by Dave Usher for ESPN
In November 1999 Gerard Houllier fielded more or less his entire first team against Sunderland in a reserve game. The first team had no game that week and, wanting to look at a few tactical things, the Frenchman decided it made more sense to do it in a competitive game rather than training. So the likes of Sander Westerveld, Sami Hyypia, Stephane Henchoz, Steven Gerrard, Danny Murphy, Jamie Carragher, Patrik Berger and Robbie Fowler were all wheeled out to play on a freezing cold night at Knowsley Road, St Helens. I know it was freezing because I was there; I used to go to all the reserve games back in those days.
A lot has changed since then. The reserves have been rebranded and now compete in the Under-21 Premier League. The biggest change, however, is that it's increasingly rare to even see one first team player in these games, let alone an entire side consisting of them.
The inevitable result is that the standard of football has plummeted at second team level in recent years, but it still has its benefits and Liverpool have not made the best use of it of late. The term Under-21 is something of a misnomer, as it isn't strictly a competition limited to that age range as a number of over age players can also be fielded. Yet often players who are not featuring in the first team have also been overlooked for second string games, meaning when they are called upon for the senior side they are coming in cold.
For example, Sebastian Coates and Oussama Assaidi barely featured in the first team last season, yet they were rarely given any run outs in the Under 21s either. The pair barely played any football at all last season. It makes little sense. I accept that second team football is a long way from the standards of the Premier League, but at least it's something.
It was therefore refreshing to see Fabio Borini and Martin Kelly given run outs in the Under-21s 4-2 win at Manchester United on Monday night, a game in which Borini found the net twice and Kelly captained the side.
Read the full article here.
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