No end product. Couldn't agree more. We have a whole host of those types; Wright-Phillips, Aaron Lennon, Theo Walcott, Stewart Downing, Ashley young, Adam Johnson, etc. Not one of them has a brain IMO! Strange really since youth football in this country has been based on the priority of winning for far far too long which as seen the hoof ball in effect. This also means that the coaches stick a big strong lad up top, ie a target man for the wingers. therefore, you would think our wingers would be able to cross a ball wouldn't you?
He's still 18 isn't it? He has about 3 years to develop still... and even then he'll still be young. Clearly has the ability and pace to succeed... a victim of his own fast start.
See now there is where the problem is. You'd think having a big man upfront to put crosses into at youth level would mean our wingers are good at crossing but I think it has the opposite effect. If you get someone at 14 who is far superior physically to the rest of his age group and you put crosses into him, they don't need to be good crosses because he can bully his way and beat 90% of the opposition in the air. It's similar to how Crouch can't jump and head the ball very well, because growing up, he probably never needed to so although obviously decent, he's not as good as someone like Tim Cahill who was under 6ft but awesome when jumping and heading.
i don't know honestly. I mean the only two players in the last say 20 years i've REALLY seen play a great quality of ball consistently is gerrard and beckham.. i mean you look at say giggs and several others and the delivery is not half as dangerous. I go agree on the names given above. delivery is very hit and miss... but then back in the day.... 2 forwards, the opposite winger and maybe even a midfielder on the edge of the box makes a lot of bodies who can go for a ball stood up in there. These days its one body in there at best and the delivery can look dangerous but nobody is coming in on it so it looks a waste. I just don't know....
I'll say this right now, the U21's and U18's play fantastic football, in fact some of the stuff we played the other night was better than what I've seen from the senior squad this season. The standard is very high, and it's same for a lot of the youth teams. Arsenal, Aston Villa, Spurs, Southampton, Man Utd, Chelsea, Fulham all have fantastic youth projects, it certainly isn't hoof to the big man in these leagues.
I understand where you're coming from but the target man (boy?) can't teleport so the cross still needs to be good enough to provide a chance. Also, by this theory, we should have some pretty good butch CBs too.
England have never produced many if any good wingers. Or intelligent attacking players with creativity and dribbling ability for that matter. All of England's best players are either goalkeepers, defenders, centre midfielders or goalscorers. And they all relied on physicality. Never attacking midfielders (no.10s), wingers or creative attacking players.
I can think of two and one of them wasn't born and raised in England; John Barnes and Steve McManaman. Neither performed for England like they did for Liverpool either.
Neither was allowed to play for England in the same way that they were allowed to play for England. Just look at what England did with Barnes - stay wide and be abused by your own supposed 'supporters'. **** 'Em Digger come home to people who did appreciate you. Macca had the same problem. Successions of England managers never knew what to do with the talent that they have at their disposal and THE SAME IS HAPPENING AGAIN
Brendan Rodgers has praised the progress of Raheem Sterling and called for perspective after the winger chalked up a half-century of Liverpool appearances days before his 19th birthday. please log in to view this image Sterling marked the occasion by steering home the Reds' fifth in their 5-1 rout over Norwich City at Anfield on Wednesday. The youngster's instinctive strike failed to steal the headlines, owing to Luis Suarez's simply scintillating display. However, Rodgers took time out to highlight Sterling's contribution - and backed the No.31 to continue to develop over the coming months. "Raheem is still only a very young player," said Rodgers. "I thought his finish on Wednesday night was excellent. It probably got lost in and amongst Luis' goals and his assist. "But we've just encouraged the front players to take more of a risk and get into the box. It was a wonderful finish off his left side. We mustn't forget that he's a boy of 18 years of age, who is developing all the time. "The spell out of the team doesn't do him any harm. He's learning from very good players here and he knows that when he goes into the side, the confidence of the manager and his teammates is there to go and perform. "Against Norwich, his pressing was very good, as was his strength on the ball. He knows he's got to add the numbers to his game in terms of the goals and the assists. He scored a terrific goal, so I'm delighted for him." Rodgers also reserved special praise for goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who has impressed since his arrival from Sunderland in the summer. The Belgian was denied a fourth Anfield shut-out in the league when Bradley Johnson headed a late consolation goal for the Canaries on Wednesday night. However, Rodgers believes Mignolet has proved a clever piece of business and hailed the 'keeper's shot-stopping abilities. "I think any top team has to have a really good goalkeeper and Simon has been brilliant," said the manager. "Obviously Pepe Reina here for a number of years has been excellent. "But we felt the need to bring in another goalkeeper. Pepe has gone out and of course it's a big ask. But we brought Simon in because we felt that he could deal with it. "When you play for Liverpool, it's really difficult because of the expectancy and when you put the shirt on, whether you're an outfield player or a goalkeeper, there's more pressure to play. And I think he's come in and dealt with that really, really well. "He's got areas of his game he wants to improve - and that's another reason why we've brought him in. But I think his shot-stopping and his ability to deal with crosses is super. His reaction saves are very good. "I've been delighted with Simon - he's a real good man as well." Liverpool have won 11 out of 16 games at Anfield this calendar year, drawing three and losing just twice on home soil in the league. The Reds have been in fine form in L4 in recent weeks - backing up their dominance by averaging four goals a game in their last four encounters in front of the Kop. Rodgers agrees his side seem to flourish in front of home support - and he's targeting a repeat in fortunes when Sam Allardyce's Hammers make the journey to Merseyside. He explained: "Playing at Anfield, there's more pressure on the home players than on the away team because of the history of the club. "And what has delighted me over this period of time, as we've progressed and progressed, is that the players have dealt with that so much better. "We're now very strong at home. Teams will hopefully fear coming to us, but that's a mark of the players and their mentality and aggression in the game. It's important to have that character. It's one of the mantras you need to have to play for Liverpool. "You can't just be a good player, you have to do that extra bit more and perform consistently and that's something that we're trying to improve all the time." While Sterling broke into the team at the start of the 2012-13 season under Rodgers, the final game of the last campaign saw another youngster - the seventh Academy graduate of the year - make his first-team debut. Jordon Ibe provided an assist for Philippe Coutinho on the day as he sparkled in front of a 45,000-strong Anfield crowd, while the winger went on to impress in pre-season training this year. Rodgers talked up the youngster's talents; however, he insisted that a loan spell could benefit the former Wycombe Wanderers man at some point in his early career. "Young Jordon Ibe, what a talent he is," said Rodgers. "He's 17 years of age and he trains up with us in the first-team squad. "He will need a loan period because he needs to get games, he needs to go and get the environment and get playing. But he's another one who we really see for the future. But he probably will need a loan period." http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/150609-boss-don-t-forget-raheem-s-only-18
Sterling's last three performances have gone under the radar some what, he was unplayable on Sunday but more importantly it was a very mature performance. I think as a winger you have to be balanced with your decision making, you can't beat the fullback every time, but he had Naughton in his pocket the whole match.. He used the ball quite well, received it in tight spaces and kept the ball, played a wonderful cross field ball for our second, was unlucky not to get an assist for Sahko and also made it 2 in 2 in terms of goals. We can't forget the potential he does have, I think he'll be a very handy player in the future.
It was the Sterling who turned up against City last season - he was like a little terrier, not getting pushed around, nipping in to tackles, taking his man on, passing well, receiving the ball well - nice composed finish too. Great to see and hopefully he can take that form in to the Cardiff game.
The lad can only get better, but how far he can go will be down to a few things... His determination to keep working, which then gets him playing on a more regular basis, and keeping himself out of trouble... I like him, but I don't rave about him, as we can all see he is way off being a player that could rip defences apart and be the top player in his position...
