Reality Bites for Spearing

If Jay Spearing needed a lesson in the fickle nature of football fans, he certainly got it this week. Given the Lucas Leiva's continuing unpopularity, Spearing somehow became not only a viable alterative for the Brazilian but also a better player. A sort of 'he can't be any worse than him' attitude took over.

But then reality butted its head in last Saturday. Handed his full league debut against Sunderland, Spearing found out what it means to be in Lucas' shoes: just as the Brazilian has so many times during his career, he was suddenly the appointed scapegoat on whom the defeat was pinned.

At least there was the beach ball accident which diverted the attention away because otherwise the criticism probably would have been much harsher.

Even so, the reality is that Spearing had a bad game. Apart from two moments when he broke forward and found a bit of space in midfield, he showed practically nothing. In theory, he was playing in the Mascherano role but didn't manage to put in a tackle. Unfortunately, his passing wasn't any better with giving the ball back to the defenders being his prefered option. Lee Catermole quickly latched on to his discomfort and started pressing him every time the ball reached Spearing, a tactic that paid off with a series of wayward passes that put added pressure on the defence.

So does this make Spearing a bad player? Given the rushed judgements that are so prevalent these days, many have already made their minds up that he is. The truth, however, is that probably he isn't ready to play at this level yet.

It would probably have helped if he'd been given a handful of minutes in the games that Liverpool won at ease earlier in the season. That would, at least, have given him some experience.

Or perhaps he simply needs to spend some time out on loan. After all, there is a huge difference in the way in which a player mentally approaches a game which doesn't really mean anything - such as the reserves - to one that counts as much as a Premier League game.

Whatever his talents - and this is a player who Steve Heighway publicly said was ready for the first team three years ago so he must have a bit of talent - Spearing lacks that game experience. Unfortunately, the Champions League requirements for home born players make him too valuable to let go on loan. Meaning that, if he is to get the experience, it is likely to be done the hard way. Just as against Sunderland.

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