The price was a matter of concern to many Liverpool fans. Apparently £100,000 is chicken-feed for such a promising youngster. He did only have 18 months left on his contract and he was picked up on a free transfer. But supporters on forums did not believe that it was value for money, a meaningful contribution to the player budget (even at the Academy) or have confidence that the administrators (still with a small a) would have the expertise to demand performance bonuses if he went on to be a successful adult.

Others saw it as further evidence that Rafa Benitez was wrong to conduct the extensive overhaul of academy staff last summer. They examined the role of Malcolm Elias who was the scout of young talent we had poached from Southampton but has now moved to Fulham. This view was reinforced by rumours (which just won’t go away in Sky Sports parlance) linking striking hotshot Lauri Dalla Valle with a move in the same direction – a transfer for David Amoo was later added in the mix.

For an even more select few it was evidence that Liverpool is failing to nurture promising young players. For them, Dani Pacheco should have been in the first team squad ahead of players like Voronin and Buchtmann should have had more of a chance at reserve team level, after his promotion to Melwood on the summer. Some point to him playing on the right side of midfield for much of this year and conclude that he must have been mis-treated.

Thankfully in this case it could not be used as evidence of the managers blind faith in foreign talent over local lads. The player keeping him out of the reserve team was scouser Robbie Threlfall.

For another group it was proof that there are disciplinary problems at the Academy. They point to the early departure of fellow German Marvin Pourie – who appears to have fallen put with subsequent coaches – and presume Buchtmann must have been on the ale or just showing a lack of determination.

Rumours will always spread around a football community and Liverpool is a fertile city for gossip. But the presumption that there was an intriguing story behind the move reveals much about supporters confidence in the running of the club and the unchallenged rumours of yester year.

These are the same supporters who’ve read (unchallenged) reports that Nathan Eccleston was going to move to Blackburn after being promoted to Melwood only to be sent back to the Academy because the first team base was ‘full’. Rumours also suggested we lost centreback Robert Huth last year because no-one remembered to renew his contract. And we heard of splits in the dressing room and amongst the coaches which demoralised young players.

Appointing Kenny Dalglish to oversee the Academy and taking personal responsibility for the operation may have been a smart move by Rafa but it’s not enough to give fans confidence.

Football, particularly at this level is still an opaque world, where fans see a few YouTube clips, four of five youth cup games and suddenly know the quality of a player. Where the myriad of associates (family members of the 100+ players associated with the young sides) mean that many more people might be ‘in the know’ and where simple explanations are discarded in favour of incompetece and scandal.

What if Christopher Buchtmann just fancied a bit of extra money? Perhaps that’s what brought him here in the first place. Maybe managemet has more confidence in Threlfall and Mavinga and knew his opportunities would be limited. Maybe, as a short-ish full back who’s not much younger than Insua, he didn’t fancy the challenge. And maybe he wasn’t best pleased at having to develop his right peg. Or maybe it’s all the agent / girlfriend / national team’s fault.

But the story reveals important parts of modern football: that £100,000 profit on a teenager is assumed to be bad business; there’s that much interest in an under-18 player who has never played 2 full games at reserve team level. That a little transparency is not enough; if fans don’t know the facts they fill in the gaps.

No related posts.

The game
The game was played at a quicker tempo than most reserve team games and the persistent fine rain helped quicken the surface. Liverpool scored with their first shot after a nice move which wasn’t getting behind City. Eccleston was guilty of a bad miss which would have given the reds an undeserved two goal advantage, after Pacheco’s harrying of the defender regained possesion.

The City goal came after a point blank save from Gulacsi but the reds failed to clear the resulting ball.

Liverpool’s second came after neat and skillful interchange between Eccleston and Spearing and the latter picked his spot well from 12-odd yards out.

The reds didn’t start the second half well and particularly after Irwin replaced Plessis ran through the heart of Liverpool twice in a couple of minutes.

Pacheco had a great chance to level in the 89th – after a ball over the top from Gulacsi but the reds didn’t create much and the rain was slowing down the pitch.

The equaliser came after a food cross-field pass from Threlfall and Ayala showed superb presence of mind to chest the ball to Saric who squeezed it in the corner in what was about his only contribution.

The performances
Going to the game gave me a much better insight than I’ve had from the TV – as good as the coverage is.

I was really impressed by the way Pacheco led the line and in the first half particularly he was tenacious at closing down defenders and winning back possession. He does try to play too many tricky balls when simple ones would be better and sometimes I felt his desire to drop deep to get involved in the second half meant that the reds didn’t have an attacking outlet.

It wasn’t a game where any of the wingers prospered but David Amoo caught my eye. He’s previously been dismissed by some as an athlete rather than a footballer. However, on sevaral occasions tonight his close control was exceptional.

Jay Spearing is particularly impressive to see live. His late runs into the box, vocal coordination of midfield and hard work in defence can go unnoticed but is hugely impressive.

Ayala is so uncompromising and committed that he deserves a mention, although his distribution is as poor from viewing it in the stands as it is watching it on tele. Threlfall played well at centreback and Darby should be applauded for his effort given the cold shock of going from playing at a buzzing Anfield to a quiet Prenton Park – all inside 24 hours.

The gossip at the game was that Plessis is looking to get out at the end of the season and nothing about his performance suggested otherwise. He did provide good cover to the defence but was tentative in the tackle and hesitant on the ball.

Liverpool remain top of the table and the next game, against Man United, will go a long way to determining whether they win the league.

Related posts:

1. Liverpool reserves v Hull City post match analysis
2. Liverpool reserves v Bolton reserves post match analysis
3. Liverpool reserves v Man United reserves post match analysis

Although San Sebastian is a difficult ground for the top sides to visit, the game against Madrid was San Jose’s toughest test of the season thus far. Ronaldo and he who must not be named have been flying of late.

Those who remember San Jose’s performances for the reserves and under 18s won’t be surprised to hear that he remains composed on the ball and his distribution is excellent. He takes most of the free kicks from deep and put a couple of balls into the box which troubled the Madrid defence.

San Jose doesn’t have much pace but he does read the game well. The moment that really stood out was when a cute pass in behind the defence and Ronaldo one on one with the keeper. San Jose dropped back and put enough pressure on him to ensure his shot went high and wide.

The Bilbao defence is well organised and San Jose was a key part of the defensive line knowing when to push out and when to drop deeper.

The young lad is good in the air and – at 6′ 1″ is taller than most centrebacks at Liverpool. Bilbao mark zonally and employ it reasonably well. Although he doesn’t have much beef on him, MSJ is a commanding aerial presence and has scored a couple of goals this season as well.

There are rumours that Bilbao have an option to make his loan deal permanent. In a recent interview San Jose said that he was focused on taking each game at a time and playing for his place; wise words.

I don’t know if San Jose wants to stay in Spain – or if he has what it takes to succeed in the Premiership. But his aerial strength, composure and Reading of the game are all things that Liverpool fans look for in a centrebacks and – in his early 20s – MSJ has plenty of time to improve. But at a straight choice between Kelly and San Jose, I’d probably still go for Kelly.

At the very least it should deliver Benitez a tidy return for the young man.

No related posts.

Following this deserved debut, there are five key challenges facing Dani Pacheco if he is to build on last night’s cameo.

1. Doing it all again for the reserves
This morning Pacheco will wake up to more reserve team football. His next game will probably be on a cold evening in January I’m front of a crowd of a couple of thousand. He will only get more chances if he responds well to the more modest environment. To do this well he should look at Jay Spearing but particularly Daniel Ayala – one of his closest pals in the setup – who responded to his brief run in the first team by playing even better for the reserve team. Damien Plessis should act as a reminder of how not to do things.

2. Work on the drudgery
No one doubts Pacheco’s skill on the ball or his awareness. But he will need to continue working on his strength, tackling, tracking back and team play. And he’ll need to do this whilst maintaining and developing the attributes that helped him catch the eye. His improvement in these areas over the last year shows he can do it, but there’s much more to be done.

3. Take his limited chances without getting frustrated
With a tricky away tie at Reading and the FA Cup growing in it’s importance with every game, Pacheco’s first team appearances will be limited. He needs not to get disheartened by this and guard against responding like Nathan Eccleston whose response appeared to be rejecting a contract extension. Spearing is certainly a better model to follow here.

4. Get game time and intelligence
It might be that the next step for Pacheco is a year out on loan. This might be tricky. It needs to be a team that let’s him play his natural game but at a level where he learns to not be bullied by defenders and it’s played at a pace where he’s getting better prepared for the pace of Premiership football. So not like Le Tallec’s move to Sunderland.

He also needs to work on his ‘game intelligence’. He can spot a pass but needs to make the right one and make decisions quicker than he has to at reserve team level. He will hear the groans around Anfield if he gives the ball away as he does sometimes at reserve level.

5. Deal with the setbacks
The players who do best are those that manage the setbacks; a bad injury, a loss of form, seeing other players get opportunities ahead of him. This was a key attribute of the young Michael Owen and requires real toughness of mind – as well as being blessed with a body that will recover and give you the opportunities you need.

I would love to see Dani Pacheco break through into the Liverpool side and see the whole club get some credit for the investment in youth – if nothing else to provide a bit more balance to the Wenger love-in of the Great British press. But anyone wanting to know ‘is he ready for first team action’ or lobbying ‘Rafa, this lad deserves an opportunity’ would do well to remember how many distractions, bits of bad luck and pitfalls lie ahead on the path of a teenage footballer.

In other news, Alberto Aquilani made his debut against Fiorentina.

Related posts:

1. Peter Gulacsi: challenges for 2009/10
2. Liverpool reserves v Bolton reserves post match analysis
3. Liverpool reserves v Wigan Athletic reserves preview

However, these  were difficult circumstances to make your debut:, playing alongside the unfamiliar partnership of Skrtel and Agger, and with Benayoun playing on the right hand side so offering less defensive cover than Dirk Kuyt.

Darby did ok for the first 91 minutes, without exciting in the way that Martin Kelly did against Lyon. He was good in the air, disciplined defensively but provided overlapping runs when he could. He got caught out by quicker players a couple of times. The first really good chance that Fiorentina had came down Darby’s side and he was turned inside out by a pass in the channel and couldn’t get back to stop the cross.

Generally though the right flank looked more solid than the left hand side, which was the focus of the Fiorentina attack, particularly in the first half. Martin Skrtel provided good cover for Darby which helped, because there was a lack of support from midfield.

Darby was unfortunate for the first goal. He probably got his positioning right but he couldn’t get to the ball played across goal in time to block the shot. But you wouldn’t have criticised Carragher for a similar pattern of play.

Sadly for Stephen his performance will be marked by the second goal where he was caught in posession and was then unable to get back as he was brushed aside by the highly-talented Juan Vargas. It’s unfair to dwell on it – and in the 93rd minute whilst he should have been concentrating particularly hard, in truth he was probably knackered for having played his first full 90 minutes – and his first game in about a month.

But it’s also true that he came under increasing pressure in the last 20 minutes as Liverpool pushed forward and Fiorentina played on the break. There were a couple of nervy clearances and he put the ball out of play on a couple of occasions when, with more experience, he might have shepherded it out.

I’d really like to see Darby succeed. He’s been at Liverpool a really long time, shows tremendous commitment and is a ‘proper defender’ in the way that others aren’t. However, his first team chances are going to be limited at Liverpool and he can’t be expected to learn an awful lot playing a third or even fourth season in the reserve team. He’s a player that really needs to go out on loan to a lower division side. But as we saw with Jack Hobbs, it’s hard to find a good side which will gamble on inexperienced defenders.

But for now whilst he did little wrong, Darby reiterated his consistent performances for the reserves without making a clear case that he’s ready to play at a higher level. How he responds in training over the next few days will be a key indication of his future prospects.

No related posts.