AcademyU18s preview: 'Our young players are getting the chance to learn and shine'
Marc Bridge-Wilkinson has challenged the younger players in his squad to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Jayden Danns and Lewis Koumas and take their opportunity at U18 level.
Twenty-four hours on from Danns and Koumas shining and scoring against Southampton at senior level in the Emirates FA Cup at Anfield last month, a youthful Reds team were eliminated from the FA Youth Cup in a 3-1 loss to Leeds United.
Bridge-Wilkinson was without Danns, Koumas, Amara Nallo and Trey Nyoni for the tie at Elland Road – Nallo and Nyoni were also in Jürgen Klopp's squad for their meeting with Saints the night before – while Wellity Lucky and Ben Trueman missed out through injury.
The U18s take on Leeds again on Saturday, in a league fixture supporters can watch live on LFCTV and LFCTV GO (12pm GMT kick-off).
And Bridge-Wilkinson is hoping his young players can learn valuable lessons from their Youth Cup exit to help in the final stretch of the season.
Read Liverpoolfc.com's match preview with Bridge-Wilkinson below...
On the Youth Cup defeat at Elland Road...
It wasn't our greatest evening and I don't think we played to the level that we are capable of playing with the players we had out there. We didn't make it tough enough for Leeds at times and I thought Leeds, on the evening, were really good and deserved to win the game, so you have to give them credit for that. It was a tough night for us and one where we didn't quite get up to the level we wanted to.
I felt we should have had a penalty for handball in the first half but it didn't go for us and that happens in football. Going in at half-time, Leeds were a bit better than us, so we felt we could change it around a bit in the way that we pressed and attacked. Unfortunately, we didn't quite get that right until the last 15 to 20 minutes of the game and by that point we were 3-0 down. It was another day to learn, which we will do, and another day to improve [on].
On the previous evening at Anfield when Koumas and Danns, who started the campaign in his U18s side, scored in a 3-0 win over Southampton in the FA Cup...
That was a special evening. When we look back on that, it's quite unique and it's not something that happens very often, so we have to enjoy those moments. In the last three to four weeks, we have had quite a few of those and we are really fortunate that we have a manager and staff that really put the faith in the young boys. I don't think any of the young boys have let themselves down, so it's a great thing to look back on.
That being said, in terms of our personnel against Leeds in the Youth Cup, whoever we put on the pitch and whichever players are wearing the shirt, whatever the age group, we've got to try to go out there and win the game in the best way that we can. So, while the Youth Cup exit was disappointing, when we look back on the end of the season, we already have some special memories.
On the opportunities for younger players at U18 level…
Part of my team talk in the Youth Cup game at Elland Road was that opportunity comes around at different levels, at different areas of life, but in football an opportunity like the boys have had at senior level is through people getting injured or people getting suspended, or a combination of both. A young boy gets an opportunity and hopefully they can go and take that and do really well. That's happened for some of these lads that have stepped up to the senior team and they have done really well.
That then leaves an opportunity for lads in our U16 age group and our age group that haven't played as much, so it has given them an opportunity. We had a few U16 lads who played in the 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough last Saturday and they did well. The opportunity is there for them and you hope they can take it, do well and kick on themselves.
On the lively performances of U16 forward Josh Sonni-Lambie…
Josh is a decent player and he has lots of potential. He still has an awful lot to do and learn and is still an U16 player. I think he is finding the challenge of playing U18s football quite tough at times but that's OK and he will be stronger for this. That is a big part of why we are doing it, to give him exposure to this and then when he comes back for next pre-season he will have had a bit of a headstart at U18 level. He will have got used to the tempo of the games and got used to playing against players a bit older, so hopefully that will fast-forward his learning for next season.
On Saturday's home meeting with Leeds…
It's an exciting day to look forward to. We always look forward to playing at home, all the pitches at the Academy are in great condition and we are looking forward to playing Leeds again to see if we can play better against them than we did last time.