AcademyFA Youth Cup preview: 'Let's finish 2022 on a high and create more memories'
Liverpool U18s boss Marc Bridge-Wilkinson has encouraged his players to create more memories as they face AFC Bournemouth in the FA Youth Cup at Vitality Stadium.
Thursday's third-round tie is set to kick off at 2pm GMT and must be settled on the day, with extra-time and penalties a possibility, and the winners will progress to an away fixture versus Port Vale.
- The game will be shown live on LFCTV and LFCTV GO in the UK only. Subscribe to LFCTV GO now and get a month FREE using the code GOFREE23
Ahead of the Reds' Youth Cup journey beginning, we caught up with Bridge-Wilkinson to preview the match - read the chat below...
On how much the squad are looking forward to their final outing of 2022…
It's been a while since we played. We had an U17 fixture against West Bromwich Albion which some of the younger boys featured in, which was the last game, but what a great way this is to finish the calendar year in terms of U18s football. We managed to get the game just before Christmas, so everyone has got something to look forward to and build up towards. This is a great competition and as always we will try our best to do well and create new memories.
On the game being staged at Bournemouth's first-team stadium…
It's fantastic. It's what the competition is and it gives opportunities for different clubs to play against clubs from further afield up and down the country. It gives opportunities for the players at all the different clubs they are at to play at a first-team stadium. We are thankful in this case that AFC Bournemouth have managed to do that and we are certainly looking forward to it.
On the challenge posed by Bournemouth…
They are doing well in their division. They are a Premier League club so it's not going to be easy, we are not taking anything lightly. We will do our homework on them and pay them every respect that we should do. We are going to do our best to try to win the game but, that being said, they are going to be tough. They play in a league that is demanding, they play against opposition that are demanding as well, so we know we will have to be on our best game to give them a game.
On using a lot of younger players in recent games due to injuries…
It's very much there are a lot of players in there who have been thrust in. Ideally, you'd want a bit more experience around them just to help them into the situations that they have been in, but that being said, it's all about opportunity. It has given other lads a chance to have a go at U18 level and win, lose or draw, we are developing every day. That is every day in training and in every game we play.
On the return to training of Isaac Mabaya, who has been out injured since October 4 when he was forced off the field in the UEFA Youth League tie with Rangers…
It's great to have Isaac back and he has been missed. Isaac was in a really nice vein of form and it was a shame he picked that injury up. We all know what he's capable of and we know that on his day he can be a really outstanding player. The most important thing is that Isaac is training, but the most important thing is we don't take any risks. If he is available for us to use on Thursday then brilliant, but if he is not then we'll make sure the decision is right for him and for his career moving forward.
On Mabaya featuring regularly as a right-back this season…
Isaac is very versatile and he can play in midfield or at right-back. He has done very well there at U21 level and also he played there for the first team in pre-season. Before his injury, Isaac had a nice blend of everything really.
On creating great memories in the FA Youth Cup…
We have had some good moments in this competition and some bad ones too, like the game against Chelsea last season, which was a big learning curve for everybody. When we got to the final [in 2021] that was a heck of an experience, but unfortunately against Chelsea last season that was a different experience. We didn't want that to happen, of course, but sometimes these things happen. There will be shocks year in, year out, teams who will succeed and teams who will fail a bit earlier than they'd like to. Our job in hand is we want to go and win this game against AFC Bournemouth, finish this year on a high and put ourselves into the hat for the next round.
- The game will be shown live on LFCTV and LFCTV GO in the UK only. Subscribe to LFCTV GO now and get a month FREE using the code GOFREE23
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