Joao Teixeira

[redmike65]

If that;'s the case why is he still at the club at 22 years of age?

Welease Jowo!

[captainfog]

A lot can be thrown at Rodgers but not giving youth a chance certainly isn't one of them.

Perhaps he's just not up to it, there's another young superstar that left us to go to Milan that's played 4 games since he joined in Jan.

Developing young players is supposed to be his strength. Not sure where that reputation has come from. Markovic, Alberto, Wisdom, Suso, that fullback who's name escapes me.... there is a long list of failures with only Sterling's patchy form in the positives column. Even Ibe has gone ****e under his stewardship.

[Rowan]

Is he another one of these young player that Rodgers is an expert at developing?

Of whom the major success list currently include Sterling and... ?

[Exiled_red]

I think you have to say that Sterling was a success regardless of how you look at it. Bought for ~£500k and sold for almost £50m with most of his development happening under Rodgers, you have to say that in some way Rodgers deserves some of the credit for Sterling.

Beyond that it is difficult to see anyone else, Flanagan is probably the next big success obviously Kenny gave him his first chances but he has developed since to the point where he was a first team player before the injury. The only other players I guess you can consider are Ibe and Gomez, Ibe is still a fair way off being a regular first teamer, and Gomez has only been here for a couple of months so I think it is difficult to credit Rodgers for that one.

I suppose you could also look at the development of someone like Henderson over the last few years and argue than Rodgers has developed him, it's a different kind of development as he has been in the first team for most of that time.

I guess you could credit Rodgers for developing some of the players out on loan as well if he is the one developing plans for them, but we won't know how successful they hvae been until they return.

The whole process is fairly complicated as it obviously depends on the talent you have available, you could be the best talent developing coach in the world but if the players you have at your disposal aren't good enough no matter what you do you can't turn them into stars.

[DannyMan2006]

I think you have to say that Sterling was a success regardless of how you look at it. Bought for ~£500k and sold for almost £50m with most of his development happening under Rodgers, you have to say that in some way Rodgers deserves some of the credit for Sterling.

Beyond that it is difficult to see anyone else, Flanagan is probably the next big success obviously Kenny gave him his first chances but he has developed since to the point where he was a first team player before the injury. The only other players I guess you can consider are Ibe and Gomez, Ibe is still a fair way off being a regular first teamer, and Gomez has only been here for a couple of months so I think it is difficult to credit Rodgers for that one.

I suppose you could also look at the development of someone like Henderson over the last few years and argue than Rodgers has developed him, it's a different kind of development as he has been in the first team for most of that time.

I guess you could credit Rodgers for developing some of the players out on loan as well if he is the one developing plans for them, but we won't know how successful they hvae been until they return.

The whole process is fairly complicated as it obviously depends on the talent you have available, you could be the best talent developing coach in the world but if the players you have at your disposal aren't good enough no matter what you do you can't turn them into stars.

That's like giving Houllier the credit for Gerrard. Ged did a good job with him, but I have to say that someone of Stevies quality would have made it regardless of who the manager was because he was simply that good.

Same goes for Sterling. That first season Rodgers came all the top level players on big money left and were replaced with Borini. Maxi, Bellamy & Kuyt all out the door. His first league game Raheem & Suso started on the wings iirc. Raheem made the team almost by default.

After a bright start Sterling ended up getting dropped but fought his way back into the side & his performances meant he stayed there. Then last season, after being our brightest star in our upturn in form, Rodgers ended up trying to play him at RWB.

[Exiled_red]

That's like giving Houllier the credit for Gerrard. Ged did a good job with him, but I have to say that someone of Stevies quality would have made it regardless of who the manager was because he was simply that good.

Same goes for Sterling. That first season Rodgers came all the top level players on big money left and were replaced with Borini. Maxi, Bellamy & Kuyt all out the door. His first league game Raheem & Suso started on the wings iirc. Raheem made the team almost by default.

After a bright start Sterling ended up getting dropped but fought his way back into the side & his performances meant he stayed there. Then last season, after being our brightest star in our upturn in form, Rodgers ended up trying to play him at RWB.

As I say I think alot of it comes down to the players you have to work with and the natural ability/potential they have, their ability to reach that potential depends on the player themselves and the manager and coaching they receive and I don't think that you can seperate those factors.

IMO Rodgers is to some extent responsible for the player that Sterling has become, in a similar way Houllier is to some extent the player that Gerrard was by the time Houllier left here, whether either player had reached the level they had because of or in spite of the manager I guess can only be judged in how the player progresses after they have played for another manager. Gerrard improved as a player under Benitez, on that basis you could argue Houllier held Gerrard back, similarly you say if it wasn't for the ground work done by Houllier Rafa couldn't have made him into the player he was. Yes Sterling was played out of position at times, Rafa actively played some of the youth players out of position because he thought it gave them a better understanding of the game, Gerrard played most outfield positions at sometime or other in his time here including a as a RB in the 2005 CL final sometimes needs must...

If Sterling in the next couple of years becomes 10 times the player for City that he ever was for us then I guess it's clear he was being held back from reaching his potential, if 2013-14 turns out to be the peak of his career then Rodgers got the most out of him, I don't see us really knowing the truth for a while yet.

[Paul12]

...it obviously depends on the talent you have available, you could be the best talent developing coach in the world but if the players you have at your disposal aren't good enough no matter what you do you can't turn them into stars.

They also need to be hungry, and too many of our youngsters seem to talk a better story than they walk. They need to want to succeed desperately and to measure success in terms of development as a player, not in pounds sterling.

[Exiled_red]

They also need to be hungry, and too many of our youngsters seem to talk a better story than they walk. They need to want to succeed desperately and to measure success in terms of development as a player, not in pounds sterling.

True, I had intended that to come in player ability but the two are very different, Balotelli being a great example of someone with a huge amount of ability but a **** attitude.

[Daffy Duck]

Bumping this thread ahead of tonight's game.
No pressure on the guy, but I don't think he'll have lots of other opportunities to show something here...

[Kenneth]

Yep, no pressure, but it's now or never.

[Lee]

He'll probably be **** (along with the rest of the team) and never be seen in an LFC shirt again.

[Assassin]

He'll probably be **** (along with the rest of the team) and never be seen in an LFC shirt again.

The dreaded vote of confidence

[baitman]

saviour of LFC, the new Messiah... yeh, no pressure.

[Danish_Pastry]

Either he was in awe of being in the match - or he just is a little to polite to scream for the ball - or the others didn't want to play him ...

Cause on several occasions it looked in the second half as if the game passed around him - and he stood as a ghost there.
But when he had the ball - or fought for it - he made excellent runs passing several opponents (in a Laudrup'ian way).

[danperkins]

Good on the ball with some lovely passes, really needs to work on his game off the ball though. Decent display from the young lad & much better than Origi, Randall & Brannagan.