06 Jan 2026 17:47:32
ED001, what you reckon about the lil rumours coming out with Slot n Hughes not agreeing on the youth esp Rio n Trey, Apparently Slot wanted them to go on loan but Hughes n co wanted them integrated, also they were supposed to have put an Academy showcase for Slot to look at all the players n he never turned up ( not sure if its been discussed on here, so thought id ask )
{Ed001's Note - there are issues over Slot's use of youth, that was a problem last season but Hughes obviously didn't feel he was in a position to complain then. This season it has become more and more of an issue. There are similar issues with us as there were at both Chelsea and Man Utd - sporting director and head coach at loggerheads over transfers and use of players.
I don't know if that is true about the academy showcase, I had heard that but I was never able to get it confirmed, so no idea if it is just spurious or true.}
06 Jan 2026 18:15:27
Thought it was just bs Ed tbh.
I value your sources and info though. Seems like this is a big deal.
Awful man management, stubborn, no chance for youth players.
This is not going to end well….
06 Jan 2026 18:24:18
I wonder how that Brazilian individual development coach is getting on in his role?
Another thing Klopp had in his favour was the luxury of being 2, 3, 4-0 up in games which allowed him to bring kids on. A luxury we have almost never seen since Slot arrived. Every game is coin toss.
06 Jan 2026 18:24:44
If I was Arne and was told you're being replaced but the replacement isn't available yet then I wouldn't bother turning up for these academy showcase events. Guess he must be on the way out.
06 Jan 2026 18:38:30
I do get the sense that slot might not be the best at developing players the same way klopp was able to be, and works best with ready made players of his choice, which is idea for most managers/ head coaches. Issue is, at the moment he doesn't seem to be able to get the most out of established players either.
06 Jan 2026 18:43:39
Doubt we wer 2,3 or 4-0 up towards the end even with Jurgen the amount of times we went behind in games. Its great using youth, im a big follower of the academy but the kids also have to be good enough. In Rio's case he's played more than any 17 year old in the country.
06 Jan 2026 19:46:53
Voice of reason these days Florian. I agree.
06 Jan 2026 20:01:19
Ed1 - we had a discussion about this topic couple months ago. Essentially Inwas asking about the synergy between Hughes and Slot. I couldn't understand your point that last summer's transfer activity was for Slot to play like how he did in feyenord, yet the players we bought like Frimpong and Kerkez didn't thrive as inverted fullbacks like he used in Feyenord.
Anyways, I wonder if this is the first public appearance of cracks between Hughes and Slot. That would seem more untenable to me tbh.
06 Jan 2026 20:44:22
Hughes must have been involved in the appointment of Slot. Out of all the options, that's who was chosen. Then he won the league in his first season. He was supposed to be good at developing young players in Holland. That's what I understood, but happy to be corrected.
How could it have gone so wrong so quickly?
06 Jan 2026 20:46:53
Sorry, Fly - but in Klopp's last two seasons, we were rarely 2-0 up. We usually conceded a goal early on, and then had to chase the game.
06 Jan 2026 20:57:46
Flypelican. That's bang on.
The way slot like to close out games with a one goal margin suits more experienced players, sitting in and inviting pressure. Klopp pushed for the two, three goal lead every game and generally maintained our press which meant we could afford to give kids 10, 15 minutes regularly.
06 Jan 2026 21:19:46
The comment he's played more than any other 17 year old though really bugs me. that's maybe because he's the most talented 17 year old out there. Again not saying he's the answer to all our problems by any stretch and throwing a young lad into an underperforming team is risky for his development but surely more cameos wouldn't do him any harm.
If he can't get into the team the way we've been playing then there was never any intention of giving him game time when we were potentially in a title challenge.
06 Jan 2026 22:25:00
How many youngsters did Klopp bring through?
Trent - certainly.
Struggling with any others. Curtis Jones maybe?
06 Jan 2026 23:01:42
Ron you're not serious surely? Klopp consistently turned to the academy throughout his tenure. I could name well into double figures just off the top of my head, of players he gave debuts and in many cases follow up opportunities to.
Kelleher, Trent, Quansah, Neco Williams, Rhys Williams, Phillips, Elliott, Bajcetic, Jones, Clark, McConnell, Gordon, Brewster, Danns, Koumas etc
Slot's come in and basically the only ones to get anything like proper chances are Nyoni, Nallo and Rio. Rio and Nyoni are the ones annoying everyone because they've quite clearly shown enough to get more minutes. Nallo, fair enough just looks out of his depth.
Slot's ignored Rio inexplicably this season. He looked one of our best players in pre-season and every time he comes on he looks dangerous for the 10 minutes a month he gets.
06 Jan 2026 23:08:04
Ron - i would say Trent, Curtis, kelleher, Bradley, Elliott, Bajcetic, Danns, Quansah, Morton?, McConnell?, Doak? Rhys Williams. Off the top of my head. Depends what you mean by bringing through? He gave a lot of starts in the cup games to various youngsters. Prem games the first 8 on that list.
07 Jan 2026 00:07:58
bradley phillips
mcdonell
the striker dann or dayn sorry its late can't remmebr his name.
07 Jan 2026 00:33:38
Bradley, Quansah and Kelleher comes to mind too Ron. There was also McConnell, Beck, and Chambers who were in and around the first team. I'm sure I'm missing others but I did read that he would regularly call up youth players to train with the first team even if they didn't play in first team games. Not sure if that's still happening under Slot though.
07 Jan 2026 07:18:52
One of the huge issues with never playing youth is the loss of the big fees when they're sold. We won't get them anymore unless more players have had more game time. We realised some incredible values during Jurgens time for very ordinary players.
07 Jan 2026 07:27:27
Getting real first team talent through for us is needle in a haystack stuff. Great if we can but maybe one or two every five years makes it close to being a regular starter. TAA, Connor, Kelleher, Curtis in last decade. Kelleher only due to Ali injury record.
With more subs it should be easier to get game time though. It's the poor results this season that have made it difficult for Trey and Rio.
07 Jan 2026 08:23:11
I don't really class a couple of cup games as 'bringing a youngster through'.
It's good for the youngster but it's irrelevant if you're looking to judge a manager's ability if they don't become a first team regular.
There's only really Trent who has made it and Curtis who is getting more games now.
The others named are simply not good enough.
So Klopp achieved 1 in 9 years.
Slot has time to match that.
07 Jan 2026 09:11:15
Klopp won a league cup final against Chelsea's billions with a team that featured
Kelleher, Bradley, Elliott, Clark, McConnell, Danns and Quansah.
The boys weren't just thrown in to rubber stamp games against lower opposition. Hence the financials surrounding their sales have assisted the club PSR stance.
I would consider that bringing them through. Klopp showed that the youngsters, although not maybe quite at the level to stay at Liverpool, had very good footballing careers available if given the opportunity.
07 Jan 2026 09:19:39
i think the point here is, whether they made it through or not, a lot of youngsters got an opportunity to show if they could step up when Jurgen was about.
07 Jan 2026 11:33:18
Let's be fair, Klopp never expected that team of kids to win those games and wasn't expecting to make it far in the cups with them, either. It made for a fantastic story and we all enjoyed watching them triumph but it was probably a surprise for Klopp, too, as familiar as he was with the kids that he put on the field, when all he wanted to do was keep his first 11 fresh for the league and Europe.
If Klopp had his back against the wall after a horrific run of results, are you so certain that he would be starting Rio or giving Nyoni 15-20 minutes in games?
07 Jan 2026 12:51:28
Jesus Ron, I used to enjoy reading your posts and always thought you were quite measured which is nice in a sea of madness at times. But claiming Klopp got 1 is absolute ludicrous.
Your defence of Slot (while I don't agree with) is still admirable, but now you're sprouting absolute nonsense to try defend him.
Even some of the ones that didn't become fixtures. Quansah we made 36mil off, Brewster 20+ mil off too, Solanke we made 20mil, Ben Doak we made 25mil off, Neco Williams made around 17mil off. Kelleher 18mil off (and that was a bargain too) amongst others like Morton, Clark Harry Wilson, Hoover etc. who all fetched decent fees! To say he didn't bring youth through is crazy. yes we had an extremely high bar to break into first team but they all had their chances if they were good enough to take it. Also to not class Bradley as someone who's come through is another crazy oversight.
Anywho rant over, I bit! I get the site is about debates but there's some amount of trolling these days.