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Should the Premier League’s best talent go out on loan with lesser clubs or stay training with the first team and keep match fit with the reserves?

So what should club do with your young prodigies? Should they go out on loan, or not? Certainly they’ll be many thinking yes send them out to a top championship side or a lower Premier League outfit to learn a bit more about the English game.He’ll be able to get some first team practice and bulk up to come to terms with the sheer physicality of our style of play.

Others might be thinking please don’t send our Vladimir Weiss or Machida out on loan. What if we need him? After all, he has just starred in an international standard World Cup qualifying campaign, so surely he can cope with club football.

One argument would be that certain types of players suit certain types of loan deals. Meat and veg British style defenders like Jon Terry and Jamie Carragher for example would certainly benefit from the physical competition of the Championship or even the first division.

Then there are young players who are beasts at the age of sixteen like Micah Richards, Wayne Rooney, Tom Huddlestone, Carlton Cole and Michael Johnson need no introductions to the rigours of English football and can cope with the physical demands from day one.

Players blessed with very high technical skills fall into the same bracket as these guys but for different reasons. Ryan Giggs, Ronaldo and Joe Cole are players who possess speed, quickness of mind and lightning reflexes which enable them to effortlessly bridge the gap between Youth team and first team.

Sending out a Jack Wiltshire on loan to Bradford City would enable him to experience the ferocity of the lower leagues, but it could also result in a nasty injury if he becomes a marked man for being that ‘Winker-like Kid’ from the Premiership.

Sending him out to a Bolton or Stoke who are decent Premier League teams but play far from expansive football, may be detrimental to the lads development.

Psychology is definitely a major factor in a deciding whether a player is ready or not. If you believe in yourself then you have won the first battle and Vlad like Daniel Sturridge and Micah Richards before him has that belief to be a Premier League footballer.

Contrast this with the young international Welsh battering ram that is Ched Evans who often spoke of the difficulties he had in adapting to the step up to top level football. He was phased by the prospect of playing with Europe’s elite and is now plying his trade in the Championship.

A Vladimir Weiss doesn’t need to be loaned out because he is good enough to play with the City first team, learning from players great technical players like Robinho and Carlos Tevez.

Chelsea’s Gaël Kakuta certainly thinks playing against lower Premier League opposition like Wolverhampton Wanderers is much easier than playing in the reserve team games.

In an interview given after his Premier League debut Kakuta suggested he had found life easier in the Premier League with the club’s first team. He stated

“Premier League football is easier than in the reserves, because the game is much quicker, you have more choice when you play and you can play one-touch or two-touch. So it is much better.”

I waited a long time for Saturday and I am really happy. All of the players were behind me, helping me and talking to me, so that was good.”

And the eighteen year old Chelsea hotshot will now go straight into tonight’s reserve team for the game against Birmingham City.

His comments are interesting as he shows how playing at a high level with top quality players can be nothing but beneficial. Just look at Arsenal’s Young Guns who will be playing in the quarter finals of the cup.

Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey are all examples of diminutive players taking their chance when given an opportunity. So maybe its time to blood a few of our young guns against Wenger’s lot.

There’s another good reason to keep a young star in the first team squad and that is to put pressure on a first teamer.

A young hungry academy star waiting in the wings is just the same as a new signing in your position. Its competition for places and keeps you on your toes.

Rafael Benitez faces the biggest task of Liverpool managerial. Bigger than the motivational speech he had to deliver at half-time in Istanbul. Bigger than overhauling a 3-1 second-half deficit away to Luton Town on a wretched Kenilworth Road pitch on a cold January evening on FA Cup weekend. Bigger than convincing the Anfield faithful that Peter Crouch was fit to wear the famous red shirt. All of which he successfully achieved.

His latest task is to halt a run of four straight defeats for the supposed title challengers, starting with no less than champions, and bitter rivals Manchester United on Sunday. Defeat to Alex Ferguson’s men would leave Liverpool ten points adrift of the title favourites and all but finished with their aspirations of winning it – and it’s not even Halloween yet.

Yet victory over United would only represent the first hurdle of many more to come if Benitez is rescue Liverpool’s season, plus his reputation (and quite possibly his job?). The Reds’ next three fixtures following the Anfield date with United are each just as crucial as halting their enemies from down the M62.

On Wednesday night it’s a daunting trip to the Emirates to face a talented young Arsenal side in the Carling Cup. Next up, it’s Fulham away on Halloween, where Roy Hodgson’s men won’t be needing masks to cause Liverpool some discomfort.

After the tricky Craven Cottage encounter, it’s the return fixture to Anfield conquerors Lyon, who sent the Reds into major crisis with a smash and grab 2-1 win there on Tuesday night. Take one second to recap on those four upcoming fixtures, and I’m sure you’ll agree each and every one are very, very losable for Benitez’ currently fragile side.

You have to admire the Spaniard’s perception on the controversial 1-0 defeat to Sunderland last weekend though. It would have been all too easy for Benitez to moan about the manner of the Black Cats’ winner, which clearly should have been disallowed for finding the back of the net via an ‘outside agent’ in the form of a big red beach ball. Those damn agents are everywhere these days aren’t they?!

Instead, Benitez chose to ignore the controversial incident and concede that his side were largely second best, only conjuring up their first shots on target in one passage of play in injury time. Simply not good enough from a team, many will now be too embarrassed to admit, greatly tipped to finally land the elusive Premier League crown.

If Darren Bent’s early winner at the Stadium of Light had been disallowed, Steve Bruce’s men surely would have eventually found a legitimate way of breaking down the Liverpool defence which, bar Pepe Reina, have been completely out of sorts all season.

When Fabio Aurelio saw his first-half header saved by Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris on Tuesday night, you sensed what was coming. Inevitably, not even Reina’s heroics could prevent an equaliser from substitute Gonalons amid a near-static Reds defence.

And when Cesar Delgado steered in the injury-time winner, Benitez cut a disillusioned figure on the touchline. God only knows what must have been going through his mind but I’m sure he was anticipating the headlines of “no Torres or Gerrard equals no team”, just as much as the rest of us.

Anyone who watches Liverpool often enough will know that is not the case. Indeed they beat Man United at Anfield last season without the pair of them, who are once again doubts ahead of this season’s fixture.

The reality is, Liverpool were not playing well with Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard in the team before the deadly duo got injured on international duty. Yes, they have both been on the score-sheet a few times this season, but the only displays of note to date this season are the 6-0 and 4-0 home drubbings of minnows Hull and Stoke respectively.

Returning to the future of Benitez in charge of the club. The Liverpool board have been notoriously lenient with under-performing managers, as Roy Evans and Gerard Houllier will both testify to. But under American ownership, the club has yet to face such a crisis, and who is to say they will not push the panic button if Benitez does not produce the goods in the upcoming four difficult fixtures.

If Benitez can get through United, Arsenal, Fulham and Lyon relatively unscathed, he will have jumped the first four hurdles of his biggest test as Liverpool boss.

If he can somehow overturn his team’s abysmal start to both the domestic and European campaigns to land either of the much coveted trophies, in particular the Premier League, then it will represent the biggest achievement he could only dream of before this all-important date with nemesis Ferguson.

It would be bigger than coming from 3-0 down to Milan to win the European Cup in Istanbul. Bigger than winning 5-3 in 90 minutes when up against it against a dogged Luton Town and going on to win the 2006 tournament in an epic FA Cup final with West Ham. It would be bigger than almost doubling Peter Crouch’s market value to £13million, and guiding him towards a successful international career with England. Something the lanky forward could never have predicted when he was relegated with Southampton. Landing one, or both, of the major honours from the position they currently find themselves in would top all these previous feats bundled together. Rafael Benitez would become untouchable, surely all the motivation he needs to turn this season around.

Former Arsenal goalkeeper, Jens Lehman, has been caught up in a row with his new German side, Stuttgart, after he made an unplanned trip to the Oktoberfest in Berlin. Lehman has now been dropped from the team for all immediate competition and will not play in a number of important matches just coming up.

It is an ironic twist because during his time at Arsenal Lehman was often noted for his discipline and the efficiency with which he carried out every aspect of his professional style and game.

Stuttgart’s Coach said: “[The director of sport] Horst Heldt and I will talk with Jens about this on Thursday and then we will see where to go.”

The obvious conclusion to jump to is that when a player goes to the most famous beer festival in the world then he would have been spenind his hard earned wages on getting drunk and having a good time. However, Lehman insists that this is not the case and has already apologised to the club. He has also said that he will take any punishment given to him but insists he did nothing wrong.

He said: “The visit to the Wiesn [Oktoberfest] was part of a charity event and it had been planned for a long time. However, it was not agreed with the club. Of course I accept the measures taken by the sporting management.”

So the next move is for the club’s disciplinary proceedures to come into act and it will mean that the German international may be out of competition for a couple of weeks. You would argue that the club could make light of the situation and see it for what it as, a generous and kind act intended for charity.

However, Stuttgart insist that they have rules and regulations in place for a reason but it seems that the old German stereotype of non-humour anf over efficiency may have surfaced in this case.

Hopefully both parties will be able to sit down at a table and have a talk, apologise and move on. Lehman is too important a player to the club’s current campaign for them to do away with him for an extended period of time. It will undoubtedly show as they do not have an experienced replacement keeper with a solid reputation.

The decision on the matter is expected to be announced in the German press later this week. Hopefully it will be lenient but the early signs are not positive.

Manchester City boss, Mark Hughes, has launched a scathing attack following his side’s defeat at the hands of rivals, Manchester United. Hughes was not happy at the amount of time that was added on in the Manchester derby as Michael Owen scored the winning goal in the 96^th minute.

Hughes launched the attack after the game in a match that City did not really deserve to get any thing out of. Two of their three goals only came because of bad errors in the United defence and Craig Bellamy, who scored two of the, should not have been on the pitch after a stamp on Anderson in the first half.

Hughes said: “The guy shouldn’t have been on the pitch. That’s not acceptable. I remember Brian Clough (the former Nottingham Forest manager) clipping someone round the earhole because he was being daft and maybe that’s what Craig’s done.”

“We feel robbed. The fourth official tried to give me an explanation because I was questioning the amount of time that was being added on even before the game finished, but his explanation didn’t sit comfortably with me.”

“He tried to say he had added a minute plus because of our celebration [for the third goal]. We actually scored right on 90 minutes and the board was already up for four minutes. We timed the amount of time from when we scored to when they kicked off and it was 45 seconds, so they got that wrong. They actually scored after 95 minutes and 28 seconds, so he has obviously played too much time and he went on to play 97 minutes.”

“When I played here I thought we had a bad time by referees, but since I left I have changed my view. I’m not going to question the referee’s integrity. I just want an explanation. I just can’t see where he got that time.”

Despite Hughes’c comments very few fans around the country will sympathise with him because of the consistently bad way that his club and himself continue to behave. What Hughes forgot when he was making his speech is that the fourth official also has to add time on because of substitutions and three were made during injury time, adding another 90 seconds to the game. This took the match time to 95 and a half minutes, within which Owen scored.

It is unknown whether the FA will ask Hughes to explain his attack but had the shoe been on the other foot then he probably would have been a lot quieter.

Chelsea striker, Didier Drogba, has said that the club will not be affected by the transfer ban this season and will canter to glory in both the Premier League and Champions League. Chelsea have looked the most complete team in England so far this season and Drogba has played a large part in this early season form.

He is the sort of player that everyone loves to criticise but so far in the games Chelsea have played, he has looked very hard working and seems determined to help his side get a great deal of success this year.

He said: “I don’t mind which, but we have to win one. Why can’t we win both [the Premier League and Champions League]? People are always talking about the day I said I wanted to go from here, but I’ve said I’m happy here many times and I am.”

“I have my plan and I’ll stick to it, which is the most important thing – I know what I want to achieve with Chelsea. I’m here to stay and I want more success. Dropping in and connecting midfield and attack like I do when I play with a strike partner is how I played with Marseille before I came to England.”

“And the way I played with Damien Duff and Arjen Robben in my first two seasons here – meeting crosses and attacking balls – is how I had played with Guingamp before I moved to Marseille. It’s true that I love to receive the ball into feet to be given the chance to try and create something, and to pass to my team-mates. I think it makes me more unpredictable than in the other way because I can use my balance and my strength to help.”

It would take a very brave betting man to actually place money against Chelsea this season. So far Manchester United have been way off the pace and the only team that has kept up with Chelsea, Manchester City, will fall away at some point as sides will eevntually find a way to beat them.

However, Chelsea are a different story, Carlo Ancelotti seems to have a very good tactical brain and the ability to grind out wins from bad performances. Chelsea have also picked up the habit of scoring in the last minute of a game which also helps out from time to time.

Chelsea manager, Carlo Ancelotti, has told his players in no uncertain terms that nothing less than winning the Champions League this season will be acceptable. This is an interesting move, which is rarely seen from managers in England as the Italian has now put the pressure right on top of his side who will need to perform throughout the entire competition.

The Champions League is a trophy that has eluded Chelsea in recent years, even though they have come so close to lifting it on a variety of occasions. So much will depend on their arrival to the later stages of the competition and it could be a naïve by the Chelsea boss to make such statements at this early stage.

He said: “The first objective is to arrive at the final, not to win it. That’s what we want to do. It’s not easy, but we have the possibility to do this. I don’t think there is a psychological problem. Chelsea went very close to winning it, they didn’t win, but there is a real possibility we can do very well this season. You have to believe to be the best in this competition.”

Defender, Ricardo Carvalho, added: “To win the Champions League with Chelsea would be great, but you need luck. We have reached the final once before and we want to do it again. It still hurts a lot. I was once in the final and we missed a great opportunity, we were a bit unlucky. But more important is to get there more times and have more chances to win it.”

Chelsea have been dealt a good draw in the group stages and will be looking to become the first side to qualify for the knock out rounds. How they will do this is quite simple, they just have to win every match and play as well as they can do all of the time. This may seem like the most logical way to approach the Champions League but so often in the past teams have missed out because they have not taken the initial group stages seriously.

Skipper, John Terry, said: “We’ve come so close and after so many years of doing so well in this competition and not winning it, this is the chance to finally do it. We’ve got players of the right age and experience and also the right quality to push on this year and make it ours. That’s what we’re looking to do.”