'We couldn't have done better in the derby'
Neil Critchley felt Liverpool U23s carried out his tactical plan to perfection in winning the mini-derby against Everton at Goodison Park.
The young Reds had the upper hand for much of the Premier League 2 clash and ultimately claimed a 1-0 result courtesy of Rafael Camacho’s deflected goal from Adam Lewis’ shot.
After the game, Critchley reflected on the immediate response to the preceding heavy defeat by Villarreal, the performances of George Johnston and Ki-Jana Hoever, and more…
Watch: Extended highlights of the mini-derby
On the team making him proud…
They did – that’s what I’ve just said to them in the dressing room. It was quite a week, up and down to say the least. I thought we were fantastic, the way we played as a team in and out of possession. What I asked the boys to do, they couldn’t have done it any better really. In the first half I thought we were the dominant team and deservedly winning. They changed at half-time and when we had to defend in the second half we defended very well as a team. If I’m being a little bit critical we could have taken more opportunity of the counter-attack moments we had. But, generally over the 90 minutes I’m really delighted with the whole performance.
On the performance of captain Johnston…
He has developed into a real leader within our group. It’s something we’ve been speaking to him about. He has become a real communicator. I thought his performance at the back epitomised the whole team performance. He led like a captain and the others followed him.
On Hoever’s impressive display…
I don’t want to get too carried away with him but, wow, what a performance. He’s 16 and he’s calm and assured in his decision-making. He got a little bit tired near the end but understandably so – he played in the week as well. His authority and assurance on the pitch for a boy so young was very, very impressive.
On his satisfaction with the victory…
We’re pleased, of course we are. But we don’t get too up when we win and we try not to get too down when we lose. You’ve always got to have the bigger picture in mind and the end game – what is the end game for all of these players? It can be hard when you have tough defeats like we had in the week. Now is the time not to get carried away and patting everyone on the back and thinking we’ve just won the World Cup. We haven’t; we’ve won a good game. We’ve got some good games to come and look forward to. We go again.