Overloading and the academy
Submitted by George on Thu, 2007-01-18 12:48.
Where does Liverpool's youth Academy stand with the signings of young foreign players?
By my reckoning the club now has six goalkeepers, plus Carson on loan. Might this not be just a toach of overload?
My other comment is the continuing usefulness of the Academy. It really doesn't seem to have thrown up any quality Premieship players that Rafa will give a prolonged run to. He may give Peltier etc the odd game but nothing sustained - almost as if either he has no confidence in those at the Academy or the class of player curently there.
I make this comment as LFC continues to bring in playres from overseas at the expense of our `home grown'. It's almost as if the policy is "Oh he's from Spain, Argentina etc, so he MUST be better".
If this belief by LFC hierachy is correct then scale down the Academy, save money on it and use this money on foreign players if this is what the gaffer wants. This is a bit controversial and I hope it provokes some comments - or is it only me who feels this way?. To see an endless stream of players coming in from overseas must be soul destroying for our young kids.
"Oh he's from Spain,
"Oh he's from Spain, Argentina etc, so he MUST be better"
i dont know where you've heard that but i'd ignore whichever gob it came from. the reason we are buying young overseas players isnt necessarily because they are better than their british counterparts but with walcott valued at 10million without a prem appearance, bale valued at 8, davies valued at 10 (can you see the trend here) is it any wonder we avoid buying british? we could buy 5 paletta's for 1 curtis davies (admittedly after the cup performance he isnt the best example but it should give you an idea of the scale of overpricing that exists).
i dont think we can justify spending these figures on youth players when we are havin to buy 2nd choice first team players.
another example is pennant and gonzalez. both could be rated on a similar level this season, both quite young etc. one cost upto 8mill the other upto 4.5mill. so whats caused the 3-4 million difference in price? is pennant that much better quality than speedy or could it be another case of an overpriced englishman?
on the money
you're right on the money with that one. english players are overpriced. but i understand what is meant by the 'home grown' comment originally made. it sure feels better when stevie or carra score, as apposed to luis or gonzalez. local players bleed liverpool. the team needs more of them!
Risk
Clubs are taking a risk spending big on young players. You don't know how they'll grow up. Injury problems, attitude problems. Arsenal spent over £2m on Jermain Pennant when he was 15. Some years later he could be seen running around St.Andrews with an electronic tag on his ankle after being released early from prison. Who knows what Walcott will be like in 5 years? Washed up/drunk/injury prone/drug addict/ rapist(Van Persie)/celebrity Big Brother. Trying to produce home grown talent is tough for any club. Man U haven't produced anyone of note since Giggs, Scholes, Beckham etc.. Liverpool have produced five since 1990, McManaman, Fowler, Carragher, Owen, and Gerrard. Its a slow production line, but the Academy gives young lads hope of a profession even if they don't make it at LFC. We'll have to keep trying even if it means only getting one gem every 3 or 4 years.
More Homemade
yeah, liverpool needs more homemade players like gerrard, owen or caragher.. i don't kno who's been running the academy but its certainly hasn't been good job... we are wasting our tallents there, the example is mellor he looks like the next michael owen when he scored against Arsenal but given little chance, we lost him, even great prospects like Pongolle who has the capacity to score has not been tried upfront although he has the capacity to score better goals.
Pongolle and Mellor
The reason Pongolle and Mellor have been loaned (I think?) out is to give them more first team football. Liverpool have 4 strikers as it is and it is hard to please all of them at the minute, it would be even more difficult with 6 strikers.
And Gerrard, Owen and Carragher all have that special something. They are all potential match-winners and it gives them an edge over players like Pongolle and Mellor, even though their performances against Olympiakos and CSKA Moscow might prove me wrong in this instance.
YNWA
If i may interrupt
All i can say is..... BRING THE BOY WONDER MICHAEL OWEN BACK!! when he overcomes his injury ofcourse. It's how no one ever talks about him... amnesia?? We all know his capability and he was by far Liverpool's most naturally creative striker, 2nd to Fowler ofcourse. Remember that game when he scored 2 goals against Man F@#king United?? wow what brialliant goals, n also the game against Argentina in his national colours!
I say try n get Owen back, no one can deny that he's one of the most proflific strikers in the world and i know for sure he'd perform just aswell as he used to when he was a redd. Im sure if Owen comes back Fowler might regain form again! i say this because how could i ever forget that combination.... Fowler and Owen were the most dangerous combination strikers n the premier league.
owen return
i bet owen would love to come back. i believe i heard he wanted to when leaving madrid but of coarse went to newcastle. i think istanbul made him want to return. its a shame he went to n'castle but i wont be complaining about kuyt being foreign. he is going to be with lfc for life. he is going to be a legend.
Owen
I think Rafa should buy owen in the summer and put him up front with kuyt or do a exchange with newcastle crouch for owen. Owen will be great again and i,am sure that stevie G would like. Please, please, please, please buy owen rafa.
It would be foolish to scrap
It would be foolish to scrap the youth academy, did we not win the youth cup recently, not all youngsters that come through any teams academy are going to go on to big things (that's just the way it is), in the same way some players get rejected by one club but still make the grade successfully elsewhere, its all about getting a hold of the young gems and hope they mature into diamonds, none of the big four are rolling them out at the moment, but that's no reason to just let everton or tranmere profit from our stupidity, it's as much to just get lucky with how any teenager progresses, academies are very very long term projects, you may not get any gems for 10 years and then 3 or 4 turn up at once if your fortunate, sorry to see warnock leave thought we had one there a few seasons back, it's also a clear fact that as a fan of a top team we demand that any player wearing the LFC shirt be of top quality and produce the goods, and as has been proved by all teams anywhere you can spend big money on great prospects or established pros and still waste the clubs money. As i said before we should wait until better quality than lucas neill becomes available, and hope that some of our youngsters end up saving the club big money.
I don't like it
I don't like Gary Nevilles idea of "overhauling" Liverpools 18 titles (Man U have 15). What are other peoples thoughts on this one?
Envying Liverpool
I seriously feel sorry for the guy, he's a sad git, goes to sleep envying liverpool, wakes up envying liverpool, he was probably in tears when we won in istanbul, firstly i love liverpool but i am also a sports fan so have no problem if other teams win things they may deserve, so i don't begrudge united having thier golden period of winning 8 titles, it is worrying them closing the gap on us and i hope before rafa & stevie depart we can maybe win 2 or 3 for ourselves, they are behind us on all counts apart from FA cups, for the seeable future LFC are the only team capable of stopping the other three from adding to thier totals if rafa can get it right, our consolation is that we have been winning trophies just not main one, like last season we seem to be making a late run so it's obvious that a good start is very important, gary neville has not won anything yet this season so minor miracles or the cruel hand of fate may still play a part come the end of the season.
i simply ...
i simply hate the mancs ..i hope they get caught smuggling gum in from mozambique for fergies benefit and get thrown down to the conference (long shot).they can take this one it doesnt matter to be honest ...once we stick to our regular players and keep that playing together and geling nicely ...this time next year we would have already won the PL with games to spare(not a long shot could indeed happen)....Heres to manure getting caught doing something stupid and for liverpool being better than ever....COME ON U REDS!!
jealous guys
3 yrs ago a statement like Nevilles would have been quite likely but today and the possibilities that the D.I.C investment brings I'm sure we'll extend that tittle list !!! It goes to show that even though man u have had quite a a lot of domestic success, in the back of every mancs mind theres that bitterness of our beloved history!!
They had their chance but acted too slowly and now we have a good squad a good manager and (fingers crossed) decent funds to build the squad over the next 5 yrs!!
Matt Busby
Liverpool manager George Patterson signed Busby for £8000 in the March of 1936. He rarely missed a game over the following three seasons. This consistency earned Busby the Liverpool captaincy and he lead the club with great distinction. The Second World War brought an end to Busby's playing days. It is thought that he could have gone on to make over three hundred appearances for the Liverpool. Busby, like many of the playing staff, signed on for national service in the King's Liverpool Regiment. After peace was declared in 1945, the 36 year-old Busby was offered a job on the coaching staff at Anfield, however Busby had already shaken hands on a deal that would make him Manchester United manager. The Liverpool Chairman at the time eventually persuaded the board of directors at Anfield to let Busby leave. Busby took over the reins at Manchester United at the beginning of October 1946. He immediately put his mark on the side leading them to the runners-up spot in the league, behind his former employers Liverpool, by the end of the 46/47 season. Manchester United were runners-up in the league in 1947, 1948, 1949, and 1951 before finally winning the championship in 1952. The facts are there to see, Man Utd's mordern history is built around Matt Busby and if he didn't get permission from the LFC board to go to the Mancs he would have been coaching at Liverpool and Man U would be in League 2 fighting relegation. So Man U owe all there success to LIVERPOOL. Because Liverpool is where greatness comes from. Like it or not.
thanx for the
thanx for the inside info phil..im going to print this post and show it to my manc colleagues at work ...ynwa
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