Stewart Downing is about to become a Liverpool player,Charlie Adam signed last week,it is Jordan Henderson leading the way. British players with proven premiership experiences better than foreign players when we are not sure if they are going to fit in or not.Though some British players were failure too, e.g Paul Koncheskey. When Xabi Alonso came to Liverpool no one was sure if he was going to be a success or not, but he was able to gel in immediately. Euefa rule is going to come to effect in distance future, and it is wise to see the danger now than to wait till it is too late. Europa Press release: UEFA rule on ‘home-grown players’: compatibility with the principle of free movement of persons The European Commission has published an independent study on the ‘home-grown players’ rule adopted by UEFA. This rule requires clubs participating in the Champions League and the UEFA Cup to have a minimum number of ‘home-grown players’ in their squads. Compared with the '6+5' plan proposed by FIFA, which is incompatible with EU law, the Commission considers that UEFA has opted for an approach which seems to comply with the principle of free movement of workers while promoting the training of young European players. The Commission also notes that the measures are designed to support the promotion and protection of quality training for young footballers in the EU. This study had been announced in the White Paper on Sport in July 2007 Home-grown players’ are defined by UEFA as players who, regardless of their nationality or age, have been trained by their club or by another club in the national association for at least three years between the age of 15 and 21. The UEFA rule does not contain any nationality conditions. It also applies in the same way to all players and all clubs participating in competitions organised by UEFA. http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/807 Good luck kenny Dalglish
Tell you what I don't mean to be negative but it seems a bit desperate trying to justify the signings Daglish has made. The problem is not in the players I fully support the players but the fees we have dished out on this players is a bit steep. I am in the camp of I think we could have spent this money a bit better but I will be glad to eat humble pie.
Buying British players doesn't necessarily guarantee that they will hit the ground running straight away. For example - Konchesky and Joe Cole hardly set the world alight despite having Premiership experience. As long as the players in question have good quality, then we should sign them up i.e. Downing - most crosses in the Prem league, Adam - set pieces and good passing, Henderson - creates a lot of goal scoring chances.
I think we're buying players based on statistacl analysis. I'd imagine that the result of that analysis also probably shows that over a period of time it's english players that prosper better in the premier league Most clean sheets in the premier League? David James British defenders - John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Carragher, Dennis Irwin, Gary Neville, Ashley Cole, Woodgate (before injuries), Baines - all quality British Midfielders - Gerrard, Beckham, Bale, Giggs, Lampard, Butt, Scholes, Walcott Strikers - Fowler, Owen, Shearer, A. Cole All quality, all stood out as great players in the premier league, all british.... and thats just off the top of my head
You have to accept though that majority of those players came through the system and did not cost a fortune for their clubs.
Agreed but imagine if they were in their prime today and what their sale prices would be? Alan Shearer was a record signing for £15m but is easily the best £15m Newcastle have ever spent and i'm sure they'd sell half their team without a seconds thought if they could make that signing again
Carroll and Suarez. Kenny signed Shearer for Blackburn and they won the title. Guess what....He was laughed at for signing a then non prolific Geordie from Southampton. He was the same age as Andy Carroll,the same build as Andy Carroll and as much as a handful as Andy Carroll. I reckon if Liverpool can get the right service into Andy Carroll...he's going to be unstoppable.
There's always been a premium on UK players. With every manager and her sister saying for years that foreigners can take time to settle, no wonder. It took Ronaldo a coupla seasons at Utd, with criticism from fans for showboating and OTT diving, so the benefit is averaged out over their time at the club, whereas Brits are more likely to hit the ground running. So it's not that Brits are first and foreigners next. Brits just have a box already ticked, provided they've got PL experience. (Owen Hargreaves was a Brit who didn't have it. Was the PL's physicality too much for him?)
According to sky sports Downing didnt have the most crosses in the Premier League. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,,11096_2705370,00 en-USS_01DBC.html
That only tells part of the story mate. He made the 2nd most crosses last season (behind your man Baines), but Downing COMPLETED the most crosses. Also over the last 2 seasons he is by far the most prolific crosser- Baines' stats for crossing this year stand out from his previous seasons, but Downing's number of crosses is fairly consistent.
That's a great post and to be fair you're probably over-covering yourself with Hargreaves who when he did actually manage some appearances in his first season helped them win the double i believe (though i think that's more to do with similarities between the Bundesliga and the PL) Ronaldo is a great shout, and even David Silva took a good few weeks to settle, and he's a standout first season success and an established international. We have to bear in mind that City have their first season in the CL (always tough as Tottenham showed), Chelsea have huge upheaval and gaps to plug, and Arsenal seem to be losing players quicker than they are signing them, so we have a 1 in 3 chance to bump someone out of the top 4 and seal a place right before the FFP Rules kick in. We can't afford to gamble on foreign players right now, we need players to step right in and do the job they know they are there to do. Seal CL football with a solid base of Prem players and then we can afford to garnish our team with players like Mata or Hazard, who we may need to help through a phase where they adapt. We don't however have that luxury now. We need CL football before the FFP comes in as it will have a huge knock on from everything to our transfers for the next few years to the building of our stadium, and it's unlikely we will have an opportunity to take a shot at 3 teams again for a while.
Thats quite a good assist record from Baines in there as well, oh most completed crosses just on the other thread it said most crosses they must have meant completed then.
Yeah amazing season from Baines, he's the first choice left back for most of us here. Not that we're likely to get him of course! Can be a bit confusing with so many stats flying around people dishing out the stats are even getting mixed up
