Squad Size

[Guest LFD]

If a new manager took over in place of Benitez tomorrow, I'm sure they would look to have a cull:

 

Voronin, Plessis, Degan, El Zhar, Itandje, Darby and Hammill (both of which are clearly not rated as we haven't seen them in pre season) etc etc...

 

Does Benitez see something in these players?

 

I don't see why he keeps all these youngsters (some of them aren't exactly young, see - El Zhar) and other players, cluttering up the squad.

 

This is not a Benitez bashing thread as I am fully behind the man, think he has done a superb job and this thread isn't about him.

 

What it is about though.... is why the fuck are we keeping all these unflushable turds, as they are clogging up the system, as the youth players must see all these players ahead of them in the pecking order and getting thoroughly frustrated.

 

Take Voronin for example, he's a supporting striker, but why keep him? We already have Gerrard and Benayoun as two top options for this position and if we need anymore (which is unlikely, then we have Pacheco, Nemeth, Babel etc).

 

Can't we send these players on loan or sell them? Surely we don't need all these players?! I thought finances were tight, surely we should look to slim down the wage bill...

 

I don't understand!

[WaltonRed]

Darby has been injured hasnt he?

[Guest LFD]

Darby has been injured hasnt he?

 

That might expalin why he hasn't been there, I have always liked what I have seen from him.

 

But surely we can cut the size of this squad, it's ridiculous!

[ToxtethTerror]

If a new manager came in depending on how he wants to play the game, there might be some surprising departures. E.g. Murphy was Houllier's Kuyt. He was sold as soon as Rafa got here... whereas his sale was unthinkable for Houllier.

[Guest LFD]

OK.

 

But my point still stands... why do we have the biggest squad in the history of football?

[Funkasy]

size matters.

[Cardie]

OK.

 

But my point still stands... why do we have the biggest squad in the history of football?

 

We don't.

[George Costanza]

We are 2 or 3 players away from having an excellent core squad. The rest are cannon fodder and will hardly play any games

[Vulmea]

Still think its a reasonable question

 

Why do we have 40 reserve players? Even McMahon sounded a bit bemused by all the players he had to use during preseason.

 

I know it could be as simple as because we can afford it and competition is good but the likes of Darby and Spearing aren't going to get any better sitting in the squad or playing in the stiffs - they stagnated last year and will again - if they are just to make up the CL squad then thats a travesty - Kelly looks better than Degen (but so do I and i'm nearly drawing me pension) and to be more of an athlete than Darby and is at least a year younger

 

El Zhar I still dont get - decent player but not good enough and at 24 he isn't a kid to be 'developed' - Hammill would look to be the better option in that respect even if he has the stamina of stephen hawking -

 

I suspect a good 10 or 11 need to leave on loan or out the door just to make the stiffs 'manageable'

[stringvest]

The size of our reserve pool is a fucking joke. Talent spread very thinly indeed.

[SpeedyG]

Darby has been injured hasnt he?

 

Nope, he is back with the reserves and has been playing in the Liverpool XI games.

[jacksonc]

the size of our squad is just down to Rafa wanting control of the club from top to bottom - that we call it first team or reserves makes no odds its down to the manager wanting an integrated approach with every Liverpool team playing the same style/formation within reason so that we can interchange when needed. size and quality are 2 different things. Every premiership team has 40 or so players they can call on to play. that said another angle is that clubs are now run like farms and first team players can be "farmed" out for cash!

[benite]

Anybody any idea on what is happening with the Almeira link up, it was mentioned around the time Rafa signed his new contract

 

Also Duran, looked good when he came back for the ressies at the start of last season, but got another bad injury, anyone know what his situation is, or his he finished or what?

[shanks59]

For me, the reserve league is the problem.

 

Why not send out our comers to say Tranmere e.g., Pacheco, Nemeth, Darby, Spearing etc should all have seen some real competitive football by now .. :whistle:

[Royal Family]

How big is our FIRST-TEAM squad, comparatively? By that I mean players who are ready for premiership football. Surely nowhere near the size of Spurs, Man City or even Birmingham - let alone the Big 2?

[G Richards]

Why do we have 40 reserve players?

 

I agree that we have far too many players on the reserve rosta. That said, my attempt at the answer is that Rafa has cast the net far and wide, spending, say 40 x £500K = £20M.

 

If one or two of the players make it then they will be worth £5M+ (perhaps much more if they make it big).

 

Perhaps another half dozen or so will be worth £1M or so and be sold on.

 

A further ten will probably make us our money back while the remainder will fade away.

 

It's all about trying to find the one or two potential stars while bringing enough players in so that the whole thing hopefully pays for itself.

 

That's my take on it anyhow, though I do think we have too many.

[Guest LFD]

Surely some of these 40+ reserves could go on loan?!

 

Like 20 of them!

[Ted]

Or just release them?

 

Or tell Eduardo Macia to fuck off?

[Hermes]

All this "massive squad needed to compete" talk by managers, players, press and fans is complete bollocks. Last season ony 18 of our players appeared in 15 or more league games. This, in the days of 3 substitutions/rotation/faster game etc.

 

We are paying millions out in transfer fees and wages to under-used players, those who talk about a lack of money at the club need to take this total waste of cash into account.

[Guest Dog Chaser]

We have a serious problem in shifting the players that have become too old for U18's which inevitably is clogging up the system and most importantly the progress of other players.

[PaulMcC]

How big is our FIRST-TEAM squad, comparatively? By that I mean players who are ready for premiership football. Surely nowhere near the size of Spurs, Man City or even Birmingham - let alone the Big 2?[/QUOTE]

 

We are one of the two biggest clubs in England.

[George Costanza]

The squad is plenty big enough. The Reserve squad needs halving too.

 

A lot IMO will depend on Babel next season for squad depth. If he's up to it then our attacking options could be good enough and we might not need to see the likes of Voronin, El Zhar and Ngog on a regular basis.

 

Likewise give Kelly a chance as 2nd choice right back and 4th choice CB.

 

My only other concern is in central midfield. I'm sory but i just do not trust Lucas to do the job thats required. Hope he proves me wrong

[Red Nick]

Or just release them?

 

Or tell Eduardo Macia to fuck off?

 

Or Both

[GJM]

Interested to hear what people think would represent a good return on investment in the youth/reserve set up? We hear a lot about players not breaking through these days, but what do people think is a reasonable expectation? At least one player every 3 years becoming a first team regular? At least one player each season becoming a regular in the match day squad?

 

What would a successful system look like in terms of the number of players that make it through and how often??

[Jose Jones]

Ideally I’d like to see our youth/reserve set up provide the following:

1. Regular flow of players good enough to be part of the first team squad – obviously sometimes there will be years of great talent, and years of derth, so I’d think 1-2 per year would work out a good average over 10 years or so.

2. Players should come from Liverpool, the rest of the UK and occasional genius talent from the rest of the world.

3. A planned route for players to get from youth to first team.

4. The best help with education for players that don’t make it, and assistance for players to find other clubs so that they don’t just get released and totally bombed out of the game.

5. A better system to profit from or buy back players that are released to other clubs.

 

Something like that anyway. If we can get a decent flow of players through the system I’d like to think we could eventually cover 10 or so of a squad of 25 with homegrown players.