BurtReynolds

Saric is an appalling striker for this level. offers next to nothing

on the bench

* Martin Hansen * Emmanuel Gomis Mendy * Alex Cooper * Stephen Sama * Andre Wisdom * Conor Thomas * Toni Brito e Silva * Michael Roberts * Nikola Saric * Steven Irwin * Thomas Ince Very young team from Pep Segura

Steve Sama is a liability in my opinion

I forgot to source it mate as Kanwar is not well liked by REDS but he's bang on the money there

Not since the halcyon days of Steve McManaman, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen have young creative players flourished at Liverpool. The question is WHY? For me, the answer can (partly) be gleaned from John McMahon's recent comments about Liverpool youth prospect Suso: "He turned 17 on Friday and hopefully he has a bright future at the club. He'll only have that future if he keeps working hard and listens to what the coaching staff are saying to him. But he knows that and we hope he will start working twice as hard now. "We are looking at developing the whole player here. He has good attributes going forward and in the wide areas but he still needs to learn the other side of the game. He needs to know about the discipline and work that's required in a team, like tracking back, tackling and staying with runners. By playing him in midfield, like we did with Pacheco last year, it will hopefully add that other side to his game". As a fan of creative players - and the club - these comments really make my blood boil. It's the same old outdated English football thinking that has blighted the sport for decades: complete disregard for the creative aspects of a young player's game and the institution of a system of coaching that 'breeds out' creative instincts by placing the emphasis on tackling, tracking back and 'working hard'. As we have seen many times over the years, this process of destroying a youngster's creative instincts leads to demotivation and disinterest, with the end result being the young player leaves the club. And who can blame them? When these players are being told all the time time that they're not tackling/tracking back enough, and their natural instincts are being curbed, it's inevitable that they will grow frustrated and ultimately end up leaving. Furthermore, McMahon's emphasis on 'developing the whole player' is equally maddening. Why do we need a team full of players who can do everything, and play in 5 different positions?! What happened to developing postional specialists? Does Lionel Messi play in 5 different positions? Can he?! WHO CARES. He's a specialist at what he does, and his creative talent has been nurtured and encouraged, and this has allowed him to thrive. The opposite is true in English football: being good creatively is not good enough; being a specialist in your position is not good enough; you are not deemed to be 'premiership ready' unless you can run 10 miles a game and spend 90% of your time tackling and tracking back and/or playi To underline his view on 'developing the whole player', McMahon also said the following about Dani Pacheco: "The boss (Roy Hodgson) is keen on him. He sees Dani filling those wide roles, so when he plays for the reserves he occupies those positions and learns to adapt and play in them. It's good for his development to learn several roles and it will only benefit him, especially if he's required to do a job for the first-team." Again, instead of developing his creative strengths, McMahon seems dead-set on forcing Pacheco to learn 'several roles'. Apparently, this will 'benefit him'. More than likely, it will dilute Pacheco's effectiveness and have a detrimental impact on his development. No wonder he allegedly wants to leave. It really is massively frustrating to see this attitude at Liverpool. It is clear that the entire coaching philosophy for young creative players at the club is WRONG and needs to change. Quique Gonzalez, the former Cadiz youth team coach, said this about Suso when Liverpool signed him: "He is a left-sided midfielder with extraordinary talent. He has great quality, a good shot, his vision is great and his passing is outstanding. He has a bit of everything and I think they have signed a jewel. He can dribble well and does have great vision. He could be effective playing in the middle. "What is very important though is that he can score goals. He likes to go into the area as part of the second wave. He has scored a good number of goals from distance too, that is one of his qualities". Well, Liverpool fans can forget about ever seeing any evidence of this 'extraordinary talent' - if Suso ever makes it into the first team, all evidence of that individual flair will have been exorcised, and he will have probably have instructions to defend for 90% of the time. See Ryan Babel for a prime example of this. Like so many before him, Suso will not make it; he will not be allowed to make it as the criteria for judging his 'development' will be the following: * Does he defend enough? * Does he track back enough? * Does he tackle enough? * Does he run enough? On these counts, he will fail. Messi would also fail this test, as would Maradona, Zidane, Ronaldo, McManaman, Fowler and countless other superb creative talents down the years. To his credit, Trevor Brooking is fighting a thankless battle to change this anachronistic and outdated approach to coaching in England. He summed it up best with the following insight: "We...need to change what is being coached. Let's have more small-sided games so that they have more ball time. Let's allow them to have fun, take away the importance of winning and stop the young players being afraid of making mistakes. Concentrate on first touch and technique, allow that a short pass can often be more of a killer ball than the big hoof up to the centre-forwards." That is the problem in a nutshell, and John McMahon's comments should be a cause for concern for every Liverpool fan, and the Liverpool FC hierarchy (IMO). When it comes to creative, attacking players, Liverpool's youth coaching philosophy needs to change. 12 years of abject failure is proof of that. It's time to start allowing creative youth players thrive. It's time to start developing, encouraging and PRIORITISING the attacking talent and technique of young players. If that means they don't spend all their time expending energy on tackling and tracking back SO BE IT. Did John Barnes and Peter Beardsley run as much as Dirk Kuyt? NO. Did McManaman and Fowler constantly track back all the time? NO. Did it make a blind bit of difference to their superb creative impact on Liverpool FC? NO. STOP STIFLING THE CREATIVE INSTINCTS OF LIVERPOOL'S YOUNG PLAYERS. If a positive coaching change is not implemented then Liverpool will have another 12 years of creative youth failure to look forward to. And won't that be nice?

Former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres has labelled the period during the club's takeover saga last October as 'chaos'. The Reds were sold to New England Sports Ventures - now known as Fenway Sports Group (FSG) - in October last year following an acrimonious battle with former owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks. The saga took its toll on Torres and he left Anfield in January for Premier League rivals Chelsea in January in a £50million move that has left Reds fans with a bitter taste in their mouths. Torres knew the Merseysiders would need time to rebuild after changing hands and felt he needed to move on in order to maintain his successful career. "I knew I was an idol for the fans but it wasn't the same any more," he told sports daily Marca. "The institution was in chaos with the sale. There was all this talk of possible projects. Business "In many ways it reminded me of (former club) Atletico Madrid... a great history, many ideas but without money, it needed time. I don't have that. "People aren't honest in the world of football. You can't say the truth or be clear with people. It's a business and nobody is anyone's friend." Although Torres has endured an unexpected slow start to life at Stamford Bridge, the Spain international is still pleased to have made the switch. The 26-year-old has been pleasantly surprised by the camaraderie in Chelsea's camp, stating Liverpool's squad were always serious and rarely open to sharing a joke. He added: "Chelsea have proved they have top-level players in all departments and that they will always be competitive whatever happens, with an owner who will invest when it is necessary. "There are more personal relationships and jokes between the players than there were at Liverpool. Everything was much more serious there. Here, you don't have to prove you are a professional, it is assumed."

Indeed i cant see that team scoring many goals if any tonight.

that line up tonight is not condusive to good attacking football. 4 center mids playing across the midfield line, Carra at RB? Could be a long night

Will Wisdom play on Sunday?

Good point mate but i cant see Rodolfo changing personel in midfield or attack. Suso and Sterling out wide with Coady and Roddan in midfield with Adjoran supporting Adam Morgan. The only change if Robbo is fit will be Wisdom for McGovern i feel

Great report Dave. Great read. Paddy Crerard one of the biggest plonkers in punditry history.

Ngoo has no chance of being involved mate. He is out a fair while. Simply cant play in a game of this importance for the young lads.. As for Andre Wisdom. A beast of a center back and he has to start their ahead of McGovern. He is captain of the reserves in that posiiton.

i'm going to the game on sunday and i urge all fans to turn up and support the lads. I think we'll rip United apart. Crewe beat them 5-1 recently we turned Crewe over 2-1 away from home. Stoke drew with them 2-2 at the weekend, we destroyed Stoke 4-1. I reckon the team will be Belford Flanaghan Wisdom Sama Robinson (if fit) Coady Roddan Suso Adjoran Sterling Morgan

A center back ( Hummels, Subotic or Cahil) a left back ( Coentrao,Bastos,Cissokho) two wingers ( Sanchez, Robben who i think would move, Young ) and a top class midfielder with potential like ( M'Villa or Moussa Sissoko)

Greatest center back we have had since Hansen. A true LFC legend.

Have no fear fellow reds Kenny is nailed on for a contract.

5-1 Adjoran.

4-1 Conor Coady penalty after Adjoran was brought down. Terrific 2nd half performance

3-1 Morgan again with a fine header. Relentless team at the moment. Raheem Sterling. His 13th goal overall & 10th in 6 games, he also has 2 assists in 6. Relentless.

2-1 Raheem Sterling great goal.

1-1 great goal by Morgan into the bottom right hand corner. clinical from a lad bang on form

1-0 to blackburn a goal straight from the training ground following a free kick. 37 mins gone

Team - belford, poor, sama, regan, smith, rodden, coady, sterling, adorjan, mukendi, morgan No Andre Wisdom. Must be easing him back form injury or is he just permanantly in the reserves now skipper too. Will big Andre be in the youth cup team next weekend???

Udinese have received a bid of around €30million (£25.4million) for Alexis Sanchez, according to chairman Franco Soldati. The Chile forward, 22, scored four goals in his side's 7-0 win over Palermo at the weekend. "Somebody has already proposed a figure close to €30m-€35m, but I cannot say who," Soldati told Sky Italia. "In any case, the player is attracting interest in Italy and abroad - in England." Sanchez, who has been linked with Manchester United and Chelsea, first moved to Udinese in 2008 and has become an increasingly important member of their first team Read more: Manchester United Chelsea transfer news Udinese claim they have received a bid of around £25m for Chile winger Alexis Sanchez who has been linked with United and Chelsea - News - MirrorFootball.co.uk