The teenagers fielded in last night’s EFL Cup quarter final win over Leeds represent this club’s brightest group of youth players for some time.
Yesterday’s performance was far from sparkling but it demonstrated the quality our youngsters possess and the talent that gives them the potential to be at this club for years to come.
For large periods of the game they undoubtedly matched the contributions being made my Liverpool’s first team regulars and took more significant strides towards proving that they can be trusted.
Jurgen Klopp had high praise for his players and explained his thinking behind their inclusion in the starting eleven.
He told Liverpoolfc.com: “All the young boys did very well – 17, 18, 19, they did well in a very important game.”
“It’s a quarter-final. How I said a lot of times, we don’t make line-ups because we don’t respect the tournament, we make these line-ups to win the game. We need fresh legs, I can’t change it. Obviously we needed the fresh legs today so it was a mixture of youth, a mixture of experience and fresh legs.”
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There were no signs that Klopp had been unsure over selecting the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kevin Stewart, Ovie Ejaria or even Ben Woodburn.
The German picked a lineup that he believed could win him the game and that is testament to how highly he values these less experienced members of the squad.
Tuesday’s win was a timely reminder of our strength in depth and also the impressive job the club has done of shaping a gifted group of players all the way through to the youth sides.
After recent injury blows, the rise of academy products was a lift we all needed.