James Balagizi and Isaac Mabaya are the two midfield prospects I’m excited about. Balagizi in particular has everything going for him at this age.
Clarkson and Cain are good but I don’t know if they will be physically able to play Premier League football.
Corness and Morton are similar players to Clarkson and Cain. They are slightly more prototypical midfielders in their stature and I think they would handle the physical side of the game better but not sure they are technically as good.
Adam Lewis was another one, after some quotes from Gerrard. He might never get a senior game here anymore.
I think our club generally takes pride not only in creating players from inside, but if they go on and make a nice career elsewhere.
In this particular case, I think it might be too early to judge what is Clarkson’s ceiling in terms of quality and style, how he evolves.
Yeah, even though the footballing world has long outgrown the size topic (especially in England, since we’ve seen multiple “small” players not only cope, but dominate the game), it still plays a part because it’s not all black and white, but a lot of shades of grey. It’s a mixture of qualities and size, or physical capabilities (linked to a certain position on the pitch) is still one of them.
With Clarkson, it might not be only about size, but that’s the whole point.
His next mission is to just work and see where it takes him. Can he earn a squad role in the next 2 years or so to start with or he needs a loan or two then.
Yeah I’m probably not using the best language to describe what I mean because you are right to say that when a player is good enough they can thrive if they are small, even in a highly competitive position at DM. It’s a high level to get to though - you don’t see many “decent” small CMs. They’re either brilliant, or they don’t play PL football.
I’m more concerned with what I see as a certain inability to cover ground and help his full backs. He’s not quick, although he is quick in his mind which helps him on the ball but he has been vulnerable to deep running midfielders even in the U18s.
He reminds me most of someone else from Bayern Munich but not Lahm - Pierre Hojbjerg. He has the same awkward looking heavy feet but he’s definitely not as combative as Hojbjerg is. He’s better on the ball though.
Certainly don’t mean to write the lad off, he’s the closest of the current crop at the moment, but I don’t see a sure fire hit like Curtis Jones just because I think he will have to be a brilliant, brilliant technical midfielder to make it here and very few make it to that standard.
Google has him down as 5’9, which is definitely bollocks. He’s about 5’6 I’d say,
Look at the line up from the other night, he’s clearly a few inches shorter than Salah and Tsimikas and even noticeably shorter than Naby too.
If the PL system is anything like American sports then height and weight are self-reported and not scrutinised (hence why every 15 year old high school basketball player is listed at over 6’2").
It’s annoyingly difficult to get accurate player heights on the web… most places list Trent as 1.75m (5’7ish), which presumably was a measurement taken when he was 14 
Yeah, I understand.
Realizing in modern times that size alone isn’t that important… it’s still something that counts of course. Size, pace, how aggressive you are (basically how you squeeze every drop from your physicality, whichever it might be), all that coupled with the rest of your abilities in the context of a position/role on the pitch, how the team plays/functions, what do other players closest to that zone do.
I like these articles, we get to know them better. We naturally always like to hear what our staff thinks about new players. We should just take quotes even from the likes of Klopp/Lijnders/whoever with more calm. They know much more than we do of course, but they don’t have a magic ball and they can also say positive things in the mean time to either praise or motivate, if they think a player needs it or reacts well to that.
Clarkson obviously shows intelligence and passing ability for a young player. Lijnders and then Klopp probably liked the way he can be part of the build up and find players ahead when we enter the next phase. First make yourself available and create good angles to receive the ball. His passing is crisp, he can go short and long, find those runners (or offers, as Klopp calls them) in behind.
But of course, that’s not all what counts. Not every small technical midfielder is the next Luka Modric (deliberately picking him because he was rejected as a young player by one of the two Croatia’s biggest clubs for being small).
You still get multiple lower level cases like Harry Winks, Joe Allen, Leon Britton, whoever. Plenty more lower down. Yeah, Clarkson may not have the versatility to find another position. His career might be limited between a 6 type of midfielder or an 8. Perhaps playing the single pivot might be too much for him. A certain level of football or certain style of football.
I think we’ll like our best talents regardless if they’re ultimately taylor made for the way we play under Klopp.
Let’s just watch/enjoy them while they’re here, monitor their progress, not take articles/quotes as some sort of guarantee that they will all do what Trent managed so far.
We won’t get much by comparing heights…
It’s one of a lot of factors. Some haven’t failed to make it because they’re small. It was most probably because they were not good enough in the non-physical things they do best AND also size.
I think that’s closer to 5’9, which still isn’t right of course.
Shaqiri is listed as 5’7 on the internet, which I’ve just understood now as Sweeting said they could be self listed.
Maybe the wizard who fixed his hair might be able to get him to that lofty goal, but for now he’s obviously a fair bit shorter than that.
I looked it up previously for the other players I mentioned in another post - 1.75m is about 5’7 and a half, 5’9 is 1.8m dead-on. But in other places Trent is listed as 1.8m, so yeah, two different measurements, both incorrect.
Looking at him in relation to team-mates, I’d be amazed it he was below 5’11-6’
1.8 is about 5’11.
I think you’ve done a calculation that comes out with 5.9 ft. Which is not the same as 5’9 ft. 
Sorry @cynicaloldgit
Lol, you’re probably right.
Being a mod is great. People say stuff like “I think you’ve done this” instead of “you’re a fricking moron”
Isn’t Thiago like 5’9… 2 inches between making it or not…
I was also surprised to read those quotes about Clarkson. Year after year, I keep saying that I’m pleasantly surprised by the technical standards of Liverpool’s academy graduates - and I genuinely believe it, I really don’t think it’s ever been higher than this and I hope it will only improve. Clarkson and Cain are the latest examples but I don’t think those who didn’t make debuts lag behind much. He reminded me of Swansea’s Joe Allen against Midtjylland until he started to tire along with everyone else. Crisp passing, plenty of intelligent first-time passes, not dwelling on the ball too long, willing to get stuck in… I wouldn’t describe him as athletic, though, and I think it will be the reason why he won’t make it at Liverpool. Why not flood the league with such academy graduates, though? 
Of whose time with us?
Joe Allen!
… wait. 
U18s just finished. They beat Middlesbrough 4-1 with goals from Quansah, Cannonier, Norris and Blair.
Team was…
Ojrzynski
Wilson Quansah Miles Norris
Corness Stephenson Balagizi
Woltman Cannonier Musialowski
Subs: Davies; Mabaya, McConnell, Blair
U23s start is 5 mins against Blackburn.
Pitaluga
Bradley vdBerg Savage Beck
Morton Clayton Longstaff
Bearne Stewart Millar
Subs: Winterbottom; Walls, Sharif, Ritacchio, O’Rourke
Good to see Harvey Blair back for the 18s, they’ll need him with Stewart in the 23s.
1-0 vs Blackburn, Sepp Van Den Berg '13.
1-0 VDB from a corner.