16 year old Jerome Sinclair is in the LFC squad for tonight's League Cup game at West Brom. Only 16 last week,just turned 15 While its fantastic to see the kids getting a chance, it's alarming to see how thin the squad has become under FSG. JWH would rather put Linda up for rent than part with his own cash
He'll be in the squad but won't be ahead of Yesil and Morgan. I don't think the squad is particularly that thin. I think it's only up top where we are really struggling.
You can look at it 2 ways though, the whole point of developing these kids is so that we can bring them through and so not spend money on buying players. I don't see it a a bare squad at the moment I'm quite pleased with the depth other than up front.
As BR says, if they're good enough, they're old enough. He's brought Raheem through because he thinks he's good enough, and a lot of people at the club rate Sinclair up there with Sterling with regards to talent. TBH, I've always been impressed whenever I've seen sinclair play. Like most people say he probably will be there to soak up the atmosphere and will probably just stay on the bench.
Whats happened to Coady? Always thought he was a big prospect and maybe useful with our current loss of Lucas.
I agree completely! FSG have said since the beginning it is their plan to develop good young talent. Now you need to have good seniors to bring them on, but there is no reason why many of our future stars shouldnt come from our academy or developed after arriving in their teens.... This gives three key benefits to me: 1. Players who develop at a club generally show better loyalty 2. We can haopefully make a bit of profit from selling a few players where there is competition for places. 3. Players who play together from a young age show a natural understanding of each other. (This is imperative for successful pass and move/tiki taka football.)
I always thought Ibe would get the nod ahead of Sinclair, either way its good to see youngsters get a chance. i'm happy to write this season off if our youngsters get a shot. its better for squad longetivity that youngsters get games, especially if we aim to keep them and make them regulars for years to come
Whilst it sounds great in practice RB the key word you use is develop. Unfortunately development of young players involves managing their careers and does not involve throwing them in before they're ready. Fans need to be careful when using Sterling as an example of "if he can do it they all can". If it was that simple no club with a half decent youth policy would ever need to buy players in. For those who use Sterling as an example consider a player like Flanny as well. Came in and had a few good games then after a couple of bad ones read what is written on here for example...he's ****, he can't do this and he can't do that...etc etc. Now he looks like a lad who's confidence (often a youth players biggest attribute) has taken a severe beating. Also take into account the physical strain top level football has on young players especially. Look at our last crop of quality young players (Jones, Fowler, Owen, Gerrard,Kelly even more recently) and see how many have had terrible injury records once they got older. Granted a competition like the COCup is where we should be seeing the young players given a chance but I'd hate to see the futures of this decent crop of players ruined by bad management, fans expectations and physical exhaustion. And for those who think that this was the plan all along...pull the other one.
As you say - point 3 is crucial. Just to add to that, the young players will learn and grow accustomed to a certain style of play/philosophy which should be played throughout the entire club. Wisdom, Suso, Morgan, Sterling have probably played in the 4-2-3-1 system in the youth teams which is reliant on pressing high up the pitch, and has a huge emphasis on technique and game intelligence. It says a lot when they have all played some part of a first team match and haven't looked out of place.
Well said Billy. Whilst this wasn't the plan (especially for this year at least), we have to make do with the resources we have. Thankfully, we have some fantastic talent at the club and credit to them - they haven't put a foot wrong. If anything, it's the seniors who have let the team down. Furthermore to your point aon Flannagan, the same can be said for Insua. When rotated with Aurelio, he looked solid and assured. But when he was starting every game the following season, he looked terrible. It;s a shame we let him go because he was talented.
I agree that players need easing in. you have to slowly improve their physicality and their stamina without pushint them too hard.... However, physical aspect aside i think we have a couple of player in Suso and Sterling who are mentally ready for the big time and will do very well by us. other players who may get some opportunities at young ages are going to have to accept that they may just get a couple of appearances and then have to wait a long time for their next one. Last year I prefferred watcjing the reserves to the first team as the likes of Suso and Sterling dominated matches and made other clubs up and comings look distinctly average...So glad that they are no part of our senior set up. getting the balance right between promoting youth and not is really important. Put too much on their shoulders and they suffer - Insua... Leave them in the reserves and they stop improving - Pacheco. i think Sterling and Suso are coming in at about the right time for them and for us
I hope Rodgers sends Rafa a thank you note for kicking our youth program up a notch... it's saving his bacon after a wretched transfer season.
I would rather see Liverpool have a second string of 16 years olds than be like Manchester United who have a reserve side filled with multi million pound players i.e Smalling, Henrique and Powell.
I totally agree its the seniors who have been letting the side down (on the pitch at least). I share the optimism of every fan about seeing youth coming through but let's not forget their development began under Rafa and has continued since then...it hasn't been an overnight process. It would be a terrible waste to scupper those years of development by bringing them into an under-performing side and putting pressure on some players who are simply not quite ready yet. This is why FSGs transfer policy of "only buying young" (or cheap as some suspect) makes no sense. As we have a good youth set up and plenty of players ready to step up in the next year or two (gradually) then why weren't we improving the senior squad or at least keeping experienced players (Maxi and Kuyt as examples) for them to learn from and rotate with? Or on the flip side why did we loan out a young England international striker and try to offload the England u21 captain a swap deal? There just doesn't seem to be any coherant plan here which is extremely worrying to me. I've heard countless people use the "these kids are our future argument" and yes they are hopefully the long term future for LFC. That's EXACTLY why I'm worried that we will be using them as our "short term fix".
I think Billy's right in that young players need careful management so they don't burn out too soon. However, I do believe that bringing them in has generally been the aim. The specifics of who and when may not be quite what was intended (who knows?), but a youth policy has been the owners' avowed intention since they took over. It remains to be seen whether it's too much, too young or not, but I don't believe it's an act of desperation.
I totally agree with that. Hence why we shouldn't just use any young player to fill gaps as we may be forced to do if we get a couple more injuries (which is bound to happen). Like yourself I enjoyed watching the reserves/youth team last year and its great to see some break through. That makes it even more frustrating that we've missed a massive trick this transfer window to buy in players to compliment our emerging youth (Joe Allen aside). Look at our most succesful youth players over the last couple of decades and see who they learned their trade from. Read Robbies autobiography and see how much he learned from Rushie, ask Stevie G about what he learned in a short time from Gary Mac or Mcmanaman from Barnes etc etc. The simple fact is youth players don't just develop in the youth team and reserves. They also have to continue that development if they break into the first team. Who will Sterling learn from? Downing? Who will Robinson be learning from? Enrique? Who will Morgan learn from? Borini who's just a kid himself? Its going to be tougher for these lads than for any young players we've seen in recent times and I'd hate to see some of them stall in their development or worse get brutal injuries because they are being thrown in at the wrong time. It would be a waste of all those years of hard work bringing them up a level at a time. Ultimately I just don't want fans (or manager or owners) heaping too much pressure and expectation on the youngsters to drag us out of the ****.
You named three good young players there. I know little about Henrique but I'd have loved us to sign either of the other two. The problem is our second string is about to become our first string. Meanwhile United have a top class first string and bloody decent second. We have an unknow first string. Not as great really is it.
Suso is a massive talent, very creative and has the potential to be a goal scoring midfielder too...Such a shame we didnt get someone like Dempsey for him to learn from...(However, give it a couple of months and the rest of the squad will be learning from Suso...lol)
I share your liking of Suso but ufortunately you only have to look at a team like Arsenal to know that's not true (and I realise you inserted a lol so obviously know this). They've produced (or stolen) some of the best youth players the Prem has seen that much can't be argued with. Ask yourself how a young player as good as Fabregas can win so little in what was a pretty damn good team. Simple...in the big games the more experienced teams knew how to beat them and at the toughest points in a season their young players just didn't know how to grind results out. Arsenals biggest problem in recent years has been a lack of experience because of their transfer policy and not offering older players new contracts. Every team needs a good blend to succeed. Even the greatest youth players need the wise old head beside them on the pitch or supporting them off it.
