N'Gog Not Looking Like Such a Gamble
Friday, May 01, 2009
This hasn't been an easy season for David N'Gog. Not that it could have been any other way. It is often said that it takes a player a season to adjust to the Premiership but that's assuming that he's 
playing regularly. For someone who, like N'Gog, only gets to play sporadically it is all the more difficult to adapt.
In reality, there was more to it then simple lack of games. For one thing, there was the skepticism that surrounded his arrival. Many viewed N'Gog as another needless gamble by Benitez, a fairly costly punt on a kid who couldn't even get a regular game at Paris St. Germain. Why go for him rather than promote Kristian Nemeth from the reserves, was the question asked at the time? Memories of recent bad experiences with young Frenchmen hardly helped his cause either.
All of Which meant that N'Gog kicked off the season needing to work harder than most to convince people of his worth.
Given such a situation, an indifferent start wasn't advisable. Sadly for N'Gog that's how his early weeks panned out. A heavy touch and the air of someone who couldn't figure out what he was supposed to do didn't inspire much confidence. It didn't take long for the naysayers to write him off.
Thankfully the criticism didn't really get to him and slowly he began to pick up. A couple of goals for the reserves confirmed that he had talent but what made people really start to take notice was his performance against Sunderland at home. N'Gog scored in that game but, more than that, it was the way that he set about leading the front line that really impressed. Showing strength and vision in his link up play, N'Gog was one of the better players on the night as Liverpool laboured to a win.
A few days later,he was at it again although this time for the French U21 side playing against England. Once again, N'Gog proved to be one of the better players on the pitch, giving the England defenders a torid time and helping create the first of France's two goals. Opinions about him suddenly started getting a lot more positive.
Which goes to show how quickly some people change their minds. No doubt, the first time that he has a bad game then the mood will shift once again and the critics will be out in force. Yet this time they will have a much harder time to convince about his lack of ability. He has shown his potential and hinted at just how good a player he could become.
Signing N'Gog might well have been another gamble by Benitez, but it certainly looks like it could be one that pays off well.
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5 comments:
David Ngog while being a young striker has a lot of talent and is young which in my opinion is a good thing as all teams these days are going to be relying on finding good young talent.
The future is looking bright as we have such players as:
David Ngog
Emiliano Insua
Jay Spearing
Damien Plessis
Nabil El Zhar
Miki Roque
I truly would like to see Liverpool following the lines of Arsenal and Man Utd even if they are our most hated rivral I believe as a leading team we will need to starting blooding youth through one of the cup competitons like the FA Cup or Carling Cup. This way our youth gets a taste of first team action and they can be encourged and get a push to be challenging for a 1st team place.
nice article, its difficult to tell if he will turn out a good player really, but i certainly hope he will, i feel that a loan to a lower level prem team might be good for him next season as we need someone a bit more developed to be torres's understudy next season in my opinion
That's not to forget how badly he played against Portsmouth though, no? I agree, he does look like a decent prospect. A tidy finisher and a good desire to run and try things. He's got a good amount of skill too from what I've seen. It would be great to see some of these 'great' young players coming through though.
In my opinion Benitez seems to leave them a bit too long (Insua took two seasons to get to where he is now), Nemeth, Pachecho, Spearing, Darby, etc) could all be sniffing around the first team now, but will probably have to wait another year for anything regular/meaningful. Just a bit irritating when you see Wenger giving the kids a chance and somewhat reaping the rewards.
great signing from rafa, but the crazy thing is we need a winger and rafa is working so hard to finding one, and i thing he's wasting he's time. the researve team has this kid named pachelo or something and i think he's fantastic. although he doesnt score goals but he create scoring oportunity for the sriker.
I think Ngog was an excellent purchase. He's exactly the kind of player that can serve as a backup to Torres: young, developing, and (hopefully) willing to learn from what Rafa can teach him - unlike, say, Robbie Keane, who, while he was never meant to be a backup or an understudy, could never settle or find a role in the squad. If a more established striker is brought in the same thing could happen.
And if it's true that Rafa has more control over the youth system with his new contract, I think in the next year or two we'll see more of the youngsters getting called up more often.
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