And even while going through spells in games where he feels relatively uninvolved, he is still having moments where his talent is clear and is doing something that impacts the game for us. He is young and having to play himself into a rhythm he hasnt had for 2+ years. It will come.
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It is only January and he already has more minutes for us than he had all of last season.
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WowâŚdidnât realize that
Yeah, he really got no time at all last season. Combination of bad squad planning (a weird collection of forwards that resulted in the defensive responsibilities of the CMs being more pronounced) and disruption of the management left him out in the cold.
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Heâs got the perfect role model in Cody Gakpo. Cody started his Liverpool career very tentatively, where he would do things like half attempt at pressing, and then ending up in between so not doing anything.
Gravenberch seems to not be fully committed when making challenges. Hopefully he gets up to speed the way that Cody is now very good at pressing.
He was better at Fulham. Letâs hope he continues to improve.
Watched the game life tonight. Was looking for him as a week link after recent games, but thought he did well. Lively, chased down the ball, was good on the ball. Happy to see it 
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None of our midfielders are what Iâd call complete midfielders, maybe heâs just not the type to sprint about aimlessly around the pitch like a headless chicken the way Hendo used to do quite often and wants to conserve that energy for when he does have the ball.
Also doesnât seem to be that aggressive ball winning player which I wouldnât want him to be if all weâre gonna see is a player mistiming his tackles and giving away plenty of fouls like Lucas/Fab used to. If he can build on performances like tonight heâll be just fine.
He doesnât need to be a clone of our previous midfield. Itâs specifically the 50-50 loose ball situations that recently he seems to go into it not only half heartedly, but then gets taken out the game as the opposition player comes away with the ball.
He needs to put in that extra effort to engage the opposition player. Doesnât need to win that ball, but at least cause a little disruption giving that extra time for others to organize.
With Cody, when he first came, he was in a simlar situation but with regrads to pressing - he would not be on top of the player to harry them and at the smae time he would not be covering the passing lane (so doing neither).
He plays with some pretty good ball retention in tight areas. reminds me more of Gini than any of our other CMâs to date. Dawdles a little bit on his decision making once heâs picked his head up for the pass though and thatâs where he loses it.
I saw him squeak out of a jam yesterday with some nifty footwork just to have it taken off his toe by a Fulham player because he second-guessed the pass to to the winger ahead of him.
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I think about the number of players weâve brought to the club in my time who came with high expectations and then we just say back and waited for those to be realized. And waited and waited. Right now Ryan is the recent signing with the most âwhat is it he actually doesâ questions about him, yet has already shown so much more evidence of why the expectations of him were high than so many of of the signings we made from Souness through Kennyâs second stint. Itâs a very good place to be.
I can see why they got him, the talent is there. He played like Jones did last season, just a bit of trepidation in his decision making. Our play is built on supreme confidence, you can see in his face that heâs concentrating on the task at hand which is good. Heâs definitely trying.
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Ryan Gravenberch had played just 946 mins last year. He didnât have a preseason to acclimatize with our squad and style. PL is very different than German and Dutch leagues. All these combined are contributed to his patchy form.
He is just 21 (will be 22 in May), and I feel he will have a long and fruitful career with us.
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Indeed. This season, he already started more matches and amassed more minutes than in the course of full last season at Bayern. The lack of a proper pre-season contributed to the lack of his stamina as well (which is getting better day by day), not to mention other aspects of the game at PL level.
True, at the moment he is firmly behind the likes of Jones, Mac and Endo in the pecking order (as he shoud be). But the talent is there. He is becoming better and better (he was very solid at Fulham). And he will get plenty of opportunities in the second half of the season - we hopefully have to play two times a week until the end of the season.
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Itâs been a while since I felt this sorry for a Liverpool player. He seems to be stuck in a vicious circle of bad performances and lack of self-confidence and it just gets worse with every second ball heâs late to and every tackle he fails to win. Iâd like to see what stats say about him but I guess itâs not a pretty picture.
I remember @Sweeting posting something about being concerned over Gravenberchâs laziness and backing it up with certain stats but I donât think itâs an issue with him. He looks like someone whoâs not able to make use of his own strengths (which are considerable) and whoâs thus not comfortable with anything that is asked of him. For all of his physical attributes, he just doesnât impose himself on the opposition. Kloppâs successor will definitely have to put in some extra effort to build him up as a player.
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To be clear I didnât accuse him of being lazy, I said he lacked certain mental characteristics such as intensity, drive and determination. That he was passive. I think saying he is lazy is perjorative and accusatory of a bad attitude, thatâs not what I was concerned about - my concern was that he just doesnât have the mental fortitude to play at the highest level
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Poor choice of words on my behalf, sorry. What youâve just said is what I thought I sounded like. 
When he first arrived, he played like young Pogba and then injury sidelined him for a few weeks. Over the past few months, he played like old Pogba. I donât know if itâs a question of mentality or fitness but he doesnât look like someone who believes in himself, hence my pity of him. Whatever it is, I hope he can get over it from the summer on because at his best, he has everything you want from a central midfielder (and heâs different to all the other central midfielders we have).
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Iâve got faith in the lad for the reasons expressed above. Heâs got all the attributes. All he needs is to get his head right and heâs still young enough to do that.
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A lot of pressure on this lad, every squad has had a scapegoat if that particular player didnât cover himself in glory. Looking at how strong this group of players actually are, it would be easy to be considered ânot good enoughâ. how many national team captains are part of this squad now?
Great learning opportunity for him, keep grinding away and working hard. He has the opportunities ahead of him, just very difficult to get into a groove when youâre not playing regularly.
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I think we also often inflate the expectations of a player we signed, especially a foreign one over a similarly aged young player who came up through the youth. The fact we paid money for them obviously justifies that a little, but itâs important to remember that Ryan is closer in age to Harvey than he is to Curtis and is still young enough to qualify for the U21s.
Once he is out there he cannot be held to different standards just because he is young, he has to hold his own to justify the time on the pitch, but when he doesnt entirely meet those expectations we have to give him a bit more patience. The same we do our own kids.
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