stop LFC from building a quality squad. There are enough competitions for everyone and we should not miss the opportunity to start LFC on the right track next season.
From the so called first team, everyone who is not in that list for those positions should be sold or released.
YNWA
this is the reason i believe that we dont need an overhaul like most of the fans are suggesting..that is the result of playing football manager too often..
i think what we need is to get rid of the dead wood get 3 or 4 top class players in the summer..
Dave I think your wrong about rafa’s part in the lack of depth firstly he had to sell the players who were back ups for the first eleven and secondly it was only two season ago that he was allowed to have his in put in the academy and it is rafa’s forsight that is getting us through the injuries and bringing special young lads through . While I am on the subject of special young players I bet the idiots who have been slaging of Jay Spearing are sat in the corner sucking their thumbs . How good has Jay been give the kid a bit of time and he could be another mascherano if not better because Jay can pass a ballhe marked toure out the game hit him with two big tackels and he disapeared united could not get near toure on sat that is how good Jay was .
I think Robinson was amazing looks a quality player. Not too sure about flangan dnt think he’s as good as robinson? Spearing has been playing really well n deserves all plauds! Not to sure bout Jonjo? Daglish loves him n I can’t see y he isn’t know wilkshere. I hope Suso n Toni silva come through very soon they look amazing n very entertaining!
I know that was an under strength side we put out but people seem to miss the point that a point from that game did not do us any good mainly coz Everton are still very close to us and we are nowhere near 5th, we parked the bus for a 100 minutes of football but no one seems to be even concerned about that!!??? I know we had tones of injuries but any Liverpool team should not sit back like that!!! About the young players, they did ok in keeping out a gunners side that haven’t been able to score against teams that are in the relegation battle in their last couple of games. When we did get the ball we gave it away so cheaply and that was coming from the so called experienced players!!! At least most people share the same view that we really have to spend in the summer to compete. I don’t want to seem like I’m being negative about everything but we need to be honest to ourselves and about the future…We have to rebuild this team in a very significant way in the summer if we are to win any trophies, but it shouldn’t be that hard coz we already have some world class players in there
be realistic, what did u expect us to do against arsenal at the emirates..as far as the amount of possesion is concerned, there was no way we cud compete with them, but its not like we didn’t create chances, we had the same number of shots at goal and suarez had two clear goalscoring chances..
the simple answer for 2 player…
1.) flanagan & jack >> this duo are good.. but they still on study… so.. we must get one more left back to cover their place.. in right i think its better because we have kelly and johon who can play at both side.. so.. jack must have i option for him.. i think enrique are the best for left back.
2.) in case enrique swoop with spearing… the potential now we must get him around 15m with poulsen and degen go there..
if we can graduate suso faster… we will have another option on striking… toni silva too..
I personally think we need a left back, maybe a right back if johnson doesnt get his form again, a centre back. gary cahill, but im not sure what left back we would want or get, i know I would like phillipe lahm, maybe he’l want to try english league before he gets too old.
a top class left winger and a right winger, ashley young, adam johnson, cazorla
but whos available to buy or who would come to us i dont know.
I wish people would stop rambling off names from football games this is the real world, many foreign kids will not fit in at liverpool, they would at arsenal, hence why they dont win trophies either.
we need to let these young players get some time until the end of the season to see if they can actually cut it.