super-size 62 squad

[BubbaZanetti]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/mar/29/premier-league-huge-squads

Hatchet piece or honest appraisal of Rafa's youth/reserve system? For me it reeks of the former, another way to dig based upon the myth of Fergie's attacks. However, it doesn't help when the media are sniffing around the loanees looking for snide comments...

[Shaggy]

Absolute hatchet job which seems to miss the point.

For a start Arsenal have 59, according to that article - just three less than us. We get butchered and not a peep about Arsenal.

The article seems to lament the fact Lindfield et al 'haven't been given a chance'. Well, if they were good enough they would be. Rafa didn't buy Lindfield. He's gone to friggin' Accrington Stanley where he's hardly scored any goals. Not as if he's been snapped up by Chelsea FFS.

Also it gives the impression we have 62 paid professionals. 62 members of the first team squad. Why does it mention Mourinho's 'ideal 22' or Scolari's '23 or 24'? They were talking about first-team squad members FFS - largely players brought in for millions. Not ****ing youth team members on youth contracts.

[Vermilion]

Absolute hatchet job which seems to miss the point.

For a start Arsenal have 59, according to that article - just three less than us. We get butchered and not a peep about Arsenal.

The article seems to lament the fact Lindfield et al 'haven't been given a chance'. Well, if they were good enough they would be. Rafa didn't buy Lindfield. He's gone to friggin' Accrington Stanley where he's hardly scored any goals. Not as if he's been snapped up by Chelsea FFS.

Also it gives the impression we have 62 paid professionals. 62 members of the first team squad. Why does it mention Mourinho's 'ideal 22' or Scolari's '23 or 24'? They were talking about first-team squad members FFS - largely players brought in for millions. Not ****ing youth team members on youth contracts.

Think the point is to have a dig at Rafa, but i know what you mean.

[red g]

there seems to be a run of particularly poor articles flying about at the moment, doesnt even mention wages, i would i reckon chelsea's 46 are on more than our 62, same with scum we buy yoof because we cant compete with them financially.

i particularly unbalanced **** article!

[The_weatherman]

there seems to be a run of particularly poor articles flying about at the moment, doesnt even mention wages, i would i reckon chelsea's 46 are on more than our 62, same with scum we buy yoof because we cant compete with them financially.

i particularly unbalanced **** article!

Real **** stirrer. Disappointing to hear Antwi and Hobbs speaking out like they do, Hammill seems more level headed and down to earth for me. Fact is they were not good enough. Potter, Guthrie, Warnock, Hobbs, Plessis, El-Zhar and Insua have been given a chance, if you are good enough you get more chances.

Wages for 2005/2006
Chelsea - £114m
Manchester Utd - £85m
Arsenal - £83m
Liverpool - £69m
Newcastle Utd - £52m

[red g]

Real **** stirrer. Disappointing to hear Antwi and Hobbs speaking out like they do, Hammill seems more level headed and down to earth for me. Fact is they were not good enough. Potter, Guthrie, Warnock, Hobbs, Plessis, El-Zhar and Insua have been given a chance, if you are good enough you get more chances.

Wages for 2005/2006
Chelsea - £114m
Manchester Utd - £85m
Arsenal - £83m
Liverpool - £69m
Newcastle Utd - £52m

not particularly disappinted with antwi or hobbs by the tone of that article i presume the interviewee will have asked loaded questions and they are both very young and dont know much better.

so our wage averages out at just over a million per player and chelsea's average out at over 2.5 times as much wow!!

[The_weatherman]

not particularly disappinted with antwi or hobbs by the tone of that article i presume the interviewee will have asked loaded questions and they are both very young and dont know much better.

so our wage averages out at just over a million per player and chelsea's average out at over 2.5 times as much wow!!

It's just that they don't seem to have the right attitude, for me at least, it's not Rafa's fault or the clubs fault that they won't make it. Feel they are not being honest about themselves, if you are not you will hinder you improvement IMO.

[1 True Red]

Absolute hatchet job which seems to miss the point.

For a start Arsenal have 59, according to that article - just three less than us. We get butchered and not a peep about Arsenal.

The article seems to lament the fact Lindfield et al 'haven't been given a chance'. Well, if they were good enough they would be. Rafa didn't buy Lindfield. He's gone to friggin' Accrington Stanley where he's hardly scored any goals. Not as if he's been snapped up by Chelsea FFS.

Also it gives the impression we have 62 paid professionals. 62 members of the first team squad. Why does it mention Mourinho's 'ideal 22' or Scolari's '23 or 24'? They were talking about first-team squad members FFS - largely players brought in for millions. Not ****ing youth team members on youth contracts.

Well put Shaggy

[dom9]

Absolute hatchet job which seems to miss the point.

For a start Arsenal have 59, according to that article - just three less than us. We get butchered and not a peep about Arsenal.

The article seems to lament the fact Lindfield et al 'haven't been given a chance'. Well, if they were good enough they would be. Rafa didn't buy Lindfield. He's gone to friggin' Accrington Stanley where he's hardly scored any goals. Not as if he's been snapped up by Chelsea FFS.

Also it gives the impression we have 62 paid professionals. 62 members of the first team squad. Why does it mention Mourinho's 'ideal 22' or Scolari's '23 or 24'? They were talking about first-team squad members FFS - largely players brought in for millions. Not ****ing youth team members on youth contracts.

I said something similar about the youngsters in the John Welsh thread.

If they are not good enough, they get shipped out. Simple as that. I do think an unfair level of expectation can be placed on them though, just becuase they are at Liverpool. The local lads because, well they are local, and the foreign kids because they have been brought in for relatively large fees for their age group.

Just goes to show what a lottery the youth policy is. Would we be better off spending £30M on one or two world class players in the push for honours, or 10-15 kids for the future? I'm not sure I know the answer to that. But Rafa will stand or fall by these decisions in years to come.

[red g]

I said something similar about the youngsters in the John Welsh thread.

If they are not good enough, they get shipped out. Simple as that. I do think an unfair level of expectation can be placed on them though, just becuase they are at Liverpool. The local lads because, well they are local, and the foreign kids because they have been brought in for relatively large fees for their age group.

Just goes to show what a lottery the youth policy is. Would we be better off spending £30M on one or two world class players in the push for honours, or 10-15 kids for the future? I'm not sure I know the answer to that. But Rafa will stand or fall by these decisions in years to come.

but most of the kids are free or not far off, and i reckon all those 15 kids put together would be not even a quarter of what a world class player would want per week, its not a choice for Rafa its a reality that we have to find otehr ways to compete with the chelseas of this world

[dom9]

but most of the kids are free or not far off, and i reckon all those 15 kids put together would be not even a quarter of what a world class player would want per week, its not a choice for Rafa its a reality that we have to find otehr ways to compete with the chelseas of this world

Rafa has spent over £20M on 'kids'.

[RoadEnd]

My take on the academy/reserves is simple - that we invest in young talent, of which some will not make it at all, some will be sold at a profit to smaller clubs and a few will make it into the 1st team squad.

Does the writer really think that 62 youth players are going to be like Steven Gerrard.

Hobbs, Antwi and Lindfield have to accept that they are not Premier League standard. They HAVE been given an opportunity and they aren't good enough.

[The_weatherman]

Rafa has spent over £20M on 'kids'.

But we also usually get at least what we paid for, maybe more.

[dom9]

But we also usually get at least what we paid for, maybe more.

On senior players yes.

I'm not knocking the ploicy. It's interesting that Arsenal and Liverpool seem to be the only clubs pursuing this line. Could be because they don't have as much to spend as Chelsea (until now) and the Mancs.

In Arsenal's case certainly, I really think they need to pull their fingers out and start buying some top quality first teamers, as they'll be in real trouble soon if they don't.

[Fan65]

In Arsenal's case certainly, I really think they need to pull their fingers out and start buying some top quality first teamers, as they'll be in real trouble soon if they don't.