Would you not want to have him around in the squad? I think he's been really useful and played an important part of getting us 4th last season. He's been the better of the DM's in our first 3 games of this campaign too I feel too. Was MOTM against WBA in my opinion.
This might sound horrible, but I hope that Livermore becomes our answer to Phil Neville. (Sorry!) A true professional that can be used in a variety of roles, never moans, always gives 100% and has an ugly, annoying older brother. Wait, scrub that last part.
He looked great at RB vs Cheltenham in the FA Cup and filled in at CB in one of our EL games. You might be onto something here!
Carroll's another one - hardly (if ever) mentioned as one of our top prospects compared to Caulker or Townsend, yet when he played in the Europa League games last season he showed a ton of ability and consistency.
Luongo is now in the pipeline going thru the 'diamond polishing' process. We'll soon know whether he gets thru to the other side like Walker, Caulker etc. So want Carroll and Pritchard to prosper, because the technical talent is there. But both of them seem to get muscled out by an ant fart due to their physique. I look to Messi and hope they draw resolve from his ability to play much bigger/ rougher players.
Absolutely, Carroll's definitely another prime example of not seeing the true potential of a player until they've had first team experience. He definitely studied Luka in training.
He's supposedly impressing at Ipswich. So hopefully a few Ipswich fans can give feedback a couple months down the line. Not seen anything on Pritchard but if Carroll can learn to not let his size hold him back, we'll have a gem of a player.
SOS I would have him in our squad yes but his talents can't warrant a start if we are challenging or trying to challenge top 4 regular. It is not difficult to be the best mid in the first 3 games considering that Parker is crocked and Sandro looks jaded and worn out...I would drop him for Dembele eventually with Sandro alongside him...ok I won't turn this into a tic tacs thread! I agree with PNP, JL would be a good utility man.
I too don't think Jake should be a starter in the league but to have as an option is useful, I probably read your post wrong in thinking you didn't want Jake at all, sorry for that. And as you said, I'd definitely start Dembele over him next game. Massive fan of Dembele's, I wanted him to start against NCFC.
You thought Carroll was small ... step forward Alec Pritchard. Perhaps he's grown a bit since I see him in February. Will know at 7:30pm.
I was thinking similarly, like John O'Shea at United, functional, no frills, just a hard working committed utility player. Every team loves to have one.
I had the feeling Livermore makes up in desire what he may lack in talent, then saw a stat from last week: he's run the third farthest of Prem league players in 2 or 3 games. I'm kind of torn: I don't think he has the talent of Sandro or Parker, and I think AVB has over-used him. On the other hand, I love seeing someone who loves the club and works so hard doing well. I'm also dreaming of Carroll becoming a new Modric--minus being a complete scumbucket, of course.
id rather someone made meaningful runs but ran less if you get what i mean RWEB? im not saying they are meaningless as i have not studied his runs but from what i see in a 90 minute game..they are not as influential as i would like to see from someone occupying a pivotal position in the team.
Jake must be better than most poster's on this thread think,as he made the the Subs bench with the national Squad v Ukraine
Jake is developing his game mate, and I think again we have enough runners in the squad to mix with Jake in the team. How he goes about his wk in MF reminds me, having thought more from my previous post, of Nicky Butt for United (people mock the abilities of him, John O'Shea etc. yet they were part of trophy winning teams!) and there wasn't any need for him to make dazzling runs. I see what you say, out of 2 DM types one does need to be more forward thinking, the more I watch him, i think an out and out DM ie. Parkers role might suit him best, only I'd say Jakes distribution is better.
Back to Pritchard, what a player he looked last night. Really impressed with his technical abilities. Hopefully he'll get some minutes in the Europa this season.
A central midfield pairing of Pritchard and Carroll will probably be the shortest pairing in the history of football.
