Roy Hodgson Warns Daniel Pacheco: Is This How NESV Wants Liverpool to Be?

After the victory against apparently hapless Hammers served a consolation for Liverpool last weekend, Roy Hodgson however has done it again. He went ahead and made a mess of the confidence of yet another Liverpool player.

This time it was the ill-fated Daniel Pacheco.

After Pacheco's latest performances for the reserves, the lad clearly deserved credit and a call up to the bench at least.Hodgson however is a manager with a difference!

In an interview, Hodgson apparently stated that Pacheco was in fact given his chance to prove himself at the Carling Cup tie against Northampton Town and he further went ahead to hint that it could be very tough for the talented Spaniard to break into first team football, as he said the reserve matches weren’t exactly a proper test.(The last statement probably came in to nullify Pacheco’s belter against the Everton reserves the previous night!)

So doesn’t that make Mr. Roy Hodgson an embodiment of double standards?

Only days back, before Liverpool FC played West Ham, Hodgson told the media how highly he thought of his summer buy, Christian Poulsen. Roy said that Poulsen was a great player who wasn’t exactly off to a great start at Liverpool and that he expected the Dane to show his mettle sooner rather than later.

Compare the two situations, and you should get the point.

Although, even if we go by general logic, it should seem okay for Hodgson to give Poulsen a second chance to shine, it seems almost brainless to scrap similar options from a talented youngster and go on to the press and say that his chances of making it big at Liverpool FC are slim!

Now, going by the recent revelations of the new owners of Liverpool, NESV, headed by John W. Henry, the focus of Liverpool should be on youth development rather than on aged stars, so where does that policy stand in respect to Hodgson’s stance?

One other move by Hodgson however suggests that he is not completely against the youth policy: the move to play Jonjo Shelvey, Nathan Eccleston and Jay Spearing.

Although Eccleston hasn’t really been given the run, Spearing and Shelvey have been given more chances , the policy clearly slates out the fact that was echoed by Liverpool youth player Chris Mavinga. Another member of the Europe-winning U-19 squad, Mavinga had earlier pointed out that Hodgson was biased towards his English counterparts, and thus the chances of any foreign player like him coming up from the youth academy really seems slim.

Daniel Pacheco, who is a graduate of the much famed academy of Barcelona, was always looked upon as "the next big thing" in the Liverpool academy. Living up to those expectations, Dani went on to give a memorable performance for his national side in the recently concluded U-19 European Championships, and such was his performance that he was awarded the player of the tournament there.

Following these were pretty impressive shows against whom Hodgson considered formidable opponents like Trabzonspor away from home.

However, all those performances went unnoticed by Hodgson, who amazingly chose to drop him even from the bench and brought in Charlton Athletic midfielder Jonjo Shelvey!

Shelvey may be a talented youngster, but Pacheco clearly after his performances in Europe as a playmaker would have been the pick of choices of many a manager. Hodgson, however, chooses to cry over lack of creative options in the team, overlooking players like Pacheco.

Careful observation also tells us that Pacheco’s much accused failure came playing on the right wing for the club, an experiment never tried out before with the 19-year-old! So whose fault was it anyway?

(Ryan Babel, who also played in that ill-fated tie, was played in a more central position, one which would have suited Pacheco better. Now, Ryan may cry all he wants on Twitter about his lack of opportunities under Rafa Benitez. Does anybody remember how often he features under Hodgson anyway, especially after all those promises of trying him out as a striker extensively in the summer?)