Brad Smith on for Liverpool. 60th minute.

brad smith on for liverpool at 60mins

On comes Brad Smith.

Brad smith is coming on for Liverpool, 60th minute. Commentator saying he is Australian and saying how Australia has a new star!!

Brad Smith is on for Liverpool with 30 to go. The German commentator noted him as an Australian. We have to get in early and cap him. I don't know his exact story but it appears England has done more of the developing on him.

Played for England u17s I think? Need to get in on him now or risk losing him imo

hard to discern his quality from this games

there looks like there are hints of quality. Will be interesting to see his development
he is only 19

looks very very fast

reminds me of emerton

Edited by grazorblade: 30/12/2013 04:46:53 AM

If I was Frank I'd be on the phone to Ange saying forget about his instructions to select Neill, now he has to lock in Smith with a ticket to Brazil!

I don't England are too worried about capping him. We cannot lose him in youth games (like how Traore can't play for us) and I think in terms of new left backs Luke Shaw is a lot closer to being chosen than Smith. Reports are Ange is going over to asses him which I think is the correct call. Also it should be his call not who wants him first. He may have lived in Australia longer than the UK but with British parents and not even travelling to Australia in the last 5 years he may feel Britain is more his home.

I don't think Lowy stays up to read updates on 19 y/o potential Socceroos. :)

But yes, if a kid's good enough to get a run in the EPL, by all means call him up. We have a very persuasive case to make, including a WC spot in Brazil next year.


Edited by thupercoach: 30/12/2013 08:20:23 AM

Was trying to find more on Giannou's injury, all I found was this from 10 hours ago.



http://gr.news.yahoo.com/%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B9%CF%8E%CE%BD%CE%B9%CE%BF%CF%82-%CE%BC%CF%80%CE%B1%CE%AF%CE%BD%CE%B5%CE%B9-%CE%BF-%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%B2%CE%AF%CE%B4%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%B1%CE%BA%CF%8C%CE%BC%CE%B1-%CE%BF-%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%AC%CE%BD%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%85-102146462.html

Now the rest of the article is about another of their strikers returning from injury. I don't know if his original injury is how Giannou got his chance but hopefully not.

Also do people want me to change the translated John to Giannou so it reads slightly clearer?

See, part of me is going by the school of thought of "if he doesn't bleed green and gold and weetbix then he shouldn't deserve to pull on the jersey", and then I remember Pim's excuses of "well he never called me" like it was a player's job to keep tabs on their coach and not the other way around.

The other half of me sees national teams all over Europe, Asia and beyond aggressively scouring their immigrant populations and global diaspora to give their national team the best shot it can get.

It is a tough choice and I am surprised it is not debated more. We seems to have a fair number of players that at least when the are first coming through seem to be like "I would love to player for Italy (just an example) but sure if that doesn't eventuate sure I will play for Australia". Lots of them turn out shit anyway but I think it is hard when they are a good player but don't care about Australia.

Looking at the Smith situation, I think we have a decent LB in Davidson (full season of Eredivise > a couple of bench appearances in Prem) who wants to play for Australia and may be usurped by a guy who possibly doesn't really care (I don't want to put words in his mouth but it is a possibility). Now when cheering for Australia I would much want to cheer on the guy who wants to play for us but at the same time the other player could get us and extra round in the WC which would be awesome.

All I ask for is thatange looks and keeps tabs on n these players and talks to them. That seems to be happening. Should be a minimum job requirement but he is thw first to do it it seems

Not really. Pim got Williams out of the Welsh setup.

Best of both worlds - move Davidson to CB role and Australia can play both :P

The way to get players is to offer them a world cup squad spot, they won;t be able to resist.
I don;t really get what this has to do with Jason Davidson, you need two left backs in every squad.
If there was a good established left back and it came down to one or another for the reserve spot , you would have to say Jason Davidson hasn;t exactly impressed.Once they ar eboth in the squad you can leave ANge to choose whoever is better in training.

Has he actually said he does not want to play for Australia. If he does start getting regular/semi regular appearances for Liverpool we can't really look past him, it is not often we get a teenager playing in the premier league now days let alone a top 4 club.

You never know he might want to play for Australia over England as well, we do have a better chance of winning a major tournament (although not quite as major) than they do, I can't see the poms winning the world cup or euros any time soon.... Also if he becomes a regular at liverpool he will likely be a star for the national team, be loved by the whole country and be a permanent fixture for years to come while on the other hand if he chooses England there is a good chance he will get a couple of caps and never really make it in the setup. We now have credibility in the football world and have the pulling power to win these battles.

Why doesn't he want to represent Australia he was born here and lived here until 14? He's about as dinky di true blue as they come.

Rukavytsya

Rukavytsya be returning to Ukraine any time soon. He's a committed Australain for the rest of his life.

Lol, but the point is that he was born in the Ukraine and lived the until he was 14.

The point is when he became Australian it was obviously a long term, for life commitment. It wasn't like Simunic who was born and raised here and will probably return here post football. If Smith has committed himself living in England for the rest of his life that's understandable, but who'd wanna live in England? :?

Wonder if Williams is being put in glad wrap for the Jan transfer window ? He has been really good this season can't see why he would be on the bench when fit

No, he has said he still follows football in Australia but you feel England is his first choice at the moment.



Unlike Ruka though, Smith has at least one English parent (Father) which could have made him feel slightly British when growing up.



Didn't williams only qualify through a grandparent or something so he was not that close to wales really. Also I think he said he thought he could represent Wales but when he did they played the national anthem, he didn't know the words and it felt wrong so I don't think he was ever really that close to committing to Wales



+1

He was just pointing out that Ruka is the exact opposite of Smith, that's all :)

Haha I'd love to go live in the UK and get paid buckets to play football. I'd love to go live in the UK and get paid, full stop :lol:

True Blue and Yellow ;)

dont leave home much? :roll:

Maybe Williams isn't playing because they were offered a transfer for him perhaps? Wasn't Stoke and Crystal palace rumoured to be after him for January?

just checked the boro forum and apparently he's been dropped due to his poor form.