Kids watch: Eccleston does the trick, Hammill continues Saint futility, Anderson settles for assists, & more

Nathan Eccleston is looking more and more the business. The 16-year-old Manchester product netted three more goals today in the U18s 5-0 annihilation of West Brom. The same West Brom that held them scoreless just a month-and-half ago. That brings the young striker's tally to 15 in 16 matches. Did I mention that in three of those matches he played less than a total of 120 minutes? The kid's scoring pace has been impressive to say the least. Just imagine our side five years from now if he, David Amoo, Marvin Pourie, Gary Mackay-Steven, and the whole plethora of young International hopefuls continue to progress and develop into Premiership-quality players. We're going to be world-beaters even if a fraction of them 'make it'.

(Oh, by the way, my friend Ciara wanted me to mention that Michael 'Fekkin' Magic' Collins also scored. Typical Irish.)

The thing about Eccleston is that he didn't come with all the hype that accompanied most of our other Academites. I wouldn't necessarily say he came out of nowhere, but he did work his way from a player who wasn't even on the bench at the beginning of the season to playing every minute of our last 13 matches. That is deserving of recognition and commendation alone. In the article I linked above, Hugh McAuley seems to hint at the 16-year-old possibly already moving up the ladder and playing for the Reserves as early as this spring, an impressive feat nonetheless.

Apparently, England has no talent at the youth level, which is easily rubbished by pointing out Eccleston. He plays on a youth side with players from all over the world, Dean Bouzanis is an Aussie, Shane O'Connor and Michael Collins are Irish, Ayala is Spanish, Astrit Ajdarevic and Alexander Kacaniklic are Swedish, Gary Mackay-Steven is Scottish, and Marvin Pourie is from Germany. Pourie and Collins are both forwards as well, competing for time with the Manchester kid, but despite the German's prolific scoring record, he now sits second fiddle to the Englishman.

Since I'm on the subject of the Academy, I was wondering where all our other 'baby galaticos' are? It appears Argentine ace, Gerardo Bruna, despite being just 16, will train with the first team and get some time with the Reserves. Finnish wonderkid, Lauri Dalla Valle, also 16, arrives in January and it is rumored that he'll do the same and young Spanish star, Dani Pacheco, 17, has seen minimal time with the Reserves already. Who knows about Ayala, he might be injured, but I haven't heard much of him lately.

I'm beginning to wonder if Southampton is the right fit for Adam Hammill. Just when it looked as if he was settling in after a two assist outing, leading the Saints to a 4-0 thrashing of Hull, he was essentially a non-factor in his club's 1-1 draw at Coventry. In fact, he was taken off the pitch in the 68th minute with the score at one apiece. At least it ended in a draw. The Saints next play a home fixture on Saturday with Preston, the team of none-other-than Neil Mellor who scored just his second goal of the campaign this season, helping the Lilywhites defeat Burnley.

Paul Anderson has decided to no longer score goals and now just set them up. The 19-year-old Wirral wonder got two more assists today to help Swansea win 3-0 at the Liberty over Southend. Anderson only played 59 minutes before being replaced by Thomas Butler. With Leyton Orient taking it up the arse, 0-1 at the hands of Carlisle, the Swans now sit all alone atop the League One table, a point and a goal clear of the aforementioned Cumbrians, which they travel to on Saturday. Anderson, like Hammill at Dunfermline last season, appears to be turning me into a Swans supporter. Hell, if Rafa goes, this blog will be changed to Swans Banter?

Since Hartlepool wasn't playing a side that featured another Liverpool player on-loan, they won, 3-0. Godwin Antwi started and played the full ninety. The Monkey Hangers head to Swindon next Saturday. Finally, Ryan Flynn failed to make the bench for Hereford. Shocker.

Kids watch: Anderson returns, Leto back for mini-derby, Threlfall returns to Anfield, & more

Paul Anderson is expected to be back on the pitch for Swansea today when the Swans take on Northampton in a League One fixture. The 19-year-old winger suffered a slight knock on the knee against Hartlepool last Tuesday and missed his club's FA Cup draw at Horsham last Friday. The Swans still sit atop the League One table though by game-in-hand, Nottingham Forest could overtake them with just a draw and Carlisle United both could surpass them with a win. The Cobblers currently sit in 17th place, 12 points off the pace.

Every other fit, on-loan kid currently playing in the Football League could see action today as well. Godwin Antwi and Hartlepool host Tranmere, Lee Peltier and Yeovil welcome Bournemouth, Adam Hamill and George Burnley's side take on Sheffield Wednesday at St. Mary's, Besian Idrizaj probably won't get on the pitch for Crystal Palace as the Eagles travel to Loftus Road to take on QPR, Craig Lindfield and Notts County will look to put their FA Cup woes behind them when Peterborough United come to town, and finally, Ryan Flynn may or may not get his debut with Hereford, as the Bulls play Wycombe at Adams Park. Speaking of Hereford, Robbie Threlfall has returned to Anfield to undergo treatment for his ankle injury and is expected to be out until the new year.

Finally, the Reserves take on Everton at Halliwell Jones tonight. Sebastian Leto, who I guess was out with a knock, will return. The starting line-up is expected to be:
Dean Bouzanis
Emiliano Insua
Mikel San Jose
Ronald Huth
Martin Kelly
Sebastian Leto
Damien Plessis
Jay Spearing
Nabil El Zhar
Jordy Brouwer
Krisztian Nemeth

Subs:
Peter Gulacsi
Stephen Darby
Daniel Pachecho
Ray Putterill
Francisco Duran

Interesting to see Martin Kelly starting over Stephen Darby. I haven't seen Kelly play much, but Darby is a more than adequate Reserve right back. Hungarian wonderkid Krisztian Nemeth gets another start, that's good, but any speculation that he'll break into the first team any time soon is simply laughable. Physically, he's got to get stronger and not lose pace in the process, and also when a player is that young (he's 18), if they're either good enough for the first team right away (like a Michael Owen), then they rarely play for the reserves except for a running out. Cheers.

Kids watch: Not a good weekend to be on-loan from LFC

Robbie Threlfall got injured, Ryan Flynn absent, Godwin Antwi played, but his side lost, Craig Lindfield forgotten as Notts County suffered an FA Cup embarassment, and Adam Hammill barely got on the pitch as his side won.

In a face-off of two clubs with Liverpool kids on-loan, Hereford United beat Hartlepool United, 2-0, in second round FA Cup proper. Unfortunately though, none of our youngsters walked away from the pitch smiling. For the Bulls, Robbie Threlfall started, but had to be taken off due to injury just 26 minutes into the match, and Ryan Flynn, who had just joined the club in the past week was overlooked for the squad. On the other side of the pitch, Godwin Antwi played the full ninety, but obviously, his side lost. No news on the extent of Threlfall's injury as of yet, but I'll be sure to keep blog readers informed.

Craig Lindfield may have lucked out by not being used at all in League Two side Notts County's 0-1 humbling loss to Conference South club Havant & Waterlooville. I've been unable to find any explanation as to why the 19-year-old Wirral product was omitted from the squad entirely, he was on the bench in their last match and there's been no evidence of injury. The loss is a financial disaster for the club as they miss out on the next round of FA Cup action, which could have meant a Premiership opponent and extra cash to spend in the January transfer window.

Although it appeared Adam Hammill was finally breaking into regular first team ball at Southampton after starting his club's last match, such thoughts now seem a bit premature. When the Saints took on Leicester at Walkers Stadium on Saturday, Hammill found himself on the bench and only got on for a run-out in the 85th minute. What probably makes things worse is that Southampton won and as long as they continue to do so, barring injury of course, Hammill can't expect to be more than just a sub.

Finally, Swansea take on Northampton at the Liberty tomorrow in League One action. As of now, it looks like there's a good chance Paul Anderson will play, how much though is still uncertain. I'll be back tomorrow with another kids watch update. Cheers.

Kids watch: Anderson unfit, Antwi vs Threlfall & Flynn, U18s take on Man U, & more

Paul Anderson didn't travel with the Swans this evening as the club headed to Atspeed Stadium to take on Horsham in second round FA Cup action. His injury is now being described as 'dead leg', which for some reason conjures images of Peter Jackson's Braindead. I'll let you work that one out. Anyhow, Swansea's next match is a League One tie Tuesday at home against Northampton, hopefully Anderson will make his return then and there'll be no zombie babies in the crowd. Had to, sorry.

In another FA Cup match, Godwin Antwi's Hartlepool travel to Edgar Street on Saturday to take on Hereford where Robbie Threlfall and Ryan Flynn are currently breaking in their boots. Both Antwi and Threlfall are expected to start for their respective clubs, while there's a good possibility Ryan Flynn could make his debut for the Bulls.

In the Daily Echo today, there's an article about our own Adam Hammill amd his recent trials and tribulations at Southampton. While the author of the piece seems to think that Hammill played a great match at Ipswich last Tuesday, the comments appear to tell a different story. I guess slagging off a 19-year-old who has hardly had a chance to play is the status quo when it comes to the class of the average Southampton supporter. The Saints travel to Leicester on Saturday where Hammill is expected to start.

Other on-loan kids who could see action includes Craig Lindfield, who's Notts County have a second round FA Cup tie at home against Conference South side, Havant & Waterlooville. In all likely-hood, Lindfield will get the starting nod, but as for Besian Idrizaj at Crystal Palace, who knows? The Eagles are home against West Bromwich, but whether or not our on-loan Austrian will even make Neil Warnock's bench is yet to be seen. In Spain, Xerez is at Deportivo Alaves on Sunday, but these days, Besian appears to have a better chance of playing than Miki Roque.

Finally, the Academy kids take on Man U in a rematch of last year's FA Youth Cup final, though only our Swedish behemoth, Astrit Ajdarevic, Steven Irwin, and Sean Highdale remain from the winning side. The Saturday morning match is apparently being held at Old Trafford. The kids are hoping to make manager Hughie McAuley forget their last outing, a 0-3 loss to Man City. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Hicks/Gillett show their true colors & more

What the hell is going on? I'm not really angry about the issue and I can't honestly say I'm surprised, but the recent action of our owners is just witless. Why would they come out with this statement? It makes no sense. Rafa hasn't voiced any complaints to the press concerning transfers, the closest he did was talk about wanting to sign Mascherano permanently and that wasn't even recently.

If that wasn't enough, Tom Hicks made more statements to the Liverpool Echo, which in my opinion is starting to make this sound like an anti-Rafa PR campaign. Here's what he had to say: "After the Champions League final in Athens, Rafa made certain demands of us and we responded to those demands in the summer... We brought in some good players and spent more money than has ever been spent before at this club. We now have some crucial games coming up in The Premier League and the Champions League and we want to see if we can win these games with the players we have. This was the message we gave to Rafa recently and I think during the international break he must have grown a bit frustrated about this. We told him to concentrate on the games coming up and nothing else and I guess he didn’t like that. George and I will be over in mid-December and that is the time to talk about other issues. It is really time for Rafa to quit talking about new players and to coach the players we have."

Let's take a closer look at these words, since Hicks appears to make some distorted allusions. First off, Liverpool "spent more money than has ever been spent before at this club." We only spent a net of £21-25m after you consider the amounts received from transfers. That's nothing compared to what Man U spent and nowhere near the boatloads Abramovich had to payout to make Chelsea competitive. Then he says, "This was the message we gave to Rafa recently and I think during the international break he must have grown a bit frustrated about this." Really? If he was frustrated, why are we hearing it from you? Rafa made no statements in this regard. To say such things is irresponsible and unprofessional. The owners clearly know nothing about football and furthermore, I actually think they believe we supporters aren't smart enough to assess our own club. If they aren't in it for the money, as they claimed when first purchasing the club, then they are the ones that need to shut up and start handing over the transfer money.

It's not like we'll need much anyhow. If we sell Carson and Crouch, that's at least £20m to spend right there. That covers Mascherano's fee and puts a little toward a centre back, hopefully Ezequiel Garay. We could also use another forward, but it's not a dire need with Babel capable of playing up front. If Hicks and Gillett think they can get away with just spending £25m and then blame Rafa for not bringing success to our club, they're sorely mistaken. Give him the players he needs or sell the f**king club! It's not as if he's spending insane amounts. Give him Man U money and we'll win the league, I guarantee it, but until then, they are the ones that need to shut up. Okay, so I did get worked up a little over that after all, but I'm not going to take any bullshit from our owners.

It's looking more and more likely that Hicks and Gillett had no idea what they were getting into when they bought the club. This isn't the Texas Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, Dallas Stars, or NASCAR. Even though Rafa has done phenomenal with the minimal funds provided and is slowly building our youth and development programs, the financial practices of their American sports franchises just won't cut it in the Premiership. There's no chance of parity curbed by a salary cap or luxury tax and it's going to be at least five years until we'll see the fruits of Rafa's youth movement ripen, but there's no guarantee of that either. If we don't see an investment of at least £60m in the next two transfer windows, I wouldn't blame Rafa for walking, and if that happens, there'll be hell to pay.

Speaking of which, in the now famous press conference from earlier today where Rafa said, "I am focusing on coaching and training my team." Thirteen times (!!!) in all, as response to questions other than about the Newcastle match, he also said he would consider the England job if he received an offer. It gave me a bit of much needed comic relief, but in reality, he'll never be offered the position and if so, would never accept. Rafa running England would be a disaster and both parties probably know it. It's not as if he wouldn't be successful, because I'm pretty certain he would, but most of the matches they would win would be utterly tedious 1-0 and ultimately that would be bad for England and the sport itself. I'm sure Rafa was just sending a message to the owners that he could go elsewhere, but they should already know that. Valencia and most La Liga clubs for that matter would love to have Benitez as their boss.

In transfer news, Ryan Flynn has joined Hereford United on one-month loan. He joins fellow LFC teammate Robbie Threlfall at the Edgar Street. Flynn was part of both the 2006 and 2007 FA Youth Cup winning sides. He'll be with the Bulls until the 22nd of December. Cheers.