AcademyOwen Beck on a whirlwind year, Robertson inspiration and Anfield debut
Owen Beck can barely believe how the 2021-22 season has unfolded.
The Wales U21 international made a dream Anfield appearance on his 19th birthday during last summer's pre-season preparations, which was swiftly followed by a competitive debut for Liverpool in late October.
During the road to Carabao Cup glory at Wembley, the full-back featured twice in the competition, making his senior bow at Preston North End and another home appearance against Leicester City.
Beck returned from injury to be named on the bench for last Sunday's Emirates FA Cup quarter-final win at Nottingham Forest, watching on as Jürgen Klopp's squad set up a final-four meeting with Manchester City.
A regular with the Reds' U23s under Barry Lewtas, the young defender has gone from strength to strength, and recently sat down for LFCTV’s The Academy Show to talk about a dream campaign to date.
Read on as Beck reflects on a whirlwind season and talks about how much inspiration he draws from watching fellow left-back Andy Robertson up close…
On making his Liverpool debut against Preston…
It was a great moment. I came on against Preston and then made an appearance against Leicester City at Anfield. Both were great moments and my family was proud of me. Just to come on in front of all our fans was just surreal really. That was just a great moment and I enjoyed every minute of it.
On what the experience was like to be a part of that comeback against Leicester…
I still can't believe it happened, even now. I was so nervous and when we scored to make it 3-3, it was just the best moment of my life really. As soon as Taki scored, I ran straight over to him to celebrate in front of the Kop!
On how much of an inspiration Robertson is to him…
I watch him and try to pick bits of his game I can try to add to my game. In my opinion, he is the best left-back in the world at the minute, so it's great to have him in front of me and getting the chance to train with him.
On seeing players like Trent Alexander-Arnold graduate from the Academy to achieve dreams at first-team level…
It just inspires us to push even harder and do everything we can to try to follow the likes of Trent, who just built his way up and now he's the best full-back in the world.
The Academy Show
On the season so far at U23 level…
Every game is tough in Premier League 2. I don't think we've played at our best this season, but we are showing signs that we can be a great team and we have had a few great performances against the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham in recent weeks. We have come up against a few physical teams, which can be very tough, but it is really good for our development and has shown us what we need if we want to play at the highest level.
On his own performances so far this season…
In games this season I've just been trying to get more goals and assists and just keep pushing and playing as well as I can in every game and finding that consistency of playing well. I'm an attacking full-back and I like to get forward, so I've been working on my crossing, my shooting and stuff like that.
On friendly banter with full-back partner Conor Bradley over who can get the most assists, similar to Alexander-Arnold and Robertson…
We do, to be fair, and he's beating me at the moment! It was quite funny actually when we played Leicester City at the Academy and it was snowing. I was on the right side of the pitch off a corner and picked up a second ball. I passed the ball to Con and somehow he's lobbed it over the goalkeeper and it went in, and then I realised after it was my assist! We both love to get forward and get assists.