KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Podolski vs Bent vs Pacheco

Well i would agree with Darren. To be honest, living here in Spain and i've hear Jack on him! So maybe now thinking about it, i should of put another name in instead of him.

Sterling is interesting, but with every game being so important when will he get his chance? At Anfield to a team we know we can beat??

we maybe missing a lethal finisher but i think carroll deserves a chance to at least end the season being involved in the first team before we cut our losses on a £35m player.

the last thing i'd want is to see him play even less football than he already is. he needs form and you don't find it by sitting on the bench week in / week out.

i'll agree that he has been awful for the majority of the time. just feel when he's played he hasn't had a lot of service and in the few games he's performed well he's been dropped from the side the following week.

i'd rather us wait til the summer before we sign a striker unless we can pick up a real top class player this month. i'd prefer us to look at a good finisher to partner suarez. but also a player who could play as a lone striker, i think strikers who can play that role are a must in the modern game. don't think bent would fit into that catergory although he does score goals.

at the end of the day suarez is only out for 5/6 more games... i don't think panic buying again is the way forward

his still only 17. if he had a big frame then we might have seen him on the bench but with his size its just holding him back a bit. you mark my word that boy will be a star

Did they replace proven international players when getting their chances? Downing might not be all that, but he's an England regular. I can't see some 17 year old from the same country getting the nod above him in a season where we have no European competition, and competition for 4th is tight.

I'm not saying Sterling doesn't deserve a chance, but I get the feeling that clubs take pushing younger players into the first team much more seriously than they used to because the threat of long term injury ruining the player's career is so much higher. Look at Wilshire, for instance. Great player, but it really looks like he will struggle with injuries throughout his career.

Making it hard for these youngsters to break into the first XI is necessary so that they remain focused during this time when real life can be more interesting than kicking a ball (look at that Manc kid Morrison), but I agree with Rafa that if the player has a gift he should get a taste every now and again. Pacheco had those tastes and squandered them all. Kelly (though a bit older) has taken them all (outside one poor back pass). The chances for these guys tend to come on loan, unless you're like Flanagan and have had first team thrust upon you because of mass injury to the senior players. These players can be judged on their loan period, eg Amoo who is burning up the lower leagues in the way Pacheco did not, and Shelvey who did very well at Blackpool.