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Posted:
Mon Jun 22, 2009 12:30 am
by account deleted by request
Oh Jesus, not another miracle working wonder kid. No doubt he is good on crosses and will soon have his position nailed down.
Good post Mick, I have thought the same for a long while mate.
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Posted:
Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:34 am
by JoeTerp
this is being completely blown out of proportion. Rafa, IMO, did not "get serious" about signing foreign youth talents until 2007. Since then, Insua has come through, and we have brought in lads like Lauri Dalla Valle who is rated as one of the top players of his age in Europe and Chrisopher Buchtmann who made a UEFA list of players of the future after impressing at the U17 Euros. Kacaniklic has also been a very impressive foreign academy signing, and has been promoted to Melwood. Other than that, very few foreigners have actually been based at the academy and players like Spearing, Darby, Kelly, Irwin, and other have been promoted to the reserves.
And its not like we have not been trying to sign the top talent from the country. We have been on the losing end of the race to sign people like John Cofie and Aaron Ramsey. But its hard to attract the top talent to come when you don't have kids making the grade at your club, and its hard to get kids to make the grade at the club if you cannot attract the top talent, a culture that Rafa inherited and something that is difficult to turn around.
In many ways its easier to bring in these Spanish kids than English kids because of the loophole where English teams can offer pro contracts at a younger age. Since we have a much better scouting network in Spain, it wouldn't make sense NOT to try and take advantage of the rule. Also, Rafa has a very strict ENGLISH SPEAKING ONLY rule with his players I think it is a gross exaggeration to suggest that somehow a Scouser could feel like a foreigner at the LFC academy.
All that said, I think we have too many players in the reserves, and I will be very disapointed if the expected exodus does not come, but I have said that I will wait to comment on the whole situation until September 1.
Lets not forget who the three subs were that came on against PSV: Spearing (Wirral), Darby (Liverpool (can't seem to find specifics)), and Kelly (Whiston)
And scored one of the goals that turned the tide of the title against us: Federico Macheda (Rome)
If any Scouser is scared of a little competition in the squad when he is 15, and flees to Everton, I would question what kind of character they are going to have at 23, when they are also going to have to compete against players from the world over to earn a place in the 1st team. Bringing in a diversity of talent, IMO can only be beneficial for the development of the top level local kids, and to be honest, those are the only local kids that matter int terms of what matters for the 1st team.
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Posted:
Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:39 am
by JoeTerp
Also would like to point out that TWELEVE U16s player got promoted to the U18s for next season. I am pretty sure that they are all English although their individual profiles are not up yet. But I do know that a couple of them have been called up to play for England.
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Posted:
Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:00 am
by account deleted by request
I think people are being a little harsh on Ace' , maybe he could have phrased it better than "cack", but I think he raises areas in which Rafa could improve.
In terms of transfers - I think a more focused approach rather than a scattergun approach might have paid better dividends. Certainly I have not been in favour of the revolving door we have seen with players over the past few years.
Man management - Like most I can only take a guess, but his treatment of players seems in-line with what Gerrard and Carra have said " that he treats players like chess pieces" at times. Confident players like Gerrard and Torres can perhaps cope with this style better than others who may look in vain for the arm round the shoulder and the pat on the back. His treatment of Alonso, Crouch, Keane etc etc could perhaps have been better.
Handling the media - I think he has done better in this area than some, (I agreed with his outburst of facts against Fergie for example) but I can understand how and why other people might believe he has not handled things as well as perhaps he could have.
Then again all that doesn't mean he is a bad ("cack") manager, it just means that he falls short in one or two key areas. Its like saying Hyypia was slow...... it doesn't mean he was a bad player.
I think its very unfair to pick on his writing skills , ffs Bam was one of the best football posters on here and he could hardly spell his name right
I think we should be concentrating on the football content of posts rather than picking holes in their grammar.