I wonder why he has not been given another chance. Liverpool played a 16 year old in in the EFL Cup last night. Unless you try them, you just do not know.
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Because that’s Liverpool, who don’t give a shit about the EFL Cup and were chucking players in because they don’t want their first teamers to get injured/tired. A we don’t really play such games, and B we have to take a little more care for our youngsters. They might actually play for us one day.
Calling for a 16 year old to play more is absolutely insane, unless he does something ridiculous in the youth team. He’d be something special if he was ready for League 2 football at that age. Bit different to a half paced EFL Cup match.
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Never known a player have as many articles as osadebe telling us he is good
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Well, Liverpool did win 3-0 and, although Norwich did not play their first team, it was still a high standard.
Maher could have been tried in the EFL Trophy. I agree he has to be outstanding in the Youth Team.
Very rare a player plays first team at that age. Had to be something extremely special. Rico played vs Leeds at 16 but didn’t start first team until 17 and that was super young and he was a special special player. Gotta be ready for the physical side so they don’t get injured
What has the result got to do with it? The point is our 16 year old wouldn’t be playing next to Naby Kaita, Divock Origi, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Konate and Joe Gomez in a match that doesn’t matter and both teams are treating at half pace. He’d be playing against rough footballers in a clobbers league, with shit players on his side. It’s way to early to throw him into that, U23 Premier League academy graduates, with higher skill levels than some of our starters, struggle to adapt to that for a fair while. He needs years of youth team, and then when he physically ready maybe a loan, before he’s ready and reliable to be any part of a first team that needs to win every game it plays.
Both the captain and manager have said we want to win in the EFL Trophy this season and rotation will be at a minimum.
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Liverpool can risk it, say he’s having a bad 30 minutes chances are they can pull a 50 million player off the bench to salvage the game.
The gulf is huge.
It’s all relative. In the Papa J match, we played against a 16 year-old.
Agree, but these are elite level players and I see nothing elite about our set up 
In a youth team 🤦
Yes it’s relative. Relative that Brighton and Liverpool are premier league teams, playing youth academy graduates in games their either obliged too or don’t give a f*** about, compared to Walsall who need to win any game they play and most of them are extremely physical.
I have no idea what Maher is like or whether he is good enough, but Acker Birch and Lee Sinnott both played when 16, and Ian Paul and David Preece played at 17. Three of them were physically slight but Sinnott was a bit of a beast, by the standards of the time.
It was a much dirtier, more physical game back then. Acker had to be helped out in an early match by Bernie “having a word” with the oppo full-back, who stayed away from the little chap for the rest of the game. 
I think we were shite when three of them first played, but OK when Paul made his debut - and scored an own goal.
Caswell was 17 too when he first played, I think.
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Dirtier yes, physical though? Sports science and technology in building muscle maintaining athleticism has come on a fair bit since those players were making their debuts.
Plus the entire point of having bigger squad sizes than was had in those days is to avoid having to throw players in at that age taking the risk that they are ready, and allowing them to develop at a more reasonable rate. It’s not to say that it won’t work, it’s to give them the best chance.
You make some good points in that post, but Sinnott a beast? I remember him as quite slight for a centre half, relying on skill and anticipation , rather than physical presence. Or were you being ironic?
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No, I thought he was a big lad for a 16 year old, although “beast” is overdoing it a bit, you are correct. Slight compared to older players who had filled out, but for a 16 year old, back then… Maybe I’m mis-remembering, which happens. Teenagers were all skinny then, there was nothing to us, he just seemed to me bigger than average. Damned fine player though, whatever his size. When he became a regular, a few months after his debut, he was superb.
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You’re right about the sports science, diet etc, players (of all ages, not just the kids) are much fitter now. I meant physical in terms of a hairy full-back or centre-half going straight through a player, or kicking lumps out of them. Refs gave little protection back then, compared to now.
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I can remember game after game where the first " tackle" on Buckley would be a straight red these days. Then ,rarely a booking.
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The first time the keeper would lump the ball forwards, the centre-back would go through the centre-forward. There was a convention with referees that bookings wouldn’t be handed out too early, so get your lumps in as quick as you can, boys. 
It was hard to get a red card then. I think Doug Fraser was the first Saddler I saw get a red card, and that was for a proper punch-up, which, iirc, carried on as both players left the pitch. We made him our Manager a couple of weeks later. Times have changed.
It was always a big story on Sports Report if a player had been sent off back in the Good Old Days. 
That sounds right. I think two-booking sending offs were rarer even than what would now be straight reds. I think a Vale player once got sent off for time-wasting , after being booked earlier. Vale and Tranmere were awful matches to watch in the early 70s. They could have been Dutton’s inspiration, but were better at it. They came with no other intention than 0-0, and kicked and cheated their way to it, generally successfully. They got away with it ,again because refs were so lenient those days.
First player I ever saw get sent off “live” was Eddie Flood of Tranmere, a left back, in 1972. I can’t remember what it was for but it was two bookings, and I was ridiculously excited when it became obvious the ref was booking him a second time. He had a long career with them after that, played a decade or so. I think Big Ron Yeats and Even Bigger Tommy Lawrence played in that game for Tranny.
That was probably the same match. I reckon I mixed them up with Vale because they used the same tactics.
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