Liverpool FC Forum

[Thommo's perm]

I think we need to be careful with this "young lad" tag as it gives people an excuse if they dont perform well.
Lucas got away with it for a couple of years but look at Flanagan, Kelly and Robinson.
Dont be too quick to dismiss mediocre or bad performances because of a persons age.

[jacdaniel]

I think we need to be careful with this "young lad" tag as it gives people an excuse if they dont perform well.
Lucas got away with it for a couple of years but look at Flanagan, Kelly and Robinson.
Dont be too quick to dismiss mediocre or bad performances because of a persons age.

Thats true, we cant lower our standards.  And this club has very high standards.

For me, Kelly has been the best so far.  He hasnt just played through neccesity, he also kept Englands right back out of the team or his preferred position.

[Kenny Kan]

I think we need to be careful with this "young lad" tag as it gives people an excuse if they dont perform well.
Lucas got away with it for a couple of years but look at Flanagan, Kelly and Robinson.
Dont be too quick to dismiss mediocre or bad performances because of a persons age.

Very good point.

[SouthCoastShankly]

I think we need to be careful with this "young lad" tag as it gives people an excuse if they dont perform well.
Lucas got away with it for a couple of years but look at Flanagan, Kelly and Robinson.
Dont be too quick to dismiss mediocre or bad performances because of a persons age.

I think it is a valid excuse.

Gerrard wasn't setting the world alight in his teens. In fact his world class tag wasn't accepted until his mid 20s.

Whilst I agree that certain benchmarks should be set for youth players (we have a set calibre of player), we should be very careful not to judge developing players by the standards we judge senior players by.

One thing Kenny has brought to the club is motivation and belief. If anything the Lucas and Spearing pairing has proved this. Both players have been labelled average or worse in previous seasons yet they flourished under a manager who is willing to stick with them allow for mistakes whilst they are developing.

Shelvey will be quality and clearly Kenny thinks the same. When he gets the opportunity to cement a midfield place down I believe he will flourish. He has the build for it and from what I have seen the raw talent. He lacks experience that's all.

[maypaxvobiscum]

I think we're splitting hairs here. Its rather like Man Ure in 94/95 when they had Giggs, Scholes, Beckham, Neville x 2, Butt etc.. coming through and folks arguing who was best before they had a chance to shine.

All our youngsters are looking good and its reasonable to assume that 4 out of teh top 6 will have long term Anfield careers. Who will turn out to be the best we'll have to wait and see.......

agree with this. exciting times ahead especially considering the fact that all are English hence we won't have to worry about any quota nonsense.

[Thommo's perm]

I think we need to be careful with this "young lad" tag as it gives people an excuse if they dont perform well.
Lucas got away with it for a couple of years but look at Flanagan, Kelly and Robinson.
Dont be too quick to dismiss mediocre or bad performances because of a persons age.

I think it is a valid excuse.

Gerrard wasn't setting the world alight in his teens. In fact his world class tag wasn't accepted until his mid 20s.

Whilst I agree that certain benchmarks should be set for youth players (we have a set calibre of player), we should be very careful not to judge developing players by the standards we judge senior players by.

One thing Kenny has brought to the club is motivation and belief. If anything the Lucas and Spearing pairing has proved this. Both players have been labelled average or worse in previous seasons yet they flourished under a manager who is willing to stick with them allow for mistakes whilst they are developing.

Shelvey will be quality and clearly Kenny thinks the same. When he gets the opportunity to cement a midfield place down I believe he will flourish. He has the build for it and from what I have seen the raw talent. He lacks experience that's all.

You seem to be doing exactly what I mentioned. I never used words like "set the world alight" or "world class" because thats not what I meant. If a player puts in a bad shift then it should be recognised as such. I dont want young players to be solely judged by senior players standards. But neither do I want to hear the boring old "hes only young" excuse for every bad performance. If youre good enough, youre old enough is a true maxim in my opinion. Of course theyll make mistakes but hopefully they will learn quickly
Youre right that Lucas has flourished under KK but we were constantly told he was young and would get better as he got older. Lets try not to go down the same road with our current young players

[dawson99]

There is a lot of hype. Flanagan is a neat little player, but has already shown a lot of weaknesses. There is a difference between having a nice young player who can develop and playing them week in week out. We need the squad to help develop the players into what they can become.

[Ben Patrick]

There is a lot of hype. Flanagan is a neat little player, but has already shown a lot of weaknesses. There is a difference between having a nice young player who can develop and playing them week in week out. We need the squad to help develop the players into what they can become.

Thats exactly right.
These young lads are not players that should be playing week in week out at this stage but get them on the pitch as often as you can in games when you can and allow them to gain experience.

[maypaxvobiscum]

There is a lot of hype. Flanagan is a neat little player, but has already shown a lot of weaknesses. There is a difference between having a nice young player who can develop and playing them week in week out. We need the squad to help develop the players into what they can become.

Thats totally right.
These young kids are not players that should be playing week in week out at this stage but get them on the field as often as possible in games when you can to allow them to gain more experience.

[PabloMedina28]

as i said elsewhere, it would be ideal if we could send him out on loan to another premiership club.

i've been fairly impressed with what i've seen. decent engline, good passer and can take a decent set piece. he's hardly been helped by being stuck out on the right in games when he's come on. he's a central midfielder.

That's pretty absurd. How can we let a player like him out on loan when all his best things are about to come? The boy is young and is about to expose all delightfulness!!!

Well, I'm sure we all agree he needs games. So who does he replace, week in, week out, in our team? No-one.

So a loan move to a club that will play him is a great idea. As long as he plays regularly of course...

Spearing. As good as hes been Shelvey is better, the timing of his injury was unfortunate for him and is the reason Spearing has had his chance.

Yes, perhaps so. But, let's remember Gerrard is back. And if we pick up another central midfielder in the summer... then a loan is a good move for the kid I think.

If we can give him plenty of game time, sure, no need. But if all he is likely to get is 5 mins at LB here and there, then loan him!

I dont know the reasons why he came on at full back maybe players where tired and Kenny knew he could do a job. But i cant see Kenny doing that often. I know he wont be a starter unless he really takes it up a gear next season but he can come on in games on the 60 min mark and get enough starts in the other cup games. Id personally keep him i think hes good enough to be involved in 30+ games for us next season.

If it wasnt for his injury hed of been involved in atleast 10 more games i reckon so to come to liverpool at the age of 18 and be involved in nearly 30 games is a good start to his career.

[PabloMedina28]

I think we're splitting hairs here. Its rather like Man Ure in 94/95 when they had Giggs, Scholes, Beckham, Neville x 2, Butt etc.. coming through and folks arguing who was best before they had a chance to shine.

All our youngsters are looking good and its reasonable to assume that 4 out of teh top 6 will have long term Anfield careers. Who will turn out to be the best we'll have to wait and see.......

I agree Reg.

As far as those suggesting loaning him out next year.  I have one question.  When was the last time loaning a player out helped his growth and made a contribution to LFC?  Who was the last player in a decent side to make a return from a loan and have a good career?

i can only think of Beckham

[stmichael]

As far as those suggesting loaning him out next year.  I have one question.  When was the last time loaning a player out helped his growth and made a contribution to LFC?  Who was the last player in a decent side to make a return from a loan and have a good career?

My mate is a Leicester fan and he was raving about Spearing when he was on loan there last season. Not saying that was the sole reason for his good form this season but playing regularly for a spell must have done him some good.

On a similar not, Jack Wilshere aint doing to bad from what I've seen this season. He was on loan at Bolton last season.

[Cool Hand Luke]

I think we're splitting hairs here. Its rather like Man Ure in 94/95 when they had Giggs, Scholes, Beckham, Neville x 2, Butt etc.. coming through and folks arguing who was best before they had a chance to shine.

All our youngsters are looking good and its reasonable to assume that 4 out of teh top 6 will have long term Anfield careers. Who will turn out to be the best we'll have to wait and see.......

I agree Reg.

As far as those suggesting loaning him out next year.  I have one question.  When was the last time loaning a player out helped his growth and made a contribution to LFC?  Who was the last player in a decent side to make a return from a loan and have a good career?

i can only think of Beckham

John Terry (Nottingham Forest), Ashley Cole (Crystal Palace), Rio Ferdinand (Bournemouth), Glen Johnson (Millwall), Stewart Downing (Sunderland), Frank Lampard (Swansea City), Jack Wilshere (Bolton), Jermain Defoe (Bournemouth (loan), etc

[Cool Hand Luke]

Even loaning out a player to get 5-10 starts in a row can be hugely beneficial if he hasn’t experienced much or any 1st team football.

[tubby]

Sorry but loaning him out is a stupid idea. He is on the fringes of the 1st team and next season we will most likely be in the Europa league.  1+1=2