The season has begun with some of Liverpool‘s brightest players from last season finding themselves second in line to the new faces at the club. Is Kenny Dalglish making a mistake persisting with youth over experience?
We are only five games into the new season, but there are murmurings of discontent on Merseyside at the patience being shown to a number of new faces at the club. The likes of Jordan Henderson and Andy Carroll are starting week in week out, at the expense of players who are vastly more experienced and have shown a lot more in a Liverpool shirt over the years.
Liverpool seem to have lacked the spark shown at the end of last season, and it is no coincidence that players who did well during Dalglish’s first few months in charge, like Maxi Rodriguez and Dirk Kuyt, have not been in the starting line up during the club’s indifferent start to the season.
A lot of money was spent over the summer on new players, but surely a new face should have to earn his place in the side and not just be thrust straight into it, ahead of established first team players. Regardless of how hefty the price tags they arrived with, the likes of Carroll and Henderson have no automatic right to start every game. They were bought with the future in mind, and so they should feature more as squad players at the present time and be gradually integrated and phased into the starting eleven.
Dirk Kuyt is just one of the experienced players who has had to content himself with a role on the bench so far this season. He linked up well with Craig Bellamy, Maxi and Luis Suarez in Liverpool’s Carling Cup win over Brighton. Together they showed a fluidity that has been lacking from Liverpool’s displays so far this season, which makes it difficult to understand why they aren’t featuring in the Liverpool side every week.
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Usually I do not comment on these stories but you have a valid point. I for one believe that Kuyt should have started the Tottenham game and definitely should be used for all of the top four games in the league (including our idiotic neighbours). My only concern comes from the talk of discontent.If we didnt play Carrol or Henderson then fans would be saying what a waste of money. Where as Dalglish is showing faith in his squad. I dont agree that Henderson is nothing special as of this moment as I believe in certain games he has looked comfortable and will only improve. The same stands for Carrol, I didnt hear anyone complaining about him when he scored 2 against City or Henderson when he scored against Bolton.
Perfoming for 1 half against mediocre opposition in Bolton who are being overrun by every team is nothing to get excited about. Other than that game Henderson has done nothing. Why should he automatically start against a proven performer in Kuyt? People dont care how much players have been bought they care about how the players perform on the day and put simply Henderson hasnt shown enough in the first 6 games to warrant a starting place.
The first kick was blocked by defender and he only scored on 2nd try. Any player worth putting on Liverpool jersey could have scored that too! Look at his skill, poor first touch and poor passes and most of the time, back passes. Is this kinda player worth 20M? If he is not English, how much do you think he is worth?
“you can’t continue to keep sticking with something that isn’t working”? Huh silly me hadn’t realised how bad we were I was labouring under the illusion that if we’d had better Refs against sunderland and stoke we’d be 15 points out of 18 having only lost against spurs having gone down to 9 men 1 nil down with half hour to go. Silly me for not spotting how awful things are! Also fancy not noticing that players who played amazing for 45 minutes and ok for 45 minutes against Brighton (newly promoted to the championship) would be the answer to all the problems that you’ve just made me see that we have! Silly me. P.s. this is sarcasm aimed at a stupid over reaction. Just in case the idiots who make comments like this story are too stupid to realise what’s staring them in the face which in the case of LFC is a work in progress giving young players who need game time to reach their potential time on the pitch so they can be great for us for years to come, whilst keeping consistent experienced players, who can be relied upon to maintain their levels of ability whether they play or not, around for emergencies. All done whilst not having an impact on how many points we’re collecting. unless you believe we would have been able to go the season on 100% record somehow? Because so far we’ve only dropped one game due to our own bad form.
If your happy with the way we played at home against Sunderland who cant win a game against anyone else and your proud of the performance against Wolves then we are just fine. However these are teams we should be burying instead of getting over the line by the skin of our teeth. I mean really who would have thought that WOLVES of all teams could outpossess us at Anfield and have similar amount of shots. Our midfield is virtually non existant. You cant rely on our experienced players to come on and get us out of trouble as you say if they are given only 20 odd minutes per game. Starting positions should be earned on merit not on what money has been spent on a certain player. Put simply Henderson , Adam and Carrol have yet to earn that privilage. Leave the best players to start and give the youngsters game time when the game is safe after all they were purchased for the future werent they? If the starters fail to fire replace them with someone who has come in and showed hunger and form. Competition for a starting place is what will bring the best out of all the squad. Kenny though seems to be hellbent on starting his new signings regardless of form. This can only heighten the murmurings of discontent at Kennys starting selections if the experienced squad members arent getting a fair crack.
The point is the likes of Carroll, Henderson and Adam need game time to get up to speed, Bellamy, Kuyt and Maxi don’t. Play the older players pick up some injuries the younger players wont be ready to cover. If its only having a negative impact on performance not result what’s your problem? It’s a marathon not a sprint managers base their selection on 3/4/5 games down the line not just the one game.
It has already cost us…against Sunderland , Stoke and Tottenham..i rest my case
I think Kenny is either arrogant or confused wit his team selection….we had da best results towards da end of the last season my question is why I we starting getiing restless…? Forget Henderson nd bring back Kuyt…
its amazing how fans can get against players. Everyone seems to be against Henderson, imagine what you same people would say if even with Kuyt, Bellamy and Maxi on Liverpool lost, Kenny would be the one being slaughtered here! If Bellamy didnt shine, then Kenny would have bought players way past their prime!! Its all just a complete vicious blame game cycle. Give the players all the support they need and watch them grow. if they are not good enough in the end let them move on other than slaughter your own players!!! It wont change the fact that they are the ones we have and United have the ones they have. If players are judged after 6 games Evra wouldnt be at United, Dzeko wouldnt be at City, Adebayor would not be playing at top European clubs!!!!
Redsimon its not a questin of judgin our players after 6 games. Its more to the fact that players arent being picked for the starting lineup on merit. Dont take it personally WE ALL want to see the REDS fly high again. I wont comment on Adebayor cause im not sure but you mentioned Evra and Dzeko. Sure if they were judged after 6 games they wouldnt be at their respective clubs but they were not picked week in week out regardless of form. They had to sit on the pine and earn there positions back into the team.
mr.henry pls stand up and warn dalglish seriously abt team selection before it is too late or sack him if he is sturbon i do not undstand his game plan
Just stop supporting liverpool you fool, we don’t want fans like you
We are like sailing in water and we still have the gut to defend our phrases .is early hours as well is late. If we dont make amends we have our self to blame. We have the best and the most experince players in our team. Their is no time for pratical or decisions to backup esteem and perdegree.whereas is suppose to be defend in our matches and it outcome. And the right decisions should be made through merit. Liverpool is not a club for one person. It is for all of us far and near. We know the truth and the shall speak for it self.
Correct me if I am wrong but last season when Roy Hodgson was playing Maxi and Kuyt week in week out, weren’t every Liverpool fan under the sun complaining about them?
I guess there are some fans that will complain no matter what!
You know well enough when Hodgson was in charge we had no gameplan but to hoof the ball up forward. However when Kenny took over dont you agree that we played some scintillating football with Kuyt and Maxi players from then on? Sure Downing is an improvement on Maxi but in no way should Henderson be starting ahead of Kuyt or Bellamy for that matter.