After a period of sustained good form, Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling received his reward this week with another call-up to the England squad, which bodes well for his chances of making the final World Cup squad. Everyone and his dog seems to be heaping praise on Sterling at the moment, and liverpool legend John Barnes is the latest to laud the youngster's great form, but he's also warned about the dangers of overhype.
Speaking to Sky Sports yesterday, Barnes admitted that he's been 'very impressed' with Sterling's form over the 'last six weeks', and but urged people not to put 'too much pressure' on the 19-year old. He observed:
"I think his [Sterling's] England career started too soon. He got into it very early and it affected...his performances.
"He's a young player, so I would still expect some issues with consistency. We have to allow for a dip in form, but at the moment he's been as good as anyone in the country."
Sensible comments from Barnesy, who has highlighted the negative effects of overhype many times in the past, especially with regards to £15m-rated Sterling.
England haven't learned from the past, though, as the call-up of Luke Shaw proves. Where is the burning need to call-up an 18-year old to the squad? Are England that desperate for players that it's imperative to bring Shaw into the fold, and basically skip the U21 system?
Barnes argues that players should 'have to play consistently well over a period of time before you get into the England squad', but like Sterling, Shaw is in the squad despite having having comparatively zero experience at the top level.
In Sterling's case, I just hope he doesn't pick up any injuries during the upcoming Denmark game. The same applies to Henderson, Gerrard, and Sturridge. Those four are amongst LFC's most important players at the moment, and in injury to one or more could potentially derails LFC's fight for the top four.
Author: Jaimie K
Speaking to Sky Sports yesterday, Barnes admitted that he's been 'very impressed' with Sterling's form over the 'last six weeks', and but urged people not to put 'too much pressure' on the 19-year old. He observed:
"I think his [Sterling's] England career started too soon. He got into it very early and it affected...his performances.
"He's a young player, so I would still expect some issues with consistency. We have to allow for a dip in form, but at the moment he's been as good as anyone in the country."
Sensible comments from Barnesy, who has highlighted the negative effects of overhype many times in the past, especially with regards to £15m-rated Sterling.
England haven't learned from the past, though, as the call-up of Luke Shaw proves. Where is the burning need to call-up an 18-year old to the squad? Are England that desperate for players that it's imperative to bring Shaw into the fold, and basically skip the U21 system?
Barnes argues that players should 'have to play consistently well over a period of time before you get into the England squad', but like Sterling, Shaw is in the squad despite having having comparatively zero experience at the top level.
In Sterling's case, I just hope he doesn't pick up any injuries during the upcoming Denmark game. The same applies to Henderson, Gerrard, and Sturridge. Those four are amongst LFC's most important players at the moment, and in injury to one or more could potentially derails LFC's fight for the top four.
Author: Jaimie K
I don't honestly see how there are any different interpretations, LFC under Dalglish paid stupid money for players, 35mil for Carroll who if he was bought at all, should have been bought for 15mil, Downing bought for 20mil should have been bought for 10mil, Henderson was a young lad who was bought for his potential but was still bought for too much at the time, around 16mil, even though some people say it was 20mil and is only now realising his potential and going on his form this season can be seen as a player worth that figure. Because they were naive and were burnt, they have gotten smarter, with a manager known to make shrewd purchases, so they won't be held to ransom by clubs wanting to sell their player for more because they know we pay more for others. This may backfire in the short term, but in the long term, this can only be good for us.
ReplyDeleteI lean more toward the latter, with evidence of this shown with their management of the Boston Red Sox.
ReplyDeleteWe have top centre backs, Martin Skrtel has been excellent this season, Kolo Toure, although recently has made a couple of mistakes, has been excellent for us, Sakho is adjusting to our league, has been injured, but has been pretty impressive when he has been fit, Daniel Agger is a very good CB, however, for whatever reason, him and Skrtel don't work well together, he was excellent last season with Carra and hasn't suddenly gone from being one of the league's best CB's wanted by Man City and Barca to a terrible CB. Plus we have Andre Wisdom, Tiago Ilori and even the likes of Stephen Sama.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Apparently the FA are pretty much insisting that England change their prehistoric 4-4-2 formation and concentrate on technique and possession football, which is about time as England are light years behind Spain, Germany etc in every way. That is totally understandable and when pep guardiola (one of the architects of the modern game) asked for an interview, you would think that would make sense both from the point of view of implementing this change in style and in terms of giving the fans and players a lift but they dismissed his request out of hand and instead appointed Roy hodgson. A footballing dinosaur who has played 4-4-2 in every team he's ever managed and I think all Liverpool fans will painfully remember that he delivers anything but an exhilirating brand of football. As a scot I found this decision hilarious however I pity England fans for what I fear will be a very disappointing world cup
ReplyDeletebuyers market pay the price or loose out......were we in this position before for a seville ? right back called dani alves? i think parry baulked at the extra million over our valuation ....6 or 7 million quid hey
ReplyDeletedidnt we pay 16 odd million for glen johnson a few years later?
I'd go for Ben Davies from Swansea. Quality LB. Bags of potential. Prem experience. No bidding war with teams that have more money than sense.
ReplyDeleteAs long as you admit that 'the system we have is patently unfair' is a personal opinion then I am ok with everything you write. The working man works whether he is a day laborer waiting to get offered a day's wages for yard work or a anarchist blogger who rails against 'systems' while making ad money from an internet that would not exist is it weren't for the 'hierarchy of systems' that allows for it to be developed and implemented.
ReplyDeleteYou said, 'Barring global revolution, the working man is fucked and will be continue to be fucked for a long time yet.' I take that to mean the only way a working man would NOT 'be done' as you say is through global revolution...was I wrong to conclude that? since I assume you want a better outcome for the 'working man,' then you would naturally be in favor of 'global revolution.' I'm just saying that global revolutions help nobody engaged in them except the undertaker. I am disinclined to think 'global revolution' is the answer to anything.