Liverpool FC and the trouble with the kids today.

There has always been a clamour for young talent in football. Even when it isn’t there, and over the last 6 years I’ve seen no greater demand for it than at Liverpool.

Since Fergie landed the title with his ‘kids’ back in the 90’s, everybody wants a bit of that action. Liverpool haven’t produced a ‘star’ player since Gerrard 10 years ago, and that’s been a thorn in the side of many a fan.

The battle lines were drawn whenever it was deemed unacceptable to pick Johnny Foreigner over ‘one of our boys’. An example last season was Lucas Leiva being picked ahead of Jay Spearing. I don’t claim to be an expert, I simply observe, but from what I observed last season, Jay Spearing isn’t in the same class as Lucas, as hard as that is for some people to get into their skulls.

The demand for young English talent comes from... well, I don’t know where it comes from but it’s everywhere and it’s relentless. The solution has yet to be found, over the last 10 years various clubs have produced batches of promising starlets. Crystal Palace, Man City and Everton have all contributed to the next helping of hype. Remember all the fuss over Micah Richards? What about Walcott? Don’t forget Michael Johnson either! I wonder whether Jack Rodwell will fall into their category. Even as a Liverpool fan, it is interesting to be able to see a young players career develop.

In Houllier’s era, Liverpool imported a lot of French youngsters, Florent Sinama Pongolle being the greatest success. Besides him, none of them impressed despite the promise. Then came Rafa, and using Houllier’s rejuvenated facilities, he began to overhaul the youth system which ruffled a few feathers. Major ins and outs were afoot and some well known names were disgarded.

Since the Spanish inquisition started 6 years ago, Liverpool signed player after player as they scoured the Earth looking for talent. Some young players were deemed good enough to get a tasted of Premiership football; Lucas, Ngog and Insua were the notable ones. Despite their youth and promise, many felt aggrieved that the English lads were not getting a chance. Spearing, Guthrie and Hobbs were often talking points.

Out of the three above examples, only Spearing remains, and in my opinion, I wouldn’t be sad if he was moved on. This isn’t a grudge against Spearing, I genuinely hope he has a long career at a high level. For me, however, he just hasn’t got it, and sadly this is a theme running through a lot of our English young talent, and foreign too for that matter.

Pub talk is usually a source of amusement to me but over the last season I noticed a lot of it was criticism of Rafa’s reluctance to play the young English boys, and especially so when young imports have been selected ahead of the English. Following Rafa’s dismissal, I heard a lot of chatter about the future, naturally, but a lot of it was how Roy Hodgson would play the Brits. Personally, I think this type of philosophy is outdated in todays game and I’m not sure if it would pay dividends in the Premiership.

Barcelona are the only team I think who have had regular success with true homegrown talent, but they should rightly be seen as unique. It may just be me, and i hope it’s not, but football is an international game and therefore I favour Liverpool and it’s academy thinking internationally. England is a small pool to pick from and it’s league is the most demanding in the world, the sums just don’t add up.

I suspect that Roy Hodgson will give all the young players a chance, and everyone will have a clean slate. Giving Lucas the captains armband in pre-season was a brave decision following the 3 years of criticism directed at him. I will be very interested to see how many young players the manager chooses to play, especially in the Carling Cup (or whatever it may be called this season) where he has history of playing ‘weakened’ sides.

On a side note, it is a shame really, that the only player we have at the u19 Championships happening at the moment is Pacheco. Despite his promising performances, our Academy should have more representatives there.

My point, should I waver from it in my rambling, is the expectancy and misguided philosophy that British is best. British hasn’t been best since 1966 and I don’t think that’s going to change soon. The English are still teaching the kids to play with passion and fight, whereas the rest of the leading nations are teaching their kids to play with technique and guile. The revamp can’t start at Liverpool, it needs to start earlier than that.

The kids we have at the moment are all very promising, but the likelihood is 95% of them won’t have the honour of playing 1st class football at Anfield. Of that 5%, the amount Brits that will get the chance is very low indeed. I just hope that should Hodgson be reluctant to throw Spearing, Kelly or Darby in the mix, then he shouldn’t be judged on that fact.

If two experienced and dedicated managers follow similar patterns with our youth, will the calls for one type of youth player (British) stop? Or will we continue to complain that they aren’t given a chance?

The very argument that players are being denied the chance to play due to a managers stubbornness is generally idiotic and ignorant. Do we really think that a player who shines in training regularly wouldn’t be used in this cut-throat game? The value and demand of such players would almost force the manager to showcase such talents, whether it be for a financial reward or footballing reward. I think it’s simply a touch of anxiety from fans who want to see the new Gerrard or the new Fowler. The game moves fast though, and even since Gerrard came onto the scene as a raw holding midfielder, everything has changed.

Change is hard to take for the traditionalists, especially those who recall the all-conquering British teams of the 70’s and 80’s. Things aren’t like they used to be though, any issues Liverpool have with new talent won’t be solved by simply throwing British players into the mix.

Just a thought...

Chris Severs

The Liverpool fans are starving? Then let them eat cake.

So Liverpool have signed Joe Cole eh? Great signing it seems, good work Roy Hodgson and what a shrewd piece of business by Mr Purslow... Actually, all sarcasm dropped, it’s refreshing to see Liverpool act swiftly in a transfer deal for once; Cole and Jovanovic on a free transfer isn’t bad business for the middle of July.

As usual though, you won’t be surprised to hear I have a concern. By winning the race to sign Cole, we will no doubt see his face and shirt everywhere. The press have been calling it a ‘Marquee’ signing, but I just hope that it’s not a distraction. The distraction being the real issue of squad depth.

Everybody agreed only a week ago that our squad was lacking. After the sales of Insua and Benayoun, not to mention Aurelio leaving too, our squad is still lacking. Now, I’m not complaining, because it’s still early days and I expect a bit more business. It does frustrate me however, that already some fans have started fantasizing about a dream-team frontline firing us to glory. The chances of that happening, remain low.

Cole is an incredibly gifted player, this much is true, but he’s not the messiah (nor is he a very silly boy), he is merely a cog in the machine. To win the league, every cog needs to turn like the others, and so Cole will need time as anyone would, to bed in and find his true role in the team.

Those expecting party tricks are sure to be delighted, but I expect results. I will admit that I’ve never been an avid follower of Cole, Match of the Day and televised games are my only real reference points, but it would be interesting to hear from some knowledgeable Chelsea fans how much they think they’ll miss him. After-all, he couldn’t get a game in their Championship winning team, which prompted his move.

I will of course give Cole my full backing, as will every Red fan, but at the moment, I still see this deal with some suspicion. I still want (but do not expect) significant investment this summer. I will feel underwhelmed if another £15 million is not spent on strengthening the squad. Danny Wilson, at £5m looks to be a risky piece of business, but if Rafa and Roy both saw fit to acquire him then I will go a long with that.

At the start of the summer most people expected about £15 million (net) to be spent, but with Insua and ‘Benanoon’ (with a nod to David Pleat) leaving to the tune of £10m, would I be wrong in assuming that would more than cover Cole’s signing on fee and the bulk of any future wage? The question should now be asked, now what? We find ourselves a senior player down (3 out 2 in), and the rest of the summer to right it. We need two proven left backs, as well as decent cover at right back.

I’m not trying to play Football Manager here, but I would expect the majority of our net transfer outlay to be put into the fullback areas. One high profile left back is essential, if Liverpool FC cannot fill this position adequately this summer I won’t be the only one asking questions of the board.

Whether it would be silly to think or not, I would assume the board are not foolish enough to think they can distract the fans with a shiny new centrepiece in Cole while the walls around it rot. I won’t speculate on what left backs we should get, I will leave that to you dear reader, because I only write this article as a reminder of the real health problems at Liverpool.

Getting back to the playing staff, I would desperately love some real experience to be brought in as cover or 1st choice. However, I know, as with all summers, Liverpool get linked with everyone and anyone so it’s impossible to see through the fog of rumour to what’s really going on.

I read yesterday that Alex Ferguson thinks his team don’t need strengthening, I disagree, but I think that the option to splash the cash may no longer be his. Chelsea don’t seem to be rejuvenating their aging squad and Arsenal may have to contend without Fabregas, or at the least with a sulking Spaniard. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, I presume the title will be fought out between Chelsea and Man City, but if both teams were to go through a sluggish patch throughout the season, Liverpool (dare I say it) could pounce.

Any title challenge will require a bit of piece from the media, with Roy on board hopefully they won’t be as vicious and rabid as they were with Rafa. I don’t wish to put words in the mouth of the press, but i worry that there may be some on Fleet Street who feel aggrieved two of London’s finest, in the entertainer Cole and the gentleman Hodgson, have upped sticks and gone to LIverpool. With that in mind, I expect some vitriolic swipes at the men in Red this season.

This is all conjecture of course, and the chances of guessing anything right in football require the help of an octopus who put every single pundit in his place at the World Cup. It just goes to show how simple the game is, and how complicated it has become because of the idiots.

So while we all grab our surf boards and try and ride this wave of positivity as long as we can, the real issues bubble just under the surface. The takeover, the future, and the strength of the squad are all major areas of concern. While the Cole transfer is a shining light, as fans let us be careful not to get caught in the glare of it and let the board put their feet up thinking a day eating cake is worth more than a week eating bread.

By Chris Severs