The Liverpool Thread

[ninjaskill]

Nice to see Gomez back after such bad injuries

Edit: sorry forgot to use his full title nice to see The Man, The Myth, The Living LEGEND Joe MF Gomez! Is back after such bad injuries

 

[spook]

Origi is reminding me a 30s swing singer.

 

[ninjaskill]

Plymouth with 14.5% possession that is almost impressively low

 

[Theatre of dreams]

Plymouth with 14.5% possession that is almost impressively low

There not even giving it a go. Just getting men behind the ball then holding it away at the first chance. Poor!

 

[Anthony]

I'm sure the league two side will be happy with that.
It was a young Liverpool side, but fair play to the minnows.

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

Well that was a frustrating exercise.

I wouldn't be half bothered by the draw considering that was the youngest side the clubs ever fielded in a competitive game through 125 years if it wasn't for the fact it now leaves an absolute nightmare next two Wednesday's. Southampton is bad enough this week but to then have to make an either further 11/12 hour round trip, which is looking like nobody wants to do in one go so it's a stop over, a week later I could of WELL done without. Can't even get enthused at another new ground with it being midweek.

Can't overly complain with Plymouth's uber negative approach. They got what they came for and another big payday. Fair F's to them. We had more than enough on display but everybody had an off day. Can yet again was a million miles slower in thought than anyone else and when it did click his distribution was horrid. Origi poor all game but it did liven up slightly when Daniel came on. Still, great experience against such a professional deep block for lads like Gomez, Trent, Sheyi and Woodburn who will be the backbone of the squad the coming years. With I would imagine and 100% encourage the exact same XI on Wednesday week at Home Park save for maybe Sturridge for Origi dependent on how much he plays the next two. Maybe that one falls perfect for Matip and Coutinho to return too before Swansea? (Utd probably be a game too soon for both but we'll see what this week brings.).

Just a frustrating afternoon with the ***** drive in prospect in 10 days time. But we're in the hat tomorrow and still all in on the treble so we shouldn't really be despondent.

Well done Plymouth. See yers a week Wednesday to do it all again.

Up the Kindergarten Reds!

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

I just hope Plymouth return the favour and only ask for no more than the £12-15 they were charged today.

That trek is far and expensive enough without being done the ticket price on top.

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

Well done! .....

Sometimes I'm inspired lucky. Shrugs.

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

Nice to see Gomez back after such bad injuries

Edit: sorry forgot to use his full title nice to see The Man, The Myth, The Living LEGEND Joe MF Gomez! Is back after such bad injuries

Thank you. Good man. Lad just reminded everyone that we don't need any more silly talk of a van Dijk or the like. Matip cool. Can't wait to see that partnership on the pitch together.

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

THE ANFIELD WRAP ‏@TheAnfieldWrap 4h4 hours ago
Klopp: "I don’t know how big Plymouth is, but everyone from Plymouth was in the 18-yard box."

18 replies .446 retweets599 likes

 

[kitchin75]

so woodburn the real deal?

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

so woodburn the real deal?

Oh God yeah. You've only to look at him the 23's or the first team outings he's had, from pre-season to becoming the clubs youngest ever scorer this season, to see he's just a natural footballer who'll go far. Even at 17, you just see some kids and know theres a God given natural footballing talent there.

No rush at all with him. He's developing real nicely but both L'pool and Wales have a real good one there for the future.

 

[kitchin75]

good to know ta plus he has the right man to help him keep his feet on the ground

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

Absolutely fascinating read from an interview with Pep Lijnders on how we're the direct antithesis to the big money buying trend of most of our main competitors with the total coaching and developing philosophy at Anfield. You add this to every time you read/ hear Jürgen speak on his love of coaching and development above anything else, and people like the now sadly departed Michael Beale and Alex Inglethorpe out at Kirkby, and it shines through in glorious technicolour just how much these lads love the whole process of coaching and developing better football players.

Fairly long, but this really is a great, fascinating insight:

Jonathan Northcroft journalist

14 hrs ·

Q&A with Pepijn Lijnders, 5.1.2017.

"First team staff in world football are responsible for development - not academies"

IF there are four pillars Liverpool’s ownership believes the club can be built around they are Jurgen Klopp, Michael Edwards, Alex Inglethorpe – and Pepijn Lijnders.
At 33, Lijnders is a serious rising star. Klopp thinks he’ll become a top manager, perhaps even of Liverpool, one day. When Lijnders left Liverpool’s Academy to join the first team set up it was described by some staff in Kirkby as “like losing our Suarez.”
As first team development coach, Lijnders’ role is twofold, as he explains – and his importance to Liverpool’s youth is as ‘The Bridge’ between Klopp and all the prospects coming through. Headhunted after spells with the outstanding youth departments of Porto and PSV Eindhoven, talking to Lijnders about development is inspiring.
Here are some highlights from our conversation at Melwood on January 5th, 2017...

JN. What did you learn at Porto and PSV that you wanted to bring to Liverpool?
PL: That to be able to compete on the highest level with your own players it is a big advantage if you can create an academy that produces players for a specific style of play, so that the style becomes the playmaker, instead of that you buy the playmaker in. At Liverpool, that is the counter-pressing style we have in this moment…
That if you bring one or two young players through it opens a pathway for all the rest. This has happened with PSV. Ibrahim Afellay and Ismail Aissati – the moment they arrived all the next generation got their chances. It was the same with Porto, with Ruben Neves getting in. Ruben opened up the door for everyone by accelerating the processes with young players and creating the right projects around young players. Giving them the belief that it’s possible.

JN: Were both clubs good models for Liverpool, because they recruit not just local but from around the world?
PL: That’s the main target with youth development. Porto is the best, or one of the best, scouting machines in world football, and we created there a five year project – they called it the “6/11 project”, because it was 2006-2011 – where the target was that if we buy the best talented players in the world aged 20, 21, 22, we have to also create in the academy players good enough to compete with them.
The manager will always choose the best players. So we wanted to create a style of play that stimulates constantly attacking skills. Because that Brazilian boy from seven years old, before he came to Porto, had to make in each game 20 decisive actions – so he will develop in a decisive way. Able to play quick combinations, through passes. He develops a style where he became very attacking minded
So you have to match that in your academy. You have to match that style. Because the biggest development comes from the collective approach style of play.
It’s a big advantage of bringing your own players up because it creates a father-son relationship with the club and everybody knows that relationship is based on loyalty, that when there has to be decisions for their future the player will decide with everything in mind…including that we were the ones that gave them their opportunity.
This is a really powerful weapon to compete. For Porto it was a powerful weapon to compete with Benfica and Sporting. For PSV it was a real powerful weapon to come back and fight v Ajax. And for us of course it is a new project, trying to create a new generation of Liverpool FC players who can compete with the best signings of the other clubs. And we really believe, with Jurgen as the main motivator and stimulator of these processes, that this is possible.

JN: What ‘extra’ does a team comprising players who grew up together possess? Compared to the team of star signings for instance…
PL: First of all in modern football you don’t see any more a group of players who stay together and are from the same culture. What you see in modern football is players who come together from different places for a short period of time.
The most important person to create clarity in terms of style and structure is now the coach. The connections, the sectors, lines, the players working better together – that comes from the coach. A big big task.
In the past every club had a core group of players from the same culture. THEY decided the way of playing. The coach came in. Whenever they were touched by a top coach, they won everything. This happened in every country. Sacchi and Milan. Cruyff and Van Gaal with Ajax…
What you can create with your own academy is this, what you had in the past. We started the Talent Group so that we have a 15 year old training with a 19 year old with the only goal that they know each other. They know the rules of Melwood, they know the staff, the kitchen, all those things…but the most important thing is they know each other. They link with each other.
Because in the end, and this is our main main goal, is that they play together in the first team. And that this is not the first time they have played together. They know eachother from 15 years old. And this is only possible if you create a situation where the best 15 year old is training with the best 19 year old.
There’s a saying that talent needs models, it doesn’t need criticism. I really believe in that. So at the moment we bring Trent (Alexander-Arnold), Ovie (Ejaria) and Ben (Woodburn) up and they can watch Adam Lallana, the way he prepares himself in the physio room, the way he prepares himself before the training session, how he puts his shinpads on, how he treats his boots – everything. All these small things, these unwritten things, for young players to learn from their models is so important.
That’s before you even speak about the pitch: how Phil (Coutinho) controls the ball and turns away, how Hendo is the playmaker from out the back, the motor. And training. They see how Sadio is creating space for himself before he receives the ball – that is one of his biggest strengths, so he play one v ones in the areas we want him to.
And Ovie and Trent and Ben, they can learn from that. And now when the new talent group is in, Paul Glatzel, Luis Longstaff, Curtis Jones (all Under 16s) – they learn from Trent, they learn from Kev Stewart, they learn from Pedro Chirivella.
It’s a one-club mentality. With our vision. With our future. With our ideal – and the ideal means the playing way: what makes us specific, what makes us recognizable. And that’s indirectly we try to represent the fans. We want to represent their passion. That’s why we choose this style, because it all has to link together: the manager, the coaches, the players, the staff, the academy boys, the fans. That all has to come together. And over time you can compete.

JN: It is your responsibility to look after the Talent Group…
PL: My first responsibility is to assist Jurgen and Zjelko (Buvac), to try to create a recognizable LFC style – that is not only for now but the future. So it’s planning sessions, preparing for the next game and the next game.
Second role is to create a situation where the academy – which is far away in Kirkby – and the manager have a bridge. Once, it was this big and now we make it smaller and smaller. And the Talent Group is something that happened because at a club as big as LFC it is impossible for the manager to watch every youth game, so I thought if the manager can’t go there and can’t see them….okay, we can bring the best of the academy to him.
Personal relationships are important. We believe that 30% is tactics and 70% is feeling for each other and the staff; team spirit we call it. If we believe in that, then it’s important Jurgen knows these players from a young age.
So. one time a week, Melwood is these young players’ home. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, academy at Kirkby. Tuesday, Melwood is their home. To learn the unwritten rules. And to create a relationship between Jurgen and these players.
Say Curtis, or say Yan Dhanda…if now we have to make a decision about a left winger coming in, Jurgen knows inside out Ben Woodburn. That’s really really important. Because in the end these decisions make or break a young player’s career.
We want to create something unique. Jurgen always says if it was simple everyone would do it, so it’s not that easy.

JN: What are you looking for when you select for the Talent Group?
PL: Character No1. Talent No2.
Talent because the game is complex. Talent can be in many different ways – if you’re quick in your mind and not quick in your legs you can still be a talent.
But character, the passion, the ambition…I’ve said before that love of the game is the most important quality that drives a player. But you can stimulate these things. What can you create in a training session to stimulate the competitive process?
If there are five things you try and put into a young player they are 1) hard work, 2) self control, 3) skill, 4) four team spirit and 5) competition. We go through these steps with every young player. But passion and ambition are the first things we look for. Passion and ambition stimulate 99% of development.
And what all the boys in the first team have in common are these five characteristics. Putting your heart into every training session. Earning the respect of everyone – and that’s what we say, you have to earn the respect of everyone and earn the respect of yourself. By giving everything.

JN: Am I right in thinking the first group you took when you arrived in 2014 were the Under-16s, featuring Ben and Trent?
PL: Yes, Trent was my captain.

JN: And you are not surprised by where they are now?
PL: No. We played all season almost the same style. We had 3 diamond 3. (3-4-3 with a diamond midfield). We started with the ideas of a high pressing game and that we don’t defend our goal, we defend the midline. The idea was the attackers were the first defenders, so it was total football.
And there are certain positions in that structure where overload situations, offensively and defensively, develop. These are key positions. 6 and 10.
We try and find the best player to construct the game out from the back, to have the right timings, to have the pausa and ability to speed it up. And Trent always plays there. No6. My Ruben Neves. I always put Trent at 6. Why? Because every attack he is the main guy, the pivot, the lighthouse of the team, guiding the rest.
And the second key position is the No10 position. Because this player has to structure the press, to be able to jump to the centre halves at the right time and he gets stressed offensively and defensively. And my 10 was Ben Woodburn for the whole season.
Trent and Ben went through a big big development since then – and the very biggest development was Jurgen putting them in

JN: You’re right to mention that, because I always think, in youth development, that without the first team manager giving talents chances at the end of it, the whole process counts for nothing…
PL: Yes, and that is why first team staff in world football is responsible for youth development. Not the academy. First team staff is responsible for planning, for starting project, for accelerating development, for knowing young players from a young age. The moment clubs split academy and first team…you have nothing.
What do the best teams in the world have in common? Generally, it’s a one-club mentality. That the same exercises, the same style drops all the way down. That first team coaching staff feels the responsibility (for youth)
We are not in this job to participate. We are in it for silverware. Period point. And we believe it is an advantage to use young players. Because lets say Ben and Ovie…if we lose the ball, for them it’s an invitation to counter-press. For many other players who come in it’s a moment of ‘oh we lose the ball’. But if there’s an immediate reaction to see the positive side of losing balls, then counter-pressing becomes an offensive weapon. Because from 13, 14, 15 years our players are learning this.
And the big advantage of the style is the higher intensity stimulates each individual to have a quicker mind, to know what happens before it happens. And that in itself helps: the player with the quick mind makes development quicker.
But one thing that’s important is to say my Talent Group is just the icing on the cake (of Liverpool’s development) The cake is the Under 16 coaching. Alex Inglethorpe. Alex Inglethorpe…wow! That’s the cake. This is just the icing.

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

And an equally compelling companion piece from Northcroft with Jürgen that will doubtless disappoint those wanting signings impatient to not see the process though with our own.

Again, although long. well worth the time to read the insight into what we're all about.

‘Football has too much money but you can still be a special player without bling, bling, bling all day’

Jurgen Klopp has total faith in Liverpool’s youth system, as Plymouth will find today

Jonathan Northcroft
January 8 2017, 12:01am, The Sunday Times

Eyes on young talent: Jurgen Klopp’s first management job was with an under-10s team, and he still values youth development today


Four-hundred Deutsche Marks and a winter jacket. On comes that full-beam headlights grin. Jurgen Klopp is remembering his start in coaching. The misconception is he began at Mainz. No, his first job was years before that and in Frankfurt — in charge of Eintracht’s under-10 team.

“I loved it,” says Klopp, smiling the fondest smile. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to do something like coaching but I needed the money. Ha! Ha! Ha! I got 400 marks and a winter jacket. Ha! Ha! And a season ticket.”

Life was not easy. “[Sessions] three times a week. I studied at university. I played third division football for another club in Frankfurt. I had to get through the rush hour [to his own training, after coaching the kids]. It was intense. At home I had my wife and son to support.”

He was little more than a kid himself. “I never had a philosophy or something but I had this team. After the first season the club asked, ‘How many new players do you want?’ I said, ‘I don’t need new players.’ ‘But every year we change.’ I said, ‘Well, this year don’t.’” The grin again. “My first decision in coaching — to keep the same squad for the following year. I was 21.”

Keep your talent. Grow your boys. Don’t change players for change’s sake. Before sitting one-to-one with him, I knew Klopp was a different sort of manager; after, it was clear how different. His principles, based around developing people, run through his very grain.

​

Today’s FA Cup tie against Plymouth showcases something fundamental happening to Liverpool under Klopp. It is epitomised by Ben Woodburn, the shy 17-year-old winger-striker from Cheshire who became the 10th academy graduate to be given a debut by Klopp when he came on against Leeds in the League Cup in November. Woodburn’s joyous gawp after netting in front of the Kop was an image to warm the coldest football heart.

Woodburn could feature today, alongside two other golden kids, Trent Alexander-Arnold, 18, a versatile player who grew up a mile from the Melwood training ground, and Ovie Ejaria, 19, a creative attacking force prised from Arsenal three years ago. Under Klopp’s direction the trio gave their first major interviews to LFC TV on Friday, and inside the club they know more academy talents will soon take the spotlight too. Remember the name: Rhian Brewster.

This is why Klopp has a net spend of just £6.46m since arriving. Develop your people. The fan who craves transfers will be disappointed but Klopp’s strategy for Liverpool rests on growing players and he has been this way since coaching nine-year-olds.

Dortmund reached the 2013 Champions League final with three academy products and seven footballers Klopp signed aged 21 or younger, playing regularly. “The biggest stories are written by local players,” Klopp smiles “If it’s Barcelona, if it’s Ajax, if it’s Manchester United, if it’s Liverpool I don’t know how long ago . . .

“Dortmund was like this. The ‘boys of 88.’ A special year, because my son was born and a lot of those guys were born in 1988 too. It’s not the most important thing in football, but it is nice [those Dortmund players] are friends for life.”

The dream: Liverpool growing a team the same way. “First you should try to be successful. At Liverpool we need to be successful,” he says, “but you should try to be more independent of the money. Because in a world of money it looks like everybody in football has more than they need. Each club can buy who they want, but in the end it is always short-term thinking. The world can change and that’s why you should create your own values. On the money side and the attitude side: what do you really want? What do you stand for?

“Liverpool have always a special identity. That’s why I loved this club even before I was here. My first responsibility is to use it, to keep it and, if possible, make it more special. Not all old things are bad.”

Tradition is important, he means. Liverpool’s is success through evolution, the boot room, Steven Gerrard coming through the ranks, Billy Liddell arriving on a train from Fife at 16 and becoming father of a way of playing. “We try to do it differently here,” says Klopp. “We try not because it’s about being different, but because it’s what we believe in.”

​

We are in a Melwood meeting room. A few yards up the corridor is Klopp’s office, outside which it is common to see a waiting parent and child. Even the youngest signings get personal introductions.

Klopp views every youth game. On his first full day in October 2015 he stood with the academy head, Alex Inglethorpe, and first-team development coach, Pepijn Lijnders, watching Liverpool Under-18s play Stoke. The three have formed a powerful alliance. When Klopp attends under-23 games he gets beside himself with excitement. “This team could play in the Premier League,” he’ll exclaim, leaning over to paw Lijnders playfully when a player Lijnders has championed does something good.

Among Lijnders’ duties is linking Klopp to the academy and the Dutchman leads a “talent group” of handpicked prospects from ages 15 to 19 who train with the first-team every Tuesday. Alexander-Arnold, Woodburn and Ejaria were once members but are now at Melwood every day.

The talent group gives Klopp knowledge of who is emerging and he will buy only if the youngster coming through in that position is not ready.
“There is not pressure,” he says. “We can wait. We don’t say you have to be this player at this age. I don’t like when people are judged too early. I’m a man for the second chance. I had so many second chances in my life. My God, if someone judged you at 17 where would you be?”

He mentions Kevin Stewart, discarded by Spurs’ academy but now building a first-team squad role at 23. “My God, how old was he when he came? And he’s going to have a very proper career, somewhere in England, if not here then somewhere else. Two years ago he didn’t play at Swindon Town. Nothing against Swindon, but that’s how it is in football. The door is often locked.

“It is my strength and maybe my weakness that I feel absolutely responsible for these boys. That makes life not always easy for me — but for them it’s a big chance.” What does he look for?

“Of course, skills set. Sometimes I look in Pep’s Talent Group and say ‘My God. He’s 15... you can’t believe it.’ But skills are only one thing. Attitude is what they should bring. If you have to force somebody to work... it’s no problem, once, on a bad weather day. But if you have to do it every day the boy has no chance. Being too cool, too early, is always a *mistake.”

What made him feel Alexander-Arnold, Ejaria and Woodburn were ready for League Cup exposure, and the bench in Premier League matches? “Quality. You watch them training and if you are not blind you see that it’s close [between them and senior players] and getting closer.

“The good thing is they don’t feel pressure. Every day [at Melwood] is nice, every day is Christmas and birthday. I am here! This is Daniel Sturridge! All that stuff. All their doubt problems will come and we’ll deal with that, but at the moment they’re free.”

Klopp dislikes loans and has drastically reduced the number of youngsters Liverpool lend out. He believes in the under-23 league and wishes other managers were similar. “Now it’s the transfer window. Twelve clubs asking for players. Maybe we’ll do it with one [that day Pedro Chirivella was loaned to Go Ahead Eagles] but only if it makes sense for that individual. I decided on a real strong second team. In England, in the under- 23s, the best players are out on loan, so who is left? Too young, not good enough or whatever. You keep good players and they improve together.”

Woodburn and company are protected. “We live in this crazy world so we cannot let them do the normal stuff and say, make an interview there, TV here. No. It’s not because they’re not smart enough to do it — they are. But they go back to normal life, school, friends, that stuff. And if each thing you do is already special because you play for Liverpool, and now you’re on TV as well, on the smartphone and people can see you always... no. There’s enough time for this [in future].

“We have a special kid. I won’t name him. But everyone was asking about him... now, now, now. Nobody has time any more. If it’s a good story, that’s nice. But if the next day the player couldn’t perform and it’s a bad story? A young player can’t deal with that, eh? Nobody is really interested [in the person]. That’s what you feel. That we [in football] are sometimes the clowns in a circus and you have to perform, perform, perform and if you do that’s good but if not... boof.”

He talks about the mentoring roles senior players such as Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana and James Milner play. They show the talent group “it’s possible to be a special player without bling, bling, bling all day”.

He alludes to his own upbringing: Christianity, a father who was loving but always demanded he did his best, good teachers, good coaches. “I was a lucky guy.” Klopp has an educator’s heart. “That’s what life should be: that you make your own experience and if it’s good or bad you share it. The problem in this world is everything is so quick. Everybody wants everything in this moment. Nobody gives you time to develop. Usually.”

He is conscious that one day he will pass Liverpool on to another coach and “the club should benefit from the things we did”. He adds: “Life forced me pretty early to think ahead. When I became a father young and had responsibility for a little boy.”

So what happened to his Eintracht Under-10s? “The goalkeeper made it, had a decent career — third division in Germany. One or two played in Turkey. But I missed contact with them, it was 27 years ago, 28.” Again, the smile, that fondness. “Good boys.”

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

Sevilla and Galatasaray register interest in Liverpool's Sakho - Goal.com

Tiago Ilori’s £3.75m transfer to Reading, which includes a 25% sell-on clause, is nearing completion with the defender having his medical and discussing personal terms with the Championship side.


Another 25% sell on and a small profit after 4 fruitless seasons and a mere 3 appearances.

Edwards and co are getting rather good at this transfer lark.

First official departure of the deadwood this window confirmed:

Follow

paul joyce‏@_pauljoyce
​

Tiago Ilori completes £3.75m move to Reading. Liverpool get 35pc of any sell on fee

• 12:16 am - 9 Jan 2017

About as good a possible deal as we could get for Illori all things considered. Had visions of him leaving a free the end of his contract. Small £250 K profit and a 35% sell-on from a nothing 4 years. Great for all party's. Good luck to him finally kickstarting his pro-career in Berkshire. (If his quaver legs hold up!).

Onto Sakho .....

 

[PatrickLFC]

First official departure of the deadwood this window confirmed:

Follow

paul joyce‏@_pauljoyce
​

Tiago Ilori completes £3.75m move to Reading. Liverpool get 35pc of any sell on fee

• 12:16 am - 9 Jan 2017

About as good a possible deal as we could get for Illori all things considered. Had visions of him leaving a free the end of his contract. Small £250 K profit and a 35% sell-on from a nothing 4 years. Great for all party's. Good luck to him finally kickstarting his pro-career in Berkshire. (If his quaver legs hold up!).

Onto Sakho .....

I thought we paid 7m for Ilori?

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

I thought we paid 7m for Ilori?

Nah. £3.5 million down with potential add-ons.

Considering he's played 3 games the 4 seasons he was here, I'm gonna' go out on a limb and say no way where those add-ons met haha.

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

This is really interesting to me regarding Wednesday:

Melissa Reddy– Verified account ‏@MelissaReddy_

Klopp says it is "pretty likely" Loris Karius will play again at Southampton.
5:05 am - 9 Jan 2017
​

If Karius plays the semi, keeping in line with whomever hasn't been first choice playing all the cup games thus far, then surely he has to play the final too regardless of whom the opponent is or else you lose that trust between player and manager?

VERY big call that.

Great news to have the lil' fella' back involved the match day squad:


Melissa Reddy– Verified account ‏@MelissaReddy_

Klopp: "I think Phil is fit enough to be part of the squad [v Southampton]. Whether he gets minutes depends on how the game goes."
5:01 am - 9 Jan 2017

 

[Scouseinthehouse]

Normally be uninspired with that but VERY happily take Wolves at home right now the fourth round the Cup with all the current travelling.

Weekend before Chelsea on the Tuesday. Another game in the pro. development curve of the young guns.

Do us.