Bogdan primed for pride and professionalism
Adam Bogdan may experience a 'very proud' moment by making his Liverpool debut tonight but the goalkeeper's pre-match message instead focused on ensuring a professional performance against Carlisle United.
The Reds begin their Capital One Cup campaign for this season at Anfield, with Keith Curle’s League Two side the visitors for the third round tie.
Exactly a year ago today, Brendan Rodgers’ team were reminded just how tricky such encounters can prove to be when Middlesbrough forced a 2-2 draw and penalty shootout that was only settled after 30 attempts from 12 yards.
But if Bogdan is chosen to make his first appearance for the club, the Hungarian stopper is determined to help concentration levels remain at maximum in the search for a victory.
“I’m hoping that I’m going to get my chance to play and if I do, I would obviously like to put in a good performance,” he told Liverpoolfc.com.
“I’m looking forward to it – hopefully I can make my debut. If I play and have a chance to reflect on that in the next couple of days, then of course I’m going to be very proud. It is a huge club and it’s an absolute privilege to be here.
“In the past this competition has proved that it can give chances to players that haven’t been involved in that many games until now. It gives a chance to the players to impress and show their quality.
“The difference in quality will only come out if you are 100 per cent concentrated during the game. We have to look at it like that and make sure we enjoy the game and be focused all the way.
“We have a privilege that we start the competition a bit later than others, so of course if you win a couple of games you have a good chance to get to Wembley.
“This is another competition that we would like and have to aim for the highest, and we would like to put a lot of effort into this and try to get as far as we possibly can.”
When he joined Liverpool in the summer, Bogdan acknowledged that he would have to grasp any and every opportunity to show the manager his skills between the posts.
And whether that’s through shot-stopping or other critical areas of goalkeeping responsibility, the No.34 is primed to exhibit his talents once the chance arises.
He continued: “As a goalkeeper, sometimes you have a lot to do and sometimes you don’t have as much to do. But the main thing is to concentrate on the things that you need to.
“It might not necessarily be a save; you try to focus on your positioning, your passing and choosing the right things that are good for the team, so you can impress in many ways.
“But my job is to do it every day in training and I hope I can put in a solid performance.”
With three games per week now becoming the norm for the Reds, the manager shuffled his pack for the Europa League opener in Bordeaux last Thursday.
It was an evening to remember for the Academy in particular as Cameron Brannagan and Pedro Chirivella made their senior debuts and Jordan Rossiter again belied his years with a composed display from the start.
Bogdan reflected: “I thought they were brilliant. We started with young players but we also had to make a couple of changes and more young players came in.
“We had a good result; we almost had a fantastic result. I think if we had managed to go 2-0 up when we had the chance, then we would have won the game.
“But the players who came in did really well – Jordan Rossiter, Pedro and Cameron all did fantastically and we managed to take a point away from home, which is always a good result in Europe.
“I hope if they get the chance again, they show the same hunger and quality.”