4-1 win against Liverpool's u21s

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

Liverpool U21s were beaten 4-1 by a senior Sheffield United team in a friendly on Tuesday afternoon.

Kaide Gordon scored a penalty for the young Reds in the encounter at the Blades' training ground.

U21s head coach Rob Page told Liverpoolfc.com: "We lost 4-1 but it wasn't a 4-1 game, if I'm honest.

"It was a first-team game for them, so there were a lot of first-team players playing. So credit to the lads, they stood up. It was a tough, tough test physically and the opposition being Championship players, it was a great test for them. Lots and lots of positives to come out of it.

"If they want to see where they're at in their development, to go up against a team of that quality, for 80 minutes of the game we were in the game. We scored a penalty to get back into it.

"For a large spell of the game it was 2-1 and we had chances then as well to equalise and to take the lead. We didn't take the chances and top, top players in the latter stages of the game when they get half a chance will punish you – and that's what they've done today.

 

[Irishunitedite]

Any idea who scored for the blades .. would be great to see Ollie Arblaster on the scoresheet ?

 

[finlaytheblade]

Any idea who scored for the blades .. would be great to see Ollie Arblaster on the scoresheet ?

Rob Page surfaced being coach at Liverpool.Would have been a good workout for our returniing players
such as Arblaster, chonge and maybe others too.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

So we are champions really?

 

[Blademan89]

Rob Page surfaced being coach at Liverpool.Would have been a good workout for our returniing players
such as Arblaster, chonge and maybe others too.

Id guess it consisted of chong, Shackleton, Godfrey, matos, Zätterström, McGuinness, (Arblaster 10 min run out), One, (maybe run out for Bamford for fitness), Bindon & maybe davies in goal to try get to be less rusty.

 

[GreasyChipBeattie]

Nowt to get excited about here.
Liverpool are crap. Everybody beats them

 

[Nedski]

Man utd u21s beat them 7-0 a few days ago!

 

[BalticBlade]

Man utd u21s beat them 7-0 a few days ago!

With a 15-year-old scoring a hat trick

 

[finlaytheblade]

With a 15-year-old scoring a hat trick

Very few of these boy wonders make it.
Man utd always get the cream of the crop! And they disappear within there system.If i had a boy of 14 ish i would steer them away from the really big clubs.The back handers which have always been there do nothing for the kid who gets swallowed up in there system. Yes some come through but! The pressure put on these boys kills some ! Yes a few make it ,!they have a better chance at a smaller club . Where although there is pressure most will be given space to advance in there own time.
Of course the main thing is talent which sometimes levels off and drop by the wayside

 

[Bladeloyal]

Was just a match to get certain players up to speed ,minutes for blaster

 

[Badger Blade]

Very few of these boy wonders make it.
Man utd always get the cream of the crop! And they disappear within there system.If i had a boy of 14 ish i would steer them away from the really big clubs.The back handers which have always been there do nothing for the kid who gets swallowed up in there system. Yes some come through but! The pressure put on these boys kills some ! Yes a few make it ,!they have a better chance at a smaller club . Where although there is pressure most will be given space to advance in there own time.
Of course the main thing is talent which sometimes levels off and drop by the wayside

I think exactly the same thing.

If my lad makes it, I'd sooner he become a club legend at a club like Barnsley or Mansfield than be promised the world at Man City or Liverpool and get cut loose at 21 barely having played any senior mens football.

How many young lads at these places actually get a look in?

Man City have Trafford who they paid to get back and leave on the bench, Foden, O'Reilly, Lewis and Bobb who are still there from the academy and play at least on a semi-regular basis.

McAtee, Palmer, Harwood-Bellis, Doyle, Rogers, Delap, Nmecha, Brahim Diaz, Eric Garcia - all top professionals and some of them elite footballers in their own right have all gone elsewhere to find regular football that they could have had a lot younger had they been either given the opportunity or left sooner. Sancho left at 17 and played over 100 games for Borussia Dortmund before he was 21. Not doing a lot now mind but that's on him.

At least three or four of those are perfectly capable in my opinion of being regulars at Man City, yet instead they sign error-prone donkeys like Khusanov or chuck money at Phillips and Grealish only to set their careers back while their own products get frustrated and move on but only after City have extorted as much money as they can from the clubs they're going to.

You could argue that just being at Man City has been a springboard to being regular footballers at a good level or the highest level but to me its a money-making scheme that's holding top talent back who they could be using and be setting a real example of how a top academy can be the future of a club and provide a realistic pathway and more sustainable game generally.

 

[JPBrods]

YOU'LL NEVER SING THAT

 

[Brian Deane]

That young lad the Swines have looks a decent player, from Manure IIRC ?

 

[Balham]

McAtee, Palmer, Harwood-Bellis, Doyle, Rogers, Delap, Nmecha, Brahim Diaz, Eric Garcia - all top professionals and some of them elite footballers in their own right have all gone elsewhere to find regular football that they could have had a lot younger had they been either given the opportunity or left sooner. Sancho left at 17 and played over 100 games for Borussia Dortmund before he was 21. Not doing a lot now mind but that's on him.

You can't really include Brahim Díaz and Eric García in that list Badger, given that they were signed by City as 16 year olds from Málaga and Barcelona respectively.

It's a tale as old as time: club's academy graduates generally find success elsewhere. City's academy is absolutely elite so to see McAtee, Harwood-Bellis, Doyle, Rogers and both Nmechas doing well at slightly lower-level clubs isn't surprising. In a way, City are doing well to have Rico Lewis, Nico O'Reilly, Oscar Bobb and Phil Foden in their first team set-up, although there seems to be a genuine trend even among the top clubs to have academy players in and around the first team: cf Chelsea (Chalobah, George, Acheampong), Arsenal (Saka, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly and now Dowman) & Liverpool (Bradley, Jones, Ngumoha).

There's also the FFP factor at play - sales of academy players are "pure profit".

 

[Houston_Blade]

At least we know we’d do ok in whatever the Johnstones Paint Trophy is called nowadays.

 

[Groucho Blade]

I can’t see this anywhere on our site. Was it a ‘behind closed doors’ type of thing? … and is this where Sai Sachdev got some minutes?

 

[BarcaBlade]

… and is this where Sai Sachdev got some minutes?

Right back. Could be handy.

 

[Bladeloyal]

I can’t see this anywhere on our site. Was it a ‘behind closed doors’ type of thing? … and is this where Sai Sachdev got some minutes?

That was against hull 21,s but he might have got some more in the behind closed doors workout with the Liverpool 21,s , hopefully blaster will have got 45

 

[Berkshire Blade]

I can’t see this anywhere on our site. Was it a ‘behind closed doors’ type of thing? … and is this where Sai Sachdev got some minutes?

Wilder mentioned there was a behind closed doors game lined up during the Leicester pre match conference

 

[wak1889]

Very few of these boy wonders make it.
Man utd always get the cream of the crop! And they disappear within there system.If i had a boy of 14 ish i would steer them away from the really big clubs.The back handers which have always been there do nothing for the kid who gets swallowed up in there system. Yes some come through but! The pressure put on these boys kills some ! Yes a few make it ,!they have a better chance at a smaller club . Where although there is pressure most will be given space to advance in there own time.
Of course the main thing is talent which sometimes levels off and drop by the wayside

If you are good enough at Manchester United they will give you a chance, they have featured a homegrown player in every match day squad for the last 88 years, the criteria for a homegrown player is three-fold: 1) they have to have signed before the age of 21, 2) played at a junior level below the first team at United and 3) not to have played for another team at senior level,