The bits on the loan system are very thought provoking, and I must admit I often have contradictory views on this !. At times its like we use it just so we can get as many youngsters playing u21/ League 1/2 etc games as possible. e.g. Jonjoe goes out on loan and plays , Callum Connolly plays at RB against Man U u 21s other night , so Matty Foulds gets game at LB; Walsh /Ledson go out on loan so Davies/Williams play more games together and are striking up a good partnership as Defensive Midfielders. So that to me makes a lot of sense. Maybe its just getting as many competitive games in at a young age that is important for the loanees.
Reading Roberto's words in the link also puts another perspective on some of the loans , which as Ive said before have sometimes perplexed me. He would like his young players to be fighting for something , promotion or relegation , which he says they don get in the u 21s . So I can see, if that's a view, the sense of sending Liam Walsh to Yeovil, (relegation dog fight) , Kenny to Oxford , involved in cup finals , promotion push. Sometimes though it back fires - George Green to Tranmere , Lundstram as he says about his loan at Yeovil. In these scenarios it makes more sense to send a Liam Walsh to Yeovil then say Kieran Dowell , though both are quality midfielders but subtle differences in their playing styles.
Roberto's words are a bit ambiguous to me . I've kept out of the the fume about him of late, he is what he is, but I have been disappointed that with two cup games against League 2 opposition the sum total of youngsters getting a game has been 1/2 game for Pennington, 20 mins for Galloway. I feel he's missed an opportunity to have had at least 1 or 2 others on the bench to get exposure e.g. Gibson coming on against Carlisle when the game was won made my eyes roll, I would have loved to have seen Joe Williams get 10 mins at the end - he's not ready for a PL squad place but what an encouragement/reward to him and others to make a squad/game against an average League 2 side. We know from the loans that our u21s are very capable when playing against League 2 sides. In my mind we need to mix the loan system with exposure to our own 1st team squad for those not out on loan when appropriate. And reading Klopp's reasoning for bringing their players back from loans makes some sense in terms of we should be the best people to develop youngsters , but is I think outweighed by loss of game time that youngsters get on loan - bring them all back and you may win the u21 league but you just clog it up with players particularly for those who are 18 and too old to play for u18s. Bit of a ramble there , but it dumped a lot of thoughts out of my head ;-)