good question. i guess you could also ask what kuyt, riise, or previously voronin, need to to do to get dropped... answering that question is intrinsically linked to opportunities for the likes of nemeth & insua.
True oh so true.
I wouldn't necessarily say so. I thought the same under Houllier about the likes of Baros, Mellor, Raven, Whitbread, Welsh, Partridge, Otsemebor and Wright being overlooked in favour of Heskey, Smicer, Diao, Diouf, Biscan and the likes (Houlliers' supposed favourites) because they weren't playing well by a long fucking chalk and I thought when Rafa came in he'd be giving the youth a lot more opportunities and to be fair when he came in and didn't know the players he did give them games, even Darren Potter who I hadn't even given any thought to to be honest
And where are they now? nowhere! if they were that great then they wouldn't be playing at the likes millwall, chester, carlisle, wolves and the likes. They'd be plying their trade in the top leagues but they're not which leads me to think that perhaps Houllier was right, no matter how bad Diao, Heskey, Biscan, Smicer played they were better options than what we had in our youth at the time and Rafa obviously after being able to examine what they were like agreed with his Gallic counterpart.
So that makes me also think that Rafa is the best judge when and what youth are given time above what we have in our first 24 or so. I also think Rafa will give a lot more bench time next season to players from the youth set up for two reasons...the increase in subs allowed and the quality of the youth coming through. Rafa's kids.
