Sturridge seems to think so

by james__Fitzy

40 Comments

  1. Giraffesarehigh on

    You’ll get the chuckle heads stinking up the wings for the rest of the season and you’ll like it.

  2. TriCityTingler on

    He’s not wrong. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough. Especially with Wirtz out we needed someone to try to make things happen and that’s Rio’s specialty. Not afraid to take people on and progress the ball.

  3. Hilarious to see one of the most famously injured talents in our club’s recent memory advocate to go break a kid down.

  4. Simple as that. Except it’s not that simple. We’re clearly being cautious with him while he’s still growing.

  5. If we’re being honest, the winger play of Salah and Gakpo is like more than 50% of the reason we were struggling for most of this season, not really our defense (up until the set piece issue got solved). They just can’t do anything out wide and the amount of counter attacks we’ve conceded from them not getting the ball into good areas or giving it away is insane. Most of our attacking threat as of late has been because of Hugo, Wirtz, and Szobo set-pieces.

    I’d be willing to go as far as saying taht (with hindsight of course), we really shouldv’e either kept Diaz or bought Kvaratskhelia last year

  6. Aware-Highway-6825 on

    he’s objectively our best winger and it’s not even close.. that’s how low Salah and Gakpo have been the entire season

  7. LateRegistrxtion on

    Going mad reading things like this because he’s had plenty of minutes this season

    Much more than you’d expect someone in his age bracket to get

    His development’s fine as is

  8. justaloadofshite on

    He should be getting at least 15 mins a week and starting the odd game
    He doesn’t have to play so much for u21

  9. Exotic_Onion_3417 on

    No chance with Slot. He barely plays the kids or any fringe players. His biggest flaw is not trusting the squad. 

    Let’s be honest Rios a kid not expecting him to start every week but deserves 30 mins or 45 or a start even 

  10. Liverpool need to not listen to anyone on this and keep doing what they are doing. He is a kid. If you play him more he will get injured and the be injury prone the rest of is career.

    Anyone who says other wise is not smart.

  11. Maybe doesn’t deserve to start but if Gakpo is being ineffective by HT, Rio should be getting at least 30 mins if not 45..

  12. ShanklyGates_2022 on

    I am fine with him getting more minutes late on but it’s still hard to suggest he should start over Gakpo. Rio is tiny and we don’t have a big team to begin with, Gakpo’s height is useful on defensive corners. Rio also doesn’t seem to have the defensive aptitude to stat disciplined for 90mins, which is likely why Slot always brings Robertson on to pair with him for that extra experience keeping the wing locked down.

    That said Salah doesn’t offer anything defensively and Rio did look bright on his side today, so i could see him being more of a Salah sub without needing to mix up our defensive setup to accommodate.

    This is all obviously divorced from needing to manage a young player’s minutes as well. Hopefully he will see more cup minutes and more and more league minutes and going into next season he can be relied on as more of a first team player.

    He is exciting to watch but he also relies a lot on his athleticism atm so i would like to see him develop a bit more before throwing him in. Putting his head down and driving to the endline is all well and good while chasing results in the final fifteen minutes but it’ll do your head in if he loses the ball doing that multiple times over the course of 90mins and leaving a gaping hole behind him to be countered.

    Definitely looks to be one with a bright future though

  13. Mysterious-Sock39 on

    Ohh Daniel you can’t put that out you’ll have the gapko and salah denyiers up in arms…..he’s too young….. Whatever he’s exactly right

  14. IllustriousKitchen97 on

    I am a believer in top youngsters getting as much game time as possible, but I think it’s well documented that Danns and Bajcetic had too much, too soon, and they’ve lost almost 2 years of development.

    I’d like to think they have his best interests at heart, rather than Slot just ‘not trusting young players’.

    We shouldn’t have to rely on a 17 year old as champions. That’s the underlying issue here.

  15. Due-Sherbert3097 on

    Seeing some comments about us being careful as he plays for the u21. He barely plays for the u21 or even being in the squad this season, just because he played a game recently doesn’t mean he still plays in the academy often.

  16. Chronicle_Evantblue on

    I really like Rio, and I’ve even gone on to watch some of the U21 to see him play. He’s a great talent, he’s also 17 years old, not even 18 yet, and is still growing. The premier league, for better or worse, is a very physical league, and young players are still growing. To play with that degree of intensity and physicality consistently for prolonged periods of time at a young age is very bad for a player, their development, and their long term physical outcomes. I understand wanting to see him play more, but every minute he’s had so far is a lot of growth for him, putting him more often might risk him developing a reliance on his young(er) physicality that won’t necessarily be translated as he gets older, and will slowly eat away at his body.

    He is, unfortunately, our only actual winger currently, but I’d rather us invest in his longevity, than rely on him to the point that we destroy him.

  17. Rio deserves not to have to carry his senior team mates in games or the expectations of a fan base on his shoulders.

    Protect him; nurture him. More minutes is fine but gradually…

  18. People talk about him like we expect him to start every game. Obviously that is not the case but he needs more minutes than at present. He is literally our most effective non starting attacker.

  19. I like Rio as he is exciting to watch attacking wise. However, he is only 17 so does need some protection. He only trains two days a week i believe due to the medical team recommendations. Also think had we been doing better I think we would have seen more of both him and Trey

  20. futbolitoireland on

    I do think he’s been managed well tbh. Our shit season is not a reason to burn him out. I think when he naturally starts to get more minutes in the coming months and next season some will say “SEE HE SHUD BEEN PLAYING ALL ALONG” not taking into account that young players who play too much get injuries and often struggle with the mental demands of the game.

    We want this guy for 10 years, not for 10 games. He’s getting there, getting bigger, braver, training week in week out with the first team.

    M. Owen, R. Sterling, even Rooney, there’s so many examples of young players who are overused burning out early

  21. Loud-Platypus-987 on

    I don’t think he’s ready for whole PL games because not sure defensively he’s there but should def be getting 30/35 mins when Gakpo and Mo have been as poor as they have been.

  22. Slot said they make sure he doesn’t train for two days in a week because they are trying to protect him.  His appearances will ramp up and I see him as starter in the next season or two but in order to do that we need to manage him well now.

  23. Isn’t it about time people admit Slot isnt a great man manager with squad in general but especially young players?. Yes I know the burn out thing is real, however how many teams are not playing their younger players bit more often? Part of his job IS to coach and promote youth. Realistically how many has he given chances to? How about promoting competition in the squad ?

  24. At this rate

    I’d rather see Andy Robertson on the left side of Midfield than Gakpo

    Maybe we need to try a FB Robbo/LFW Kerkez pairing

    Can’t do any harm

    Least they will tackle and cross a ball 😄

  25. Reminds me of Raheem Sterling subbing in place of Stewart Downing who could barely get a cross in during games

  26. I understand trying the kid out more but he’s still 17 the kid needs to be taken care of or else he’ll just get injury prone later in his career. Plus we shouldn’t be relying on kids to save our season these pro first teamers are the ones who need to dig in and improve