What Brendan must do now

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By China Acheru

The media have been having a good time. They are suggesting players
for Liverpool FC and it has been a circus show ever since the transfer
window closed and we failed to tie up a striker, leaving us with just
Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini as it is widely believed.

Liverpool can only get a free agent now or else they wait until the
January transfer window so names fave been bandied- Michael Owen,
Emile Hesky, Florent Sinama Pongolle and even Allesandro Del Piero.

These are all supposed to be stop gap measures until January when we
can either recall Andy Carroll from his loan move to West Ham or get
another striker (if FSG will be ready to spend then).

How did we get to this point? We are Liverpool, aren’t we?

This time last season, our striking options were Luis Suarez, Andy
Carroll, Dirk Kuyt, Craig Bellamy and Maxi Rodriguez but in the
summer, Dirk, Bellamy and Kuyt left yet we failed to replace and were
left with just three- Suarez, Carroll and Borini.

On the eve of the transfer window shutting, we let go of Carroll on
loan to West Ham but got nothing in return and we have seemingly been
left with just two strikers in Suarez and Borini so it’s time to press
the panic button?

Did I just ask if it’s time to press the button? We have already pressed it.

Now look at the free transfer names being bandied- Owen? When was the
last time he played football? If he’s not good enough for Manchester
United why should we have him? Thank goodness he signed for Stoke, now
the media will have to cook up another rumour.

Emile Hesky? I can’t even laugh at this one and the names keeps being
mentioned in the media.

There is really nothing we can do about getting attacking options in
the team now unless we take one of these out of contract players or
wait until the January window but we sure can use what we have.

Many people forget a silent signing the club made about the same time
Andy Carroll was going on loan to West Ham.

Samed Yesil, an 18 year old striker for Leverkusen joined up last week
before the window closed for one million pounds.

Any 18 year old striker that costs that much must have some goals in
his boots and its time we let him show us what he has.

If not for the lethargic displays of Stewart Downing we probably would
have left Raheem Sterling in the U18s, depriving ourselves and the
world of his talent and the same applies to Jack Robinson who we had
to throw in to the fray after a former coach brought in a certain Paul
Konchelsky who was simply not Liverpool standard. I must also mention
a player like John Flanaghan who played 8 league games under Kenny
Dalglish when Glen Johnson and Martin Kelly got injured. He certainly
held his own.

In making cases for Yesil, there is also Dani Pacheco and Adam Morgan
and I want to start by tracing a history of youngsters who have come
good for our club in time past

Michael Owen- He made his Liverpool debut at 18 and scored in that
game. He went on to score one hundred and fifty eight goals in two
hundred and ninety seven games for the club

Robbie Fowler- Liverpool fans worldwide still call him God and the
reasons are not far-fetched. He scored one hundred and eighty three
goals for Liverpool. He scored on his debut against Fulham in the
League Cup in 1993 when he was just 18 years old and went on to be the
5th highest goal scorer in the history of the club.

Jamie Carragher- He is currently the second most capped Liverpool
player, ever  and he made his debut at 18 becoming a mainstay in the
team ever since.

Steven Gerrard- He is another player blooded at a very young age and
has remained a back bone of the team ever since.
If I go on and on, I will certainly be naming players like Jamie
Redknapp, Steve McManaman, Daniel Agger and many more.

What’s the point? The point is mistakes have been made. Brendan
Rodgers has already shown his naivety by bungling up the Andy Carroll
loan without first being sure of a replacement striker because as much
as we want to blame FSG for not putting up the cash, it was Brendan
who watched players like Maxi, Kuyt, Bellamy and Carroll leave without
securing the future of our front line so he must now turn to what is
available to him and have faith and confident in them.

Daniel Pacheco- I have always looked on him as a great prospect but he
has never really been given a good run in the first team always being
shipped out on loan. It’s time to throw him in.

Samed Yesil-  Goal.com’s Clarke Whitney in a profile on the website
described  him as ‘the next Drogba’.
Adding that “when history reflects, Yesil just might be remembered as
this summer’s greatest transfer coup”.
He has scored 57 goals in 71 matches for Bayer’s youth teams in the
last two years, an extraordinary statistic. He also captains Germany’s
Under-19 and won the “Silver Shoe” at the Under-17 World Cup two years
ago.

Adam Morgan- He is still with the U18s but he got some games in the
pre-season friendly matches and featured in the Europa Cup games
played by the club so far so rather than go on and on saying the club
has just two strikers in Fabio Borini and Luis Suarez we must say it
as it is that we have five when we include Yesil, Pacheco and Morgan.

Rodgers is himself a young coach who was given a chance in a big club
in difficult and grim times so he must in turn give these youngsters a
chance to save his job.

I’m sure he must have studied the history of our great club to see
that we have always thrived in youngsters so he must look back into
that conveyor belt and pull them out.

Unless we want to panic and start seeking washed out players who are
out of contract, there is only one way forward for Rodgers- The youth.

YNWA

You can follow China Acheru via twitter on @ikwerreman

17 Comments

  1. Great article and spot on with your comments. I am a LFC supporter of some 50 years and have witnessed many a young player being introduced to First Team action and have grabbed their opportunity with both hands to become stars of the team.
    Your right its not time to press the panic button searching out has been out of contract players, but time to use the assets we have.
    Kennyr

  2. I luv dis article.If Brendan wants to prove his worth,he must show his faith in these young lads by giving them lots of playing time and I am sanguine that those guys will not let us down.YNWA

  3. The youngsters have to start somewhere, now is the time for our young players to step up to the mark,we have a great team in the making let BR give them a try in the first team we have nothing to lose but plenty to gain.
    YNWA

  4. I have been a fan of Adam Morgan ever since the day I first heard of him, when he was playing for the U13s. I was thrilled to see him start for the club, and I wouldn’t really be surprised if he managed a few more games this season. He’s an amazing player, some say he’s like the Son of God (Folwer, of course). ;)

  5. I think this article is nothing but the truth and practical. If you ask me, I think it should be put forward to brendan rodgers himself. It might make him see sense!

  6. Good article, out of contract players cost lots of money in wages, look at del piero at sydney. That money comes out of the pot for future buys, youth costs nothing, we are not going to qualify for the champions league this season, so by giving youth a chance we could end up having to buy less players then we previously thought.

  7. China, why not say all this to fans of liverpool during football fans time on cool fm because this is spot on.

  8. “A chance to save his job” – 3 games into the season and you’re talking like he’s barely clinging on. Ridiculous. This year should be about getting the team adjusted to Rodgers’ brand of football and aiming for 6th. A top 4 would be absolutely amazing but it was always going to be an extremely tough challenge. City, United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Newcastle, Everton & Spurs are all legitimate challengers for those 4 spots.

    I’ve only seen a little bit of Yesil but I’m certainly not understanding the “next Drogba” tag. He looks pacy, pretty good dribbling and clearly a clinical striker. Will be nice to see how he develops but I doubt we’ll see him thrust right into the first squad.

    It’s all very well saying how easy it is to just throw young players in but the process is more complicated than many seem to understand. The world has lost count of how many super stars at youth level completely failed to cut it at senior.

    Morgan had a decent game against Hearts but he’s not a world beater. Pacheco has had a patient build up with a few loan spells and I’m sure that he might be given a chance this season. There have always been questions about his mentality though which probably explains his relative lack of senior appearances.

    Sterling is off to a great start but I can’t see him keeping up a regular place without it having a detrimental effect. He’s not the most physically developed player and he’s in, arguably, one of the toughest tackling leagues. It’s a big demand on the body, especially when we start facing the teams that are going to try and kick him out of games.

    The simple fact is that we do need a senior striker but I would agree that there aren’t any suitable free transfers on offer. The best we can hope for is that Drogba’s contract breaks down and we can convince him to join.

  9. You’re overlooking the problem of over playing youngsters leading to higher levels of injuries later in their career. You named owen, fowler, redknapp all of whom have had careers blighted with injuries. Even stevie has picked up more than his fair share. We all want to see young players breaking into the first team but it should be done carefully and not to the detriment of their long term health and service to the club. Our club should never have been allowed to get to the situation of only having 2 senior stikers for the start of the season. Shocking decision making by someone

  10. All this talk about finishing in top 4 and wining a trophy, its all nice but we have to at some point decide what we want. Short term or long term. The team is doing great and I believe there is a consensus that if LFC continues like this we will finish better than last term. But in looking for quick fixes we may damage end up with just that, a short term quick fix.

    BR like has been suggested should simply stick to establishing the new brand which I think is catching on just fine. Fewer mistakes and we are on our way. Possibly a new goalkeeper in January as part of the changes wont be a bad idea if for no other reason to keep Pepe on his toes, we all have to agree he has been sloppy here and there in the past few seasons and has personally cost us a few points here and there.

    Overall there is hope I would say. Lets stick to the long term solution. Finish sixth this season at the worst, finish in top 4 next season, challenge for the title the next and then begin hauling it in, hopefully…

  11. I like your article. but sorry, i really dislike the word “the next drogba”. We used to have “the next Sedane” the next Henry”, “the next etc…”

  12. Nice article, you got it dead on with the current squad. Hope BR can pull a rabbit out of the hat and keep us in contention for a top 4 finish.

  13. Maybe Rodgers could develope a plan B as well becouse so far i am not convinced by his playing style at all as the results speaks for themselves,I wonder when it will sink in that we have not got the players to play like barca…end of.

  14. Don’t like all the spin as well, trying to turn our pathetic attempts in the transfer market into some kind of blessin. we needed a striker or 2,instead he sells 1,I know its been said to death but its just so poor.

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