KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Rafa, Roy & the kids

no, no, no...nothing perverted...!!!!

Rafa didn't have much faith in our youngsters, even the really promising ones like Pacheco & Kelly.

I'm worried that perhaps Roy is of the same opinion, eg playing Agger at LB in the last two league games as opposed to Kelly, who looks to be a better FB already than Agger will ever be. Yes, Kelly played in the Europa games but it would appear that Roy's priority is the prem (fine by me) so it already looks like he'd play established players out of position rather than play a highly promising young talent who is better suited to the position.

What do others think?

Too soon to tell.

Beginning to think the same now Roy's shipped out Dalle Valle jsut so we can get Paul Konchesky?

We needed a reliable left back, hence PK. He is better than we had and will mean Agger can switch to CB.

@ Rafarendum. I agree that Kelly is better at CB or RB. He can play football and I'd love to see him develop at CB to replace Carra. Right now, I'd love to seem him at RB with Johnson pushed up to the right wing. Oh well, a man can dream....!!!!

Our squad is quite thin this season and if Roy doesnt use the youngsters we will be worse than last season. The likes of Kelly, darby, Pacheco and Amoo should be used more often this season rather than playing players out of position.

Cara was centre mid when he first broke into the team. I seem to remember him scoring a header on his debut. I think it was his debut or very close to it. He was a centre mid with England under 21's as well.

LDV had legs like 10-ton weights, his mobility was awful. He'd never have made it at Liverpool. If I think of youngsters who might make it, I think pacheco, Suso, Shelvey, NOT LDV. Konchesky might be good for us, at least give us some stability at the back. Better than Insua ball watching all season long anyway.

I have to agree with this, especially LDV, but I'd add Kelly and Amoo to that list of promising starlets. Not seen Wilson play so I can't judge him. I think that for now Roy is trying to find out what our strengths actually are without screwing things up too much; hence Agger at LB and 2xDM. He's playing it safe while he has no information, rather than trying to rely too much on people who are unproven and may suffer stage-fright at the same time as testing a system that in itself might fail. Change one thing at a time.

For example, I think I saw more of Johnson in the opposing half against WBA than all of last season; instead of running it up there he was staying put and taking forward balls from Poulsen! So to me the first half looked like we were simply playing Reina + 3 CB at the back, and if that was the plan then you must start Agger. You think Rafa would have tried that? I think we agree that we lost shape and so on last season, but maybe that's because our shape was wrong to start with, and Roy isn't sure what our shape should be at this point.

I was ready to write the manager off, but now I'm ready to give him time.

I must say that I think our situation could have been far worse. At one stage I feared a wholesale clear out, with only a small fraction of the transfer fees received being invested in new players, the rest going on servicing debt.
It is a pity that, with the World Cup, and players having to take holidays after it had ended, Roy has not had a real chance to evaluate his team. I was struck by the number of players we had on our books, most of whom, frankly, would never make the grade, and who needed to be moved on, if only for their own benefit and career development. I see two players left yesterday, and I wish them well. But I will not be mortified at their departure. Insua clearly needed to leave ; in spite of all the negativity about him, a loan arrangement for him seemed appropriate. I hope that young Mavinga will get a chance to show what he can do.
I think it is inevitable that this season we will need to pause and take stock. In the long term, it may prove to be no bad thing. Sooner or later, I believe we will have new owners and I am optimistic that the management will not exchange one leveraged buy out for another.