AcademyU21s update: Benfica test, Musialowski consistency and McConnell as a No.6
Liverpool U21s head coach Barry Lewtas has spoken of his pride at the way his young team have conducted themselves so far this season.
Despite a constantly changing team hit by injuries, alongside clashes with senior fixtures, the young Reds have produced some memorable displays already in 2023-24.
They include a 4-0 success over Everton, a first-ever win in the EFL Trophy at Morecambe and an excellent away victory against a strong Crystal Palace outfit.
In their last game, at Blackpool in the EFL Trophy, Lewtas fielded two 16-year-olds in central defence, as a youthful team did themselves and the club proud, with two late goals making the scoreline 5-2 in the hosts' favour.
Next up on Sunday, Lewtas' charges are back on home turf, facing Benfica in the Premier League International Cup, a match you can watch live on LFCTV and LFCTV GO with kick-off set for 2pm BST.
After a narrow 2-1 loss to AS Monaco in their opening group game, the U21s have the opportunity to get back on track against the Portuguese outfit.
Read on as Lewtas speaks to Liverpoolfc.com, previewing the Benfica tie as well as discussing the form of Mateusz Musialowski, the promising development of James McConnell as a No.6, and more...
On an encouraging display at Blackpool in the U21s' last outing…
We always go into these games with the same kind of mindset of trying to perform, play our way and try to take the game to the opposition. We always know these games are going to be tough, Blackpool a bit more so because we were a lot younger because of the international break. It was testament to the players because we went in with the same outlook, the same mindset. Listen, it was always going to be a tough ask, but for us to be as competitive as we were I think we could hold our heads up high.
We had two 16-year-olds at centre-half in Carter Pinnington and Amara Nallo, we had Kieran Morrison playing in central midfield at 16, Afolami Onanuga only recently 17 playing on the left side, and Josh Davidson. So, to have those youth-team players competing well was pleasing. Blackpool played their part as well but we were really proud at the way the lads acquitted themselves, the chances we created and the problems we caused them.
It was a good experience but we felt a bit sore after it with conceding those two late goals, which was down to a little bit of fatigue. We know with these competitions we have given ourselves a chance with the last game away at Barrow so we'll go there and give it a good go.
On the challenge posed by Benfica…
When we looked at the calendar we knew these three games against Crystal Palace, Blackpool and Benfica would be of a real high quality and also tough for us in and around the international break. Benfica pose us a massive challenge but it's one that we are excited about. We'll respect the opposition but we will attack in the same way that we did against Blackpool, but we will certainly look to put on a performance ourselves.
On the benefits of playing in the Premier League International Cup with no UEFA Youth League this season...
It gives us the chance to play against European opposition and in Benfica's case it also gives us the chance to play against more experienced opposition. A lot of the Benfica players play in the second division in Portugal as we are playing against their second team. We will be playing against a group of young players that are used to playing senior games, so dare I say this game will probably be for our lads a step up from playing in the UEFA Youth League.
On the 2-1 loss to Monaco in the opening group game...
We played on the same night that the first team were playing Leicester City in the Carabao Cup so again it was a great experience for some of our younger players. I thought we did deserve something from the game. We conceded the first goal at a really poor time after we were excellent before that.
Again, there is a lot of talk about how young we are at U21 level but this has become our team now. We speak about it internally and we are loving it working every day together and we are working really hard. It's really good for me as well as a coach to work with these players in these types of games.
I did feel we did enough against Monaco to get more from that game, but I would say we have probably grown from that game. I think you could see the Monaco game was the start of something for us so we've just got to keep up that hard work.
On the promising displays of Musialowski so far…
He has been able to find consistency in all phases of the game. There's no question about his ability in terms of what he is able to do when he can isolate himself in a one-v-one, he is a real good dribbler of the ball, we have seen that and we all know that. This season so far we have probably been able to get him to be that more consistent in other parts of his game as well, so defensively he's been really good as well. He's never not contributed for us but stringing the whole thing together, and he's been in and out of the team with a few niggling injuries as well that caused a little bit of inconsistency for him, but at the moment he is a certainly a player that is contributing well for us so hopefully he can continue the run of form that he is in.
On McConnell playing as a No.6 and his consistency this season…
I think for any young player and any young midfield player they need to have an appreciation of the whole idea of the game to play there and he has primarily in the past been a No.8 at U18 level. He had a little bit of exposure playing as a No.6 in the UEFA Youth League last season and then had that in pre-season at first-team level.
This is a great kind of learning period for James, he is playing ever so well for us as a No.6 and I think if you are a midfielder who can play as a No.6 or a No.8, that has huge benefits to you as well. I think we've seen Curtis Jones do that at first-team level and with the England U21s at the Euros as well, Alexis Mac Allister has done it, so the modern-day player needs to be flexible and needs to understand different roles in that midfield area, so that's where James is with his development at the moment.
