Reserves Romp to Bolton Triumph

[The Birdman]

As good as Pacheco seems he is too lightweight to play upfront in the Prem, in Rafa's system is ideal position would be the Gerrard role but obviously he is years off that. His best chance of breaking through is in the El Zhar back up right midfielder role for the time being, if you read his interview on the official he says they are playing him in midfield to teach him how to defend

[dww]

As good as Pacheco seems he is too lightweight to play upfront in the Prem, in Rafa's system is ideal position would be the Gerrard role but obviously he is years off that. His best chance of breaking through is in the El Zhar back up right midfielder role for the time being, if you read his interview on the official he says they are playing him in midfield to teach him how to defend

If he is playing the way people describe then I think all three roles behind the striker would be open to him. Especially now we need more playmakers in that role with the change in system in CM.

[Mike]

Thought Bruna was poor last night, missed the goal - he gave away the ball a few times with some lazy passes when we were in advanced attacks, plus he wasted every corner i saw him take. He had a lot of promise a while back but must improve a lot to have any chance of making it.

Players who impressed me:

1) Mavinga - Solid.
2) Amoo - Coping well with the step up.
3) Ecclestone - Confident on the ball.

Just to name a few.

[BrianF80]

Mike is right. Basically the setup is as follows:

At Liverpool, players normally spend 2 years at the Academy (the under 18's) between the ages of 16-18. After the 2 years, the players are either promoted to the reserve team to 'Melwood' or released. Ince has only done 1 year at the academy and will either get his chance with the reserves next season or be released. Players have been promoted after 1 year - namely Buchtmann and Lauri Dalle Valle. Now the although these 2 have been promoted to 'Melwood', they will probably still play for the Acamdemy (Under 18's). They will however train fulltime with the reserves. Now this was one of the reasons why Eccleston was probably pissed off lasts season and wanted to leave last season. He had got promoted to Melwood but was still playing for the Under 18's.

Players like Bruna came to Liverpool at 16 and went straight to the reserve team as thats one of the things they were promised when they signed (and he said this in an interview)

Actually LDV has been fast tracked. He is now at Melwood and trains with the reserves. There are so many forwards in the reserves though that he plays his matches at the U18s level. McMahon has said LDV will play at the reserves level after January as by then he will have been able to work out what do with all the forwards he has at the moment.

The Eccleston situation was different, he was promoted to Melwood then we brought in more strikers and he was sent back to Kirby full-time, essentially demoted. No wonder he was pissed.

[BrianF80]

Pacheco looked really good when he dropped a little deeper last night. I really think he best position is as a playmaker rather than a striker. His progress seemed to stall for a while, but know hes really starting to look like a player.

My theory is that when Pacheco plays deeper you take away the option for him to shoot (poorly) and instead "force" him to use his exquisite passing and vision. At this point it's a good trade-off.

He reminds me of Iniesta.

[red g]

Actually LDV has been fast tracked. He is now at Melwood and trains with the reserves. There are so many forwards in the reserves though that he plays his matches at the U18s level. McMahon has said LDV will play at the reserves level after January as by then he will have been able to work out what do with all the forwards he has at the moment.

The Eccleston situation was different, he was promoted to Melwood then we brought in more strikers and he was sent back to Kirby full-time, essentially demoted. No wonder he was pissed.

i see nobody has even mentioned Saric......this is the lad we beat Barca to so many talented forwards at least a couple have to step up surely!!!!

[BrianF80]

i see nobody has even mentioned Saric......this is the lad we beat Barca to so many talented forwards at least a couple have to step up surely!!!!

He's hardly played because of injuries so it's difficult to have an opinion really.

[BrianF80]

Has anyone watching the first few games seen any notable differences between the setup now and what was happening under Ablett? I know it is a bit early to make judgements I'm just interested to see if there is anything obvious to come out of the changes.

The only notable difference for me has been players being used in different roles. Now some of this might be down to having an unbalanced squad, but a lot of the interviews with the new coaching staff at melwood and the academy have mentioned that this will become more regular.

For example, there's a guy who's son is a goalie at the academy and they've changed his training so that he now spends up to 70% of his time playing in outfield positions to improve his reading of the game, tactical understanding etc.

[Pablo]

My theory is that when Pacheco plays deeper you take away the option for him to shoot (poorly) and instead "force" him to use his exquisite passing and vision. At this point it's a good trade-off.

He reminds me of Iniesta.

Yeah I pretty much agree with all of that