Our players out on loan

[Daffy Duck]

Coates seems to be getting better notices now:

http://www.theguardian.com/football/...weekend-action

Told you so I always felt it was strange how people on here just decided he was ****, mostly during that awful injury when he didn't even get to be bad.

[Exiled_red]

Coates is another player that has been around for a while but we really have no idea how good or bad he is, because he doesn't seem to have played enough games for us or for Sunderland. I suspect he will be on his way in the summer, hopefully the staff at the club have seen enough of him to know that is the right decision if it is what happens, because like I mentioned for Luis Alberto earlier the fans haven't seen enough of him to call it.

We need to have some sort of plan for the development of these types of players. Coates was about 20 when we signed him, he has been an LFC player for 4 years and in that time he has played 24 games for us half of them in the league and has been loaned out twice totalling 19 appearances. That's 43 games in 4 years, we paid ~£8m for him, in that time he has played about a seasons worth of football, he's not really developed (ok there have been injuries but still).

If we felt it worth spending that money on a 20 year old CB we needed to develop him, be that here or out on loan or whatever. We needed to have a plan, you don't expect a 20 year old to walk into the side and be fine straight away. A few games here and a few there doesn't help, IMO he in the limited amount I have seen of he has been ok, the amount he has played and the fact that these games have been dotted about here and there mean we don't know much more about him than when he came in. All we have done is wasted time and money. Ok so Coates was one of Kenny's signings but the point also applies to Alberto, Ilori and others. If we aren't going to give them a decent chance should we be signing them in the first place?

[Fosterbloke]

He did play pretty well in that international tournament for Uruguay. Was that a fluke?

Then again, Lovren played well in the last international tournament too...

[vlahka]

If half of you got your wish about playing Alberto more next season, you'd probably do a 180 and say hes not good enough. Having belief and hope in him wont make him into a good player. He doesnt have the ability to help us win trophies.

[Exiled_red]

If half of you got your wish about playing Alberto more next season, you'd probably do a 180 and say hes not good enough. Having belief and hope in him wont make him into a good player. He doesnt have the ability to help us win trophies.

I'm not saying whether he should or shouldn't play next year, my issue with the situation is he was here last year and with his limited amount of time on the pitch he seemed ok, but in reality we haven't seen enough of him to judge.

If last year we decided he had potential and were wanting to develop him as an LFC player we should hvae loaned him to someone in England for this season. If we decided he was never going to be good enough we should have moved him on. If we were looking to develop him and move him on for a profit that hasn't worked. IMO if we can't find a club willing to take him then that probably tells us all we need to know about our decision to sign him in the first place.

[Daffy Duck]

[RedReet]

Rose.

[Tee]

Agreed but no manager seems to agree. As dww says he might be a late developer but I think he's got something.

Overall though you have to say at £7m from Barca reserves it was a classic case of us trying to be too clever by half.

I think that applies to a number of signings over recent years

[Shaggy]

Coates playing like Baresi for Sunderland tonight

[baitman]

Coates playing like Baresi for Sunderland tonight

has he shaved that hippy fluff off yet. does he look less stoned.

is he better than lovren

[Shaggy]

Streets ahead of Lovren and Kolo on the evidence of tonight and recent weeks. I'd keep him tbh, we'll be selling plenty as it is and I've always liked big Seba

Properly brilliant tonight.

[marcus50bucks]

Streets ahead of Lovren and Kolo on the evidence of tonight and recent weeks. I'd keep him tbh, we'll be selling plenty as it is and I've always liked big Seba

Properly brilliant tonight.

He was immense. I lost count the number of headers he won.

[BigChief]

Sounds encouraging, always had a soft spot for him too.

Hopefully Sunderland has done wonders for him like, er, Borini.

[SB]

Sounds encouraging, always had a soft spot for him too.

Hopefully Sunderland has done wonders for him like, er, Borini.

Who knows what Borini could have done this year if he'd been played regularly

[Fosterbloke]

Streets ahead of Lovren and Kolo on the evidence of tonight and recent weeks. I'd keep him tbh, we'll be selling plenty as it is and I've always liked big Seba

Properly brilliant tonight.

He did this ->



Lovren should be shipped off to an island somewhere immediately.

Got to love Suarez's reaction, you just know he's about to make a mad sprint to congratulate his fellow countryman!