A rather youthful Liverpool team will travel to Aston Villa for a Carabao Cup quarter-final. With the first team in Qatar for the FIFA Club World Cup, the young Reds have a chance to secure Liverpool’s progression and at the same time make a name for themselves.
A Carabao Cup Quarter-Final Opportunity for Liverpool Youth Players
Give Youth a Chance
It’s one of the most iconic quotes in Premier League history.
In 1995, legendary pundit Alan Hansen had just watched a young Manchester United side slump to a 3-1 defeat. The former Liverpool defender then made an assertion that will always live with him.
“You can’t win anything with kids,” insisted Hansen in his trademark no-nonsense manner.
Well, Manchester United proved him wrong as they romped to a league and cup double that season. Manager Alex Ferguson’s side had well and truly cemented their place in history.
And as Liverpool’s Carabao Cup Quarter-final approaches, the Reds will be hoping that Hansen is wrong once again.
Due to a fixture pile-up that includes a game in Qatar less than 24 hours after this one, Liverpool is forced to use a reserve team in their trip to Villa Park. With household names such as Virgil Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah unavailable, fans will instead witness up and coming stars like Harvey Elliot and Curtis Jones.
New Players and New Coach
Elliot, a summer arrival from Fulham, has been particularly impressive. In the third round of the Carabao Cup, the 16-year-old tore apart MK Dons and was unlucky not to score after hitting the bar twice. But striker Rhian Brewster will probably not be on the pitch. The young man is an injury doubt, according to the club’s official website.
In defence, the Reds have goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher and the partnership of Ki-Jana Hoever and Sepp van den Berg. Hoever has been particularly impressive and even scored a goal in this year’s Carabao Cup. A problem could present itself in the men on either side of that paring at fullback. Natural replacements in Adam Lewis and Yasser Larouci are injured and Neco Williams is in Qatar with the first team.
Rising talent Curtis Jones will probably start in midfield. The young scouser has impressed boss Jurgen Klopp this season, especially after he volunteered to take the decisive penalty in the shootout against Arsenal in the last round.
“Curtis has no issue with self-confidence. Absolutely he doesn’t struggle with that”, said the German to reporters following the Arsenal game. “It’s nice, absolutely nice.”
And it’s not only the regular players that will be missing from this game. Jurgen Klopp is also in Qatar which means that academy coach Neil Critchley will take charge. The former Crewe Alexandria player has been at Liverpool FC since 2017, but he seems keen to not take the spotlight off the players.
“I’m honoured to be in this position- but this is about the young players,” Critchley told the Telegraph before the game.
A Chance Given and a Chance Taken?
For anyone of the Liverpool youth players, this is a great chance to jumpstart their Liverpool career. A better opportunity may not present itself this season.
Main Photo
