Keep your head up.

[Mystic]

Yep this thread is the anti Enrique. Something which I've noticed and has impressed me the few times i've seen the reserves play, and last night, and thats how good our young players are at keeping there heads up and looking at what's around them, a very Spanish trait and one that our reserve level coaches should be very proud of. A lot of our players haven't been able to do this very well recently, Gerrard, Suarez and Enrique come to mind, however in Sterling, Suso, Pacheco from the youth and Borini and Allen from Rodgers, it looks like we'll have a lot more of that in the future, and it'll be great for the team, so good job Mr Borrell and keep them coming!

 

[juniormember]

That's unfair on Gerrard, and to an extent Suarez.
Gerrard in particular has created more goals with threaded passes and crosses than anyone else in our team for the last, what, 20 years? His passing's simply been poor this season and that's got nothing to do with him Not being aware of his team mates.
Suarez is Suarez. He's probably one of the top three players in the league that defenders are shit scared of him taking them on and doing the unpredictable. Yet he's still managed to amass a shit load of assists during his career and with us too, taking into consideration the horrible season we had last year (and the terrible shooting by every one of the players).
I agree with your general sentiment though.
The staff Rafa brought in have completely changed the mentality of our new generation of youth players.
Never expected Sterling to be so aware of his team mates considering the type of player he is.

 

[Mystic]

It is unfair of Gerrard yes, more a dig about the last few games where he has been a bit unaware of the game around him, Suarez though is very guilty of not looking up at times. We have been lacking players like this for a while though, especially from the youth system, so it's great to see the change coming through, it could lead to us having some great players, like we're seeing now and some great football as a result.

 

[gkmacca]

The big game environment is invaluable. You just can't coach that kind of adrenalin-fueled commitment. The same young players sagged in spirit like a punctured balloon last year when they were being outplayed by their peers in one or two of the NextGen matches. The great thing was they were given a chance and my goodness they took it. It was great to see.

 

[Mystic]

The big game environment is invaluable. You just can't coach that kind of adrenalin-fueled commitment. The same young players sagged in spirit like a punctured balloon last year when they were being outplayed by their peers in one or two of the NextGen matches. The great thing was they were given a chance and my goodness they took it. It was great to see.

Yep, I was especially impressed with Widsom last night, didn't really know anything about him, always thought he was a CB to be honest, however he was really really good, and in my opinion, not that far away from the first team with performances like that.