My fear going forward - what about the youth?

mightymoyes · November 24, 2016

Catfish Blues said:
The sad fact is that a lot of the academy players that have come through at Liverpool in the last few years are better players than what we've produced.

like who?

Stan Lee Park · November 24, 2016

Papa Shango said:
12 games.

TWELVE!

Fourteen actually, plus pre-season. Do you have any reason to believe that his attitude will change after 40 games or 140 games?

Papa Shango · November 24, 2016

Stan Lee Park said:
Fourteen actually, plus pre-season. Do you have any reason to believe that his attitude will change after 40 games or 140 games?

What attitude?

He has given young players game time this season.

If they are good enough they will play.

mightymoyes · November 24, 2016

Papa Shango said:
What attitude?

He has given young players game time this season.

If they are good enough they will play.

barely and its not like the first team players are doing great or have been successful previously.
obviously its very early still to judge koeman on his trust of young players but signs arent good.

Papa Shango · November 24, 2016

mightymoyes said:
barely and its not like the first team players are doing great or have been successful previously.
obviously its very early still to judge koeman on his trust of young players but signs arent good.

There is no guarentee they will do any better though. He sees them every day he probably knows if they are ready or not.

Cant just play them for the sake of it.

mightymoyes · November 24, 2016

Papa Shango said:
There is no guarentee they will do any better though. He sees them every day he probably knows if they are ready or not.

Cant just play them for the sake of it.

its not for the sake of it, davies will only get better the more he plays, same with holgate. jagielka makes mistake after mistake and mccarthy just does nothing.

jceverton · November 24, 2016

mightymoyes said:
barely and its not like the first team players are doing great or have been successful previously.
obviously its very early still to judge koeman on his trust of young players but signs arent good.

When the manager doesn't go to regularly watch the U23's play that says it all. Martinez for all his faults actually went to watch the U23's & U18's.

Papa Shango · November 24, 2016

mightymoyes said:
its not for the sake of it, davies will only get better the more he plays, same with holgate. jagielka makes mistake after mistake and mccarthy just does nothing.

Honestly you don't know that. Michael Branch looked boss when he first came into the team too.

McCarthy has barely played....

I dont think Koeman sits there an thinks "hmm these kids look good, but lets throw Jagielka in so he can make mistakes".

Id give them a go too but there will be reasons why Koeman doesnt (even though he actually has so far..).

Carlito · November 25, 2016

People tend to expect too much from the academy, but I definitely agree that it should be producing players that can offer as much as the likes of Cleverley and Kone at a fraction of the price.

Anyone thinking that Koeman should pack his starting lineup with kids is living in a dream world, but there's no reason why they can't replace the two hours a season you get out of most of the deadwood in the squad.

Zatara · November 25, 2016

Walsh and Unsworth should get their jeads together and give Koeman a list of the players who they feel should be in the squad next season...

Koeman should then punt out the dross we have in those positions as back up to make room for them.

We should then focus on signing players to compliment the guys coming through and even add to that group.

We need a top first eleven with u23s acting as their competition so they need games and to be gradually brought through.

mrb85 · November 25, 2016

jceverton said:
When the manager doesn't go to regularly watch the U23's play that says it all. Martinez for all his faults actually went to watch the U23's & U18's.

Agreed. You say Koeman doesn't go regularly -- in fact he's been to just one fixture so far. That's an awful sign to give to those who might think themselves close to a first team call up. Surely the manager would get a better picture of the likelihood of the likes of Davies being ready for promotion by watching him in competitive games as well as just in training.

ijjysmith · November 25, 2016

mrb85 said:
Agreed. You say Koeman doesn't go regularly -- in fact he's been to just one fixture so far. That's an awful sign to give to those who might think themselves close to a first team call up. Surely the manager would get a better picture of the likelihood of the likes of Davies being ready for promotion by watching him in competitive games as well as just in training.

Maybe, but it shows trust in someone like Unsworth. I think if Unsworth said 'Ron, mate, this kid is way way too good for my boys, you could use him' I think that would do.

But my guess is Unsworth isn't saying that.

Efcjake · November 25, 2016

We do this every year. It really does require something special to make the step up from the academy to the first team, not every one of them will deserve a chance and the ones that do might not take it.

mrb85 · November 25, 2016

If Davies doesn't make it as a PL player then evoking the same spirit of Lineker discounting Leicester's chances of winning the league, I'll sit at my laptop naked and apologise. Hang on, I sit naked looking at the internet quite regularly........

jceverton · November 25, 2016

ijjysmith said:
Maybe, but it shows trust in someone like Unsworth. I think if Unsworth said 'Ron, mate, this kid is way way too good for my boys, you could use him' I think that would do.

But my guess is Unsworth isn't saying that.

It really shows nothing other than he's not interested in the U23's. We don't need to guess what Unsworth is saying, he's on record as saying there's six or seven of them ready for first team football either now or in next 12 months.