10 Aug 2021 09:43:41
As the homegrown policy is only becoming more important, i'd be interested to hear everyone's thoughts on the current crop coming through the academy, especially Ed001 if you're out there. In no particular order;

Owen Beck
Ben Woodburn
Leighton Clarkson
Layton Stewart
Kaide Gordon
Jack Cain
Conor Bradley
Callum Scanlon
Tyler Morton
Mateusz Musialowski
James Balagizi
Paul Glatzel
Adam Lewis

And anyone else i've missed who's highly rated within the club.

{Ed001's Note - if we get more than one of those becoming a regular in the first team we will be very lucky. There are a few there with the potential but it is very difficult to force a way into this team for a youngster. You only have to look at the whining about Neco right now, or the bitching at Trent when he first broke into the team, to see how hard it is for kids. People seem to expect them to be the finished article, but you buy finished articles, kids are there to be developed.}

1.) 10 Aug 2021
10 Aug 2021 09:59:44
Clarkson looked a tidy player last night. His quick passing style very similar to Thiago.

2.) 10 Aug 2021
10 Aug 2021 10:03:14
The only way Neco can learn is by having the space to make mistakes.

3.) 10 Aug 2021
10 Aug 2021 10:05:43
Winds me up the moaning about youngsters Ed. You can’t judge a youngster after a couple of half appearances and write them off.

Neco Williams is the one that drives me nuts the most. Young kid, full international (out of position aswell I might add! ) and yet he is deemed not good enough by most fans and should be sold. I think he is a cracking right back and has developed really well over the past two years. Just happens to be behind Trent who makes most RBs look poor.

What happens if 5 games in, Harvey Elliot hasn’t scored or had a couple of poor performances (not that I want that! ) do we say he’s not good enough! Everyone wants instant results, give the kids time!

I watch the under 23s and the under 18s whenever they are on, some stand out big time like Curtis did, but to see them in and around the first team has to be the way to go and they should be given fullest support.

{Ed001's Note - that's another one who gets it in the neck - Curtis. No idea why, we are lucky to have a youngster with his work ethic and quality breaking through.}

4.) 10 Aug 2021
10 Aug 2021 10:22:04
Toon, you have used a broad brush. Lewis and Woodburn are both 22 in November, their ship has sailed, Scanlon is only 16, I have walking boots older than that.

Hopefully Glatzel's loan and Stewart's recovery go well, each of them have excellent movement, of all the ones you mention Tyler Morton may be the most likely to make the breakthrough in my humble opinion, having a fine blend of quality and physicality.

5.) 10 Aug 2021
10 Aug 2021 10:46:40
Glatzel has been set back by a couple of bad injuries that will probably make it difficult for him to come through with us. Woodburn doesn't seem to have advanced in 3 years and will leave. Lewis is also at an age where I'd expect him to have made some appearances in the first team if he was going to break though.

Gordon looks a real prospect, he seems to be well ahead of where I'd expect a 16 year old to be in terms of his on pitch intelligence, and Clarkson looks the part too.

As for Neco, I'm not bothered by him making mistakes for Wales or in friendlies. When we needed him for a few games around December last season when TAA was injured, he didn't let us down, imo.

6.) 10 Aug 2021
10 Aug 2021 10:54:42
I see a bright future for Mateusz "Mati" Musialowski.

7.) 10 Aug 2021
10 Aug 2021 11:28:28
I don’t think Glatzel has much of a future at this level his injuries have put him back a few years and I don’t think he was ever if the class of Gordon or Elliott who did not look out of place as soon as they played in the first team and I think it’s a bit easier for forwards of a young age than midfielders and defenders. So I think Neco gets fat to much stick to and is a very good young back up that will only get better and I hope he stays for at least the next 2 seasons to see how he develops. Same as Curtis his learning how to play Central midfield s he was lot more of an attacking player in the youth teams last season was a massive learning experience last season and for his age was chucked in at the deep end and played lot more than Klopp would have liked and without a full strength team round him making it a lot harder. As for any more youngsters coming through you can not tell watching u23 so we might see a few once the carabao cup starts and few get there chances and see how they get on in first team football.

8.) 10 Aug 2021
10 Aug 2021 12:20:23
It's good now that the youngsters get to share the same training pitches as the seniors. If there are some that have the same style as the seniors, how can you not learn and progress from watching how players like virgil, trent, robbo, thiago, fabinho, salah, mane etc perform in training.

I remember the knock on effect that cantona seemed to have at utd with their youngsters coming through. How great would it be to be able to incorporate just one player per season from the youth. Makes for a good return on the funding for the academy and the confidence for the youth to know that you can make it if you try hard enough.