Improvement is always the objective of course but yeah the academy is doing well. All it can do is maximise the opportunities and edication of players, we can’t “create” PL talents that’s just a natural ability. In order to produce the best young players have to get the most out of your local talent and supplement them by buying the best from further away.
The general level of the Academy improved when we stopped focusing so much on just Liverpool/Wirrall and made more of the catchment area we have in Blackburn/Preston/Manchester etc but even then we have to go and get more takented players from Newcastle/London and abroad to get the quality to the required standards.
Why do Man City have the best youth academy in the England? They pay more for it. They pay better than Man Utd to local talent and they pay whatever they need to get the best international. Chelsea do the same for the London area.
The measure of an academy isn’t really how many make the first team - its where the players who leave the club go to. Look back at Liverpool under Steve Heighway in the early 2000s. The academy almost exclusively scousers and they leave for no money often straight into non-league football. Sure we “produced” Gerrard, Owen, Fowler, McAteer, Mellor and Warnock in that time period but that’s about 15 years to bring through talents who would have gotten into the PL eitherway because of their natural ability. We were not maximising the qualities of evey player in the academy.
Compare to now and I think we do that way, way better. I’m not even sure on this figure of £50m for the academy - I think that may be getting confused with the training ground move (something that benefits the academy but wasn’t “for” the academy) but even if there were £50m of renovations aimed specifically at the academy then we’ve already easily recovered that through the sales of Williams, Wilson, Brewster and Hoever.
Which would take away funds that would otherwise be available for the first team squad…without a guarantee that the investment would generate a positive return for the club…which is why its clubs like City and Chelsea that have been able to do it…
Hmm I think any player who comes in needs more than just a higher ceiling than Fab. For us to win the title we need a top class player. I think Baj will be one of those players. I think Curtis is as well.
With Fab in the team, we’ve won 1 PL, come second in the PL twice on the final day of the season, Been in 2 CL finals (one win), meanwhile winning other trophies too. When I was saying higher ceiling, I meant todays Fab.
At his best, Fab was one the best (if not best for a short while) in the world, yet you want someone with an even higher ceiling?! Would love to know who that player is. Certainly don’t think Curtis has any such ceiling.
I’m talking about today’s Fab too. His form has dropped off a cliff. So the player who replaces the Fab of today needs a much higher level than today’s Fab.
Defo think Curtis has reached that level and beyond it. And Baj showed it before his injury.
No slight on Fab, just old father time catching up with him before expected. I love Fab and his missus. They seem to have embraced LFC and the city.
Fabinho has always been a player with an extremely limited skillset. He just used to do the things he did well at a high level. The moment that dropped off he has looked close to useless.
Personally have never had him even close to the best DM in the world - he performed well in a system that hid his flaws. Had Henderson and Wijnaldum doing most of the running for him, two great CBs behind him and because of that he was able to hunt and destroy which is what he could do. Never been a good or progressive passer, never been comfortable under pressure and always been susceptible to runners from midfield because he struggles with awareness of what is around him.
The success of Fabinho is the result of having a world class manager who was able to find a way to use a player with a limited skillset and make him more than he was on his own.
I see room for both Lavia and Bajcetic. No issue there whatsoever, annd even if they were both strictly sixes, you need more than one player per position. Still, I’m not prepared to say for sure that Bajcetic is a six. He started out deeper, then moved into midfield, and in the games we saw, he even had a bit of a goal threat.
All I’m saying is the die is not cast for what Bajcetic will be. When all is said and done, it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he did the 6 and 8 role to a high level, and we use his versatility to suit.
As for Lavia, he is an up and coming player, so I don’t want to go overboard, especially in comparing him to the Fabinho we saw last season. Fabinho had a bad time of it, but when the team found a bit of shape later on, he wasn’t as bad. I think he still has more to offer.
With that said, what he cannot do is cover a lot of ground at much pace, so if his role is moving in that sort of direction, as the bias of the whole side gets more attacking, his days in the side are numbered.
But there should always be respect. He has won a lot with us, and he might yet still have a role to play. If we sign Lavia I see a transition between Fabinho and Lavia over the course of the season. Lavia has plenty to learn, and Fabinho’s positioning and instinct for the game is excellent. If Lavia grows in those regards, then if added to his athleticism, he might well have the makings of a formidable player for us.
Think this is a bit of a harsh assessment. You made him sound like a pub player. I think he was a lot better than you gave him credit for. Obviously not the best DM in the world as you said, Casemeiro says hello, so did Kante.
Just another player who benefits from world class management. Sure he’s obviously a very good player in his own right but he’s not a player who would be anchoring Real Madrid’s midfield to a CL win - he needed a quality manager able to construct a system that made him better in order to get there.
Look at Man City - they brought in Akandji after he was basically hounded out of Dortmund for being wank. He looks pretty good for City. That’s because Guardiola identified what he can do and doesn’t ask him to do anything else. To be able to do that and meld it into a coherent and successful team is world class management.
In the case of Fabinho he had that protection with Henderson and Wijnaldum but that system has eroded and the new players we have don’t really fit in the same way. It seems clear also that the management want a team that can control the ball higher up the pitch - hence the transition away from Wijnaldum/Henderson and towards Thiago, Elliott, Jones, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai and Alexander-Arnold. It’s increasingly difficult to give Fabinho the cover he needs to be successful again.
I think this is a fairer assessment, one I can agree with. Like I said the first made him sound like a donkey which he obviously wasn’t. Think his passing is good enough actually. Keeps the ball moving quickly, efficiently. Lack of pace has done for him, I feel.
I mean, technically it’s not on there but it’s not like that’s a recent development or any indicator of anything.
See Neil Jones suggests there might be some interest in Thiago though. Can’t see a Turkish club coughing up a fee and £200k a week so we’d have to take a hit somewhere if there was any truth to that.
His quality is in no doubt but his availability is very questionable for someone making that much money. If anyone of the midfielders was to leave he certainly seems like the most likely candidate.
Someone on twitter (i know i know…) said someone told him privately in May Thiago would be leaving.
Nothing about lfc in his insta bio and in that leaked clip the other week with the new kits Thiagos wasnt there…so maybe he is off. .
