The S-S-S frontline

[Nir.Barak]

We all saw our team today banging in 5 goals in the space of 90 minutes, a feat which didn't happen for a long while, in fact, we overcame our biggest obstacle of recent years, which is scoring goals.

This was no small part due to Sterling, Suarez and Suso,
Suarez obviously scored the goals, but Sterling's and Suso's contribution to the goals was immense, each of them played today with football intelligence, and a lot of it; whichever way you look at it that's incredible and we haven't had such a frontline in a long time.

I think that's why we scored 5 goals today, it's very important having a good defence, a good midfield is even more important, but we almost always had that, what we didn't have, is a frontline that knew what to do in the final third, more accuretly, we never had a frontline that thought and held its head up to look around.

Last year it was Downing, Suarez and Kuyt\Carroll\Bellamy which is obviously a less talented frontline consisted of players without much football intelligence.

Some would say that Suso isn't ready to be considered a permanent part of out front 3, but I think he brings something to our side that shouldn't be taken lightly, he has brilliant vision and passing ability in him and while Assaidi and Borini are good players, Borini should be a direct sustitute to Suarez and Assaidi a 2nd option to Suso and Sterling.

It can be argued that playing regularly with an 18 year old and a 17 year old is a mistake, but I think that this front 3 represent a very rich, exciting and fresh combination that we didn't have for a very long time and the best option at our disposal at the moment.
Besides, if we stick with this combo they would form an understanding between them that could last a decade, and that's good investment. exciting times ahead.

 

[Red Astaire]

A good post and deserving of your first 'like' - I'm liking this youth policy thing. I guess it has stemmed from a lack of options. I think a bit of serendipity is involved though.

 

[localny]

Fair play for getting the academy producing again - I hope we keep this going... It's ne of the few good things to come from the past few years

 

[LeTallecWiz]

A good post and deserving of your first 'like' - I'm liking this youth policy thing. I guess it has stemmed from a lack of options. I think a bit of serendipity is involved though.

Remember how most of our kids in the 90s got their big breaks? Be it Shaggy, Redders etc? Injuries ... Luckily, they have a manager who has no worries giving them a chance. Wisdom plays well in one game, first premier league start follows - that's when he has Enrique available. Suso creates game winner with great skill, first premier league start follows - that's when he has Downing available. Granted, neither Enrique or Downing are world beaters and are both horribly off form, but I don't remember a Liverpool manager in the last 15 years who had the balls to put out a starting line up like this. He seems like the kind of manager most players will want to play for - let's hope it continues to go his way.

Nir - Shanna Tova!

 

[Nir.Barak]

I don't think it's just a case of open minded manager or limited options, these players are just very, very good and it shouldn't come as a suprise, this is the product of a very big project Rafa initiated some years ago, and it's just started reaping it's fruits.

All the prospects we had: Bruna, Anderson, Nemeth, Hobbs, Barragan, Hammil etc they were all just a bit above average, which shows it took us a while to scout good players and teach and train them well and effectively but I think that we found the right formula eventually.

Shanna Tova mate!

 

[LeTallecWiz]

I don't think it's just a case of open minded manager or limited options, these players are just very, very good and it shouldn't come as a suprise, this is the product of a very big project Rafa initiated some years ago, and it's just started reaping it's fruits.

All the prospects we had: Bruna, Anderson, Nemeth, Hobbs, Barragan, Hammil etc they were all just a bit above average, which shows it took us a while to scout good players and teach and train them well and effectively but I think that we found the right formula eventually.

Shanna Tova mate!

Yah, Rafa deserves a shitload of credit for what he started. I think though we do have a manager who can maximize the benefits of this now. Let's hope though that the academy continues this way. It's looking successful now, but we should aspire to be like Barca in that sense - continually produce the talent that will either sustain our first team, or provide us $$$ as we sell them off for big sums.

 

[Modo]

We've unleashed a few potential stars on the premiership in Suso, Shelvey, Wisdom and Sterling.
You'd think we're tapped out but there's Irish lad in the reserves ready to break through as well. Give him a year or two.

 

[rurikbird]

Remember how most of our kids in the 90s got their big breaks? Be it Shaggy, Redders etc? Injuries ... Luckily, they have a manager who has no worries giving them a chance. Wisdom plays well in one game, first premier league start follows - that's when he has Enrique available. Suso creates game winner with great skill, first premier league start follows - that's when he has Downing available. Granted, neither Enrique or Downing are world beaters and are both horribly off form, but I don't remember a Liverpool manager in the last 15 years who had the balls to put out a starting line up like this. He seems like the kind of manager most players will want to play for - let's hope it continues to go his way.

Nir - Shanna Tova!

Couldn't agree more. I love Rafa (as you can tell by my avatar), but he constantly drove me crazy with his overcautiousness. Well, not always; to be more precise, he was painfully risk-averse in 4 out of 5 games. And in the 5th one he would pull a move that made you go "What??". I could never quite figure the man out. Still loved him to death.

Rodgers seems more adventurous and more logical at the same time. Or maybe his logic is easier to follow. He takes well-calculated risks and also has an incredibly useful ability to frame things to his advantage to create win-win situations (he probably learned it from Mourinho). For instance, by playing youngsters now he is giving a chance to some very deserving talented players, but also putting pressure on the owners to buy more first-team players in January in case youngsters don't produce satisfactory results, while also buying himself more time to make his ideas work. It's a risky move, but that's where extreme self-confidence (bordering on arrogance) can really help. Sometimes it pays to have a portrait of yourself in your living room.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

There's another S missing there though he isn't strictly amongst the front three, and that's Sahin. We've finally got a central midfielder who will make runs into the box again. Not since Meireles was sold and Gerrard struggled with his injuries and form have we had a CM making those.

Against WBA, Sahin ran into the box to finish and win the game for us. Against Norwich, it was his diagonal run into the box that pressured the defender into a hasty clearance leading to Suarez's opener. Then he made his run into the box in the second half to score himself. When he set up Suarez to complete his hat-trick, he was also making a run into the box before checking himself at the edge of it and asking Suarez for a return pass.

He doesn't make those runs, 3 goals don't happen.

 

[iseered]

Doesn't this WWII stuff belong in General Chat?

 

[Y1]

Send in the aSSeS troop!

Sterling
Suso
Sahin
Samed yeSil
ouSSama aSSaidi
Stevie
Suarez
Shelvey
Sebastian
joe S allen 😉
wiSdom
Sinclair
henderSon
johnSon
lucaS (when fit)
Stewart downing
Skrtel
danny S agger 🙂
joSe pepe reina

 

[gkmacca]

I don't think there's much mystery about the young players coming through.

1. If the first team was full of really good senior players, Rodgers, like any other manager, would have been much more patient and cautious about giving the young ones so many chances.

2. The plan was there to develop them like this. Look at the recruitment: we brought into the club Sterling at 15, Suso at 16, Sinclair at 15, Pelosi at 16, Ibe at 15, etc etc. In addition to the homegrown youth players who were coming through the Academy, these other players were being cherrypicked to mature quickly here. The hope was that, if they started to develop as planned, they WOULD be catching the eye by now.

Rodgers has been dealt a lousy hand in many ways, but in this case he's arrived at the right time to benefit from something that's been planned very carefully and sensibly.

 

[Modo]

Send in the aSSeS troop!

Sterling
Suso
Sahin
Samed yeSil
ouSSama aSSaidi
Stevie
Suarez
Shelvey
Sebastian
joe S allen 😉
wiSdom
Sinclair
henderSon
johnSon
lucaS (when fit)
Stewart downing
Skrtel
danny S agger 🙂
pepe S reina 😛

You do know that Pepe's real name is joSé ?

 

[Modo]

to benefit from something that's been planned very carefully and sensibly.

By this LEGEND!!

 

[gkmacca]

By this LEGEND!!

Quite right. No matter what fans think of him in other ways, they all owe him huge respect for what he did in this sense. Kenny continued it while also acknowledging the debt to Rafa. Rodgers is now in the right place at the right time, and don't forget his early comments: “Obviously everyone wants to be playing now, but that’s not the real world and you have to take it step by step,” he said. “There are very few players in the world who get into a Premier League team at 17, never mind a top club." Let's not re-write history. He needed players and he was pleasantly surprised to find so many good young players worth gambling on sooner than he'd planned.

 

[Y1]

You do know that Pepe's real name is joSé ?

Much obliged now sorted.

 

[Modo]

Exactly.
This is what Brendan had to say about them after the game (young players in the first team Suso, Sterling and Wisdom):
- They're technically very strong. André Wisdom, obviously, has been very impressive. Played a lot at centre half but he can play as well which is important. He makes the first pass, he's very strong and quick, hard to beat and I'm delighted for him, it's his first Premier League appearance.

- They know that they're not out there on their own. They've got nice technique on the ball which is important, tactically they're learning all the time and importantly for them they've got senior players around that can help them. (Rodgers)

What also delights me is that there's more players in the reserves ready to make an impact. One of them is Pacheco who's slowly starting to show some promise. Then there's the next "Rob Jones" in Ryan McLaughlin and Robbo as well. Wisdom however is older and bigger than the two and therefore has an upper hand. To be honest, as an avid reserve fan I never expected Wisdom to make it to first team as a right back.

I feel for young Flanno. He suddenly has Johnson, Kelly, Wisdom and McLaughlin to compete with.
And in my opinion he's in the bottom of that pile.

 

[dmishra]

Do we have a good left-back coming through? Apart from Robinson, that is?

 

[peterhague]

I think Rodgers deserves huge credit for playing so many of them. I really don't think many managers would be do brave. Of course I accept that circumstances have combined to force his hand a little, but do I think these players would have been starting had Kenny, Rafa, or even Houllier been manager in this situation? No, I honestly don't.

 

[dmishra]

I agree.

 

[peterhague]

Do we have a good left-back coming through? Apart from Robinson, that is?

Brad Smith is relatively promising, England u19 international. There's also that 'next Gareth Bale' from Ireland we signed called Alex O'Hanlon, but he's only 16 I think and I've barely seen him play.

 

[Modo]

Do we have a good left-back coming through? Apart from Robinson, that is?

I don't know much about the U18s any more, but we've got a young former England U17 player in Brad Smith. However, I'm not really that impressed with him. Robinson is way ahead of him.

 

[Red Astaire]

Much obliged now sorted.

I'm loving your new signature Y1. 🙂

 

[Modo]

I think Rodgers deserves huge credit for playing so many of them. I really don't think many managers would be do brave. Of course I accept that circumstances have combined to force his hand a little, but do I think these players would have been starting had Kenny, Rafa, or even Houllier been manager in this situation? No, I honestly don't.

I agree, Rafa would have been more careful. He usually played the reserves when there was no other option.
LeTallec, Sinama, Mellor, Kelly, Pacheco etc all got to play for Rafa.

 

[Y1]

I'm loving your new signature Y1. 🙂

Ah just realised it is joSeph Allen. Now only Agger is ass-less! 😉

 

[Red Astaire]

I think Rodgers deserves huge credit for playing so many of them. I really don't think many managers would be do brave. Of course I accept that circumstances have combined to force his hand a little, but do I think these players would have been starting had Kenny, Rafa, or even Houllier been manager in this situation? No, I honestly don't.

Agreed. It's slightly ironic that a big thanks is owed to Rafa for these kids but had he been manager I doubt they would have played.

 

[kingjulian]

What's happened to Y1? It seems he has gone a bit bonkers since Rodgers was appointed...

 

[gkmacca]

I think Rodgers deserves huge credit for playing so many of them. I really don't think many managers would be do brave. Of course I accept that circumstances have combined to force his hand a little, but do I think these players would have been starting had Kenny, Rafa, or even Houllier been manager in this situation? No, I honestly don't.

Rubbish. As Kenny showed with Robinson and Flanagan - when the squad was weakened he didn't hesitate to use them, so let's stop this crap. Would Rodgers be blooding so many young players if he had a much stronger squad - almost certainly not. There's absolutely no need to slag off past managers about this whilst ignoring the different circumstances. I suppose Souness was acting on his principles when he reacted to a spate of achilles injuries by bringing in the kids. Absolute bollocks.

 

[Y1]

Yeah KJ! Love to be bonkers for Liverpool at the moment.

 

[Red Astaire]

Rubbish. As Kenny showed with Robinson and Flanagan - when the squad was weakened he didn't hesitate to use them, so let's stop this crap. Would Rodgers be blooding so many young players if he had a much stronger squad - almost certainly not. There's absolutely no need to slag off past managers about this whilst ignoring the different circumstances. I suppose Souness was acting on his principles when he reacted to a spate of achilles injuries by bringing in the kids. Absolute bollocks.

I didn't read that as 'slagging off past mangers' GK - Kenny in particular definitely played some young 'uns.