WILL JAY SPEARING MAKE THE GRADE AT LIVERPOOL

[silverlining]

Seems spot on as far as I can tell

 

Yeah, I thought as much, but I wanted to be sure.

[Whelan]

Its both unfair and inaccurate!

 

Spearing is overated in my opinion, and Carragher is struggling for form, and considering our 10 greatest players would arguably contain 1 scouser, maybe the focus should be on how good a player is.

[TheResonator]

I liked it when Spearing and Lucas played together last season. It gives a good platform for the attack to build from and with two attacking wingbacks (Johnson/Kelly, Enrique) and a bit of pace on the flanks they should be all we need.

 

It's obvious why Adam was brought in - for his passing range and penetration in midfield. However, with the players we've at the top end of the pitch at the moment, do we really need that?

 

Personally, I'd rather have us looking really solid in the middle with two midfielders who can cover a lot of ground, offer protection on the wings, and move the ball quickly and to feet for our attacking players. Spearing has a good passing range (as shown during his rise through the ressies) which I think he'd be more comfortable using at professional level with a bit more experience.

 

I do rate Jay as a player and I'd love him to make it with us. It's got to be getting on towards make or break time for him because he's seldom used at the moment and isn't getting any younger... if he doesn't start getting more minutes in the league he should probably look elsewhere, pragmatically speaking, but I don't know if he will do because he's got a lot of guts, passion for the club and a great attitude. Exactly the sort of lad we want around the club, really, as long as you can reward it.

[robslappa]

You would appear to be a bitter fucking bellend with - for a purported Liverpool fan - a rather dim view of the place in which the football club is located.

 

You fucking quack on about scouse-bias in lots of your posts, including your myriad anti-Carra rantings, and as such I've come to the conclusion that you're an insecure OOT fucking cunt.

 

Do feel free to correct me if any of this seems unfair or inaccurate.

 

Nail, head and all that.

[piscinin]

I still have hopes for spearing. He's only recently been asked to specialize as a DM, after having played RB,CH (yeah I know!), CM and AM for the youth teams, so he will improve. And if he can reproduce the attacking quality he showed in the reserves then he will make Adam's life very difficult because I've not seen Adam do anything that spearing was not doing week in week out for the reserves.

 

It's another level and the margins are finer but if he adds that back he'll be around forever.

[zigackly]

Some good posts on Speo above from TheResonator and piscinin.

 

I agree entirely on the Dude fella too.

[piscinin]

I liked it when Spearing and Lucas played together last season. It gives a good platform for the attack to build from and with two attacking wingbacks (Johnson/Kelly, Enrique) and a bit of pace on the flanks they should be all we need.

 

It's obvious why Adam was brought in - for his passing range and penetration in midfield. However, with the players we've at the top end of the pitch at the moment, do we really need that?

 

Personally, I'd rather have us looking really solid in the middle with two midfielders who can cover a lot of ground, offer protection on the wings, and move the ball quickly and to feet for our attacking players. Spearing has a good passing range (as shown during his rise through the ressies) which I think he'd be more comfortable using at professional level with a bit more experience.

 

I do rate Jay as a player and I'd love him to make it with us. It's got to be getting on towards make or break time for him because he's seldom used at the moment and isn't getting any younger... if he doesn't start getting more minutes in the league he should probably look elsewhere, pragmatically speaking, but I don't know if he will do because he's got a lot of guts, passion for the club and a great attitude. Exactly the sort of lad we want around the club, really, as long as you can reward it.

 

he he That resonates because I've been feeling a bit schizophrenic this season. Sometimes I feel like that, but I put it down to a comfort blanket from the benitez mind set of being constantly in control.

 

And then at other times, I'll see a glimpse of Henderson trying a first time pass that promises opportunities that you could never conjure under benitez's scheme.

 

The problem we have right now, is that we still have players who the system made look better than they are. Now we've abandoned the system those weaknesses are becoming obvious. Defenders can't rely on tactics to cover for the fact they can't defend well one on one. Midfielders can't rely on set patterns of play and micro-roles.

 

We're maybe two steps back and one step forward at present, but we need to press on. Spearing needs to get back into the team not so we can regress to the two holding midfielders model, but because he's solid and has added enough to his attacking game to fit into this open, fluid, and frankly a bit crazy scheme we're being promised.

[Cij]

I really hope that Jay makes it with us and I am confident he will blossom into a class player if he is afforded opportunities and a little bit of patience. He strikes me as a really determined character with sound technique and plenty of game intelligence. I think he is hampered slightly by his appearance and size which has resulted in him being typecast as some sort of defensive midfield pitbull. He showed at reserve level that he has plenty of attacking ability when given the chance.

 

Personally I see him more as a box to box midfielder who is capable of doing a bit of everything – he has good stamina, passes well, likes a tackle, packs a decent shot and is always willing to show for the ball. Lucas and himself complement each other really well and have dominated quite a few midfields since Kenny returned. They are proper battlers and are prepared to close players down and stick in a tackle – winning the physical duels against the league’s lesser lights is key as it gives our “star” players a platform to display their superior skills.

 

I would like to see us use a 4-2-3-1 again sometime soon with Lucas and Spearing holding, Gerrard or Adam pushed on with Downing / Bellamy and Henderson / Maxi wide. I really think we would slaughter any of the teams below eighth with that system and picking up maximum points on a consistent basis in those kind of games is what allowed United to collect so many titles in the recent past.

[Lurtz]

Class player for us at times and I hope he gets better but if we hit top four this season he's going to have some serious competition against the type of midfielder we could sign. I've got all the time in the world for the lad but long term I think he'll be outclassed by future signings.

[zigackly]

This and the defensive mistakes thread have been ace debates today by the way. Who said the FF couldn't do it any more?

[VladimirIlyich]

BTW,what prompted the move away from 4231,like the formation that obliterated Fulham away last season?

 

I think that formation gave us more attacking options than the current one which often leaves Suarez isolated up front.

[piscinin]

BTW,what prompted the move away from 4231,like the formation that obliterated Fulham away last season?

 

I think that formation gave us more attacking options than the current one which often leaves Suarez isolated up front.

 

I think last season the way we played was pragmatic and a function of what would get us stabilized quickly.

 

This season Kenny is looking to impose his vision. He has some of his players. Some have taken it on board, others not yet. It's all still coming together. When it does though, I don't think it will be a 4231 or a 442, it'll be massively fluid, improvised and all about people making good decisions, quickly. He doesn't think in terms of systems in the way benitez taught us too.

 

That's why I get schizophrenic, I want the safety of the system instead of having to place all my trust in Stewart Downing not shriveling up! But then I see Henderson do stuff that shows he's read the game 2 and 3 steps ahead and I know that with better co-ordinated movement around him, it'll be much better.

[Newport]

For his own sake I think he would be better off if he left the club. I was a negative towards him early last season, but he got better when Kenny took over. Now I don't think he should ruin his career by staying put and only playing a handful of games a season. He could go somewhere else get regular games and then maybe return if he becomes the player he's got the potential to become.

[zigackly]

You have to remember how well it worked with Kenny's teams in the past. His best team could be characterised as 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 or 4-4-1-1 at various stages in the game and depending on the opponent. The Mancs play similarly with the ball at their best. It's a game which suits the English top flight.

[crosspool]

He's not yet 23. And how come you've decided that a player is as good as he's ever going to be after just 20 odd fragmented games? I've never known a player who didn't improve with extended top level experience and a run in the team.

[crosspool]

He is as good as I think he will ever get, and unfortunately he isn't quite good enough. Just because Adam isn't doesn't make Spearing good enough. He is almost 24, and people want to give him time, yet feel perfectly free to right off Shelvey and Henderson who are younger and have had less time.

 

Obviously I haven't counted in the 'Scouse Factor' which means he is automatically rated highly.

 

He's not yet 23. And how come you've decided that a player is as good as he's ever going to be after just 20 odd fragmented games? I've never known a player who didn't improve with extended top level experience and a run in the team.

[TheResonator]

he he That resonates because I've been feeling a bit schizophrenic this season. Sometimes I feel like that, but I put it down to a comfort blanket from the benitez mind set of being constantly in control.

 

We're maybe two steps back and one step forward at present, but we need to press on. Spearing needs to get back into the team not so we can regress to the two holding midfielders model, but because he's solid and has added enough to his attacking game to fit into this open, fluid, and frankly a bit crazy scheme we're being promised.

 

I understand where you're coming from with that. On the one hand, I think that Spearing is capable of more than being just a holding midfielder -- he has a wider passing range than Lucas, for one, and at lower levels he bagged more goals. However, I think the principle reason that two holding midfielders did not work during 2009/10 was due to our attacking options. We had no width on the pitch (Benayoun/Kuyt usually came narrow); our wing-backs were of a lower calibre; and we had nobody like Suarez dropping deep further up the pitch to make things happen.

 

The under-18s had a good model I think with Coady and the other boy (whose name I forget) usually playing it simple from the centre and getting forward when needed, and leaving the flair to Sterling, Suso and the like. I think we could replicate that model to greater effect - with our current squad - than we could under Rafa. Whether that theory will ever be put into practise remains to be seen.

[The Dude Abides]

Not starting today. Kenny must be off his head after him giving such a world class performance the other night.

[VladimirIlyich]

Not starting today. Kenny must be off his head after him giving such a world class performance the other night.

 

Yes he played well but I wouldn't go over the top.

[Iceman]

Spearing is very underrated. Not a spotlight player but a solid and dependable, hardworking lad who more than deserves any chance he is given. I like him a lot.

[stringvest]

He's been unlucky not to retain his place in the team. Half a season in the first team would take him comfortably ahead of Lucas in terms of value, effectiveness and contribution.to the team.

 

That's not to say he would be a world beater, and it's not to say I dislike Lucas, because I certainly don't.

[Gym Beglin]

Hmmm

[Delmar]

He's been unlucky not to retain his place in the team. Half a season in the first team would take him comfortably ahead of Lucas in terms of value, effectiveness and contribution.to the team.

 

That's not to say he would be a world beater, and it's not to say I dislike Lucas, because I certainly don't.

 

It would not take him anywhere close there. I would have put him on for Adam for the last 20 minutes today, and that's the role I see for Spearing. A good partnership with Lucas, not a replacement.

[dirk grout]

He's been unlucky not to retain his place in the team. Half a season in the first team would take him comfortably ahead of Lucas in terms of value, effectiveness and contribution.to the team.

 

That's not to say he would be a world beater, and it's not to say I dislike Lucas, because I certainly don't.

 

We will never discover if that is true or not. Why is that?

[stringvest]

It would not take him anywhere close there. I would have put him on for Adam for the last 20 minutes today, and that's the role I see for Spearing. A good partnership with Lucas, not a replacement.

 

I disagree. I think you massively overplay Lucas's importance to the team. He doesn't do anything Spearing couldn't do with a bit of time in the team. However, there is lots of stuff that Spearing can do that Lucas cannot. Adam was very good today, and had far more impact defensively and creatively than Lucas. I like Lucas, and he had a reasonably good game today, but he's a but static. Yes, I know it's a role he's asked to play, or so we must assume, but apart from a handful of games, he's bypassed more comfortably than a top class DM should be. And, given that he tends to play in a small portion of the pitch 15 years either side of the half way line, I'm still not convinced about his positioning in that space.