Liverpool’s Under 21s saw their season end in a cruel manner with a penalty shootout defeat last weekend against Crystal Palace after an enthralling 3-3 draw after extra time. 

Rob Page remarked afterwards of his ‘pride’ in the yoingsters and the sure signs of development that the former Wales manager has overseen over the course of the campaign. 

Without the playoff system at the Under-18 level, the mini Reds’ campaign was drawing to a far less dramatic conclusion as Simon Wiles’ side sat 7th in the U18 Premier League heading into a meeting with 5th-place Middlesbrough.

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Despite the perhaps league position, Liverpool had lost four of the last five matches, with the sole outlier a 4-3 win over Nottingham Forest, which saw Vincent Joseph score twice, having emerged from the Under 16s in recent weeks. 

In truth, goals haven’t been hard to come by for Wiles’ charges, with Josh Sonni Lambie sat third in the league’s scoring charts on 16, Joe Bradshaw further down on 10 strikes and the 15-year-old sensation Joshua Abe racking up eight goals before injury brought an early end to his campaign. 

La’more Lee Forrester has been another standout performer for the Reds this term, the exciting 17-year-old winger notching up an impressive seven goals and two assists whilst the likes of Joe Upton, Erik Farkas and Haydn Murray-Holme have all shone at various times in the middle of the park.

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As the action got underway, Liverpool were caught out from wide areas twice in the opening half an hour when Ezra Tika-Lemba and Tyler Smith both fired home top drawer, unstoppable strikes from their respective advanced wing-back areas. 

Wiles’ side responded well to the double setback and began to carve out promising moments of their own, with debutant Isaac Conde and Murray-Holme in particular seeing plenty of the ball. 

There was to be no goal forthcoming for the Reds in the first half despite ending the opening 45 strongly, and unfortunately, it was much of the same in the second until the versatile Oli O’Connor – playing in his second unnatural position of the day – fired home from close range.

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The goal came too late to be anything more than a consolation, however, and Liverpool Under 18s succumbed to defeat in the final home game of the season. 

Speaking after the match, manager Wiles was pleased with the spirit shown by the group and reflected on the development made over the course of the season…

On the performance: “I think the moments that we created, especially in the second half, I was pleased with. I thought the way the goals were conceded, we could do better. I thought we could do better in certain stages of our defensive actions. We found ourselves 2-0 down, two great strikes by the way. I can’t come away from that, two great strikes. But we can do better in them to prevent them, and that’s something that we’ll look at.
I thought the response that the lads gave in the second half, I thought they were getting up to the ball more, I thought we were threatening the back line more, I thought we did get into their final third a lot. Probably the goal came a little bit too late in terms of trying to get something more out of the game. Overall, like I say, I was pleased with the second half performance and probably the second half of that first half as well. There were some good moments at play. Things to keep working on.”

On the lack of cutting edge and the absence of regular scorers: “I mean, you could say that, but I think we’ve still got into the areas and we’ve just got to make better choices when we get into those areas. We mentioned that from Wednesday. I thought we had a really good period in the second half at Manchester United, and I thought we had a little bit of sustained play in their half. And it’s just getting to those moments where we’ve got to make better choices and the decision-making that comes with that, whether it’s the last action before the goal or whether it’s a technique in front of the goal. We’ve still got to keep working away with that. But yes, we’ve got players out of the team that bring that. But when you’ve got the likes of Erik Farkas making those types of runs, and you’ve got Isaac Conde, who’s making those types of runs on the top line, that really excites us. They’ve got a lot of opportunities for that, so it was great for them in their moments. But yes, we can still be a little bit more clinical.

On the resilience after going behind: “Yes, the way that they applied themselves in the second half was really pleasing. When you look at the challenges that some of the players were facing, you look at Lucas Clarke going up against their centre-forward; that is a fantastic challenge for him and his development to know. The first couple of moments that he had, he probably got on the other side of it. But then for him to come out in the second half and be on the front foot more and be a little bit more aggressive with his decisions going up against him, I thought, was really, really good. And I think for us, as we always speak about being in development football, we’ve got to expose these players to those types. Prince and Harvey came up against a centre-forward like that. I thought the second half, the way that we got a little bit tighter to him, maintained our possession in their half, which allowed us to be more creative and play through the lines more, which is something that we’ve always tried to do. So, the honesty was there. We were getting up to the ball a little bit quicker. And I thought that the turnover of possession, we managed to keep it and were allowed to get some pressure on, some attacks on. Still more to come. Really enjoyed it. We’ve been creating quite a lot. We’ve just got to finish that last action off.”

On being able to play numerous Under 16s in recent weeks: “It puts us in a really good place with that (for next season). That’s something that I’m really keen to do, the club are really keen to do. If we feel that we’ve got those players in those younger age groups who are ready for the experience, it’s only going to help them in their journeys. Isaac Conde today, I thought he was really bright. When he gets into 1v1 situations, he’s really excited. He knows how to get past his man. And he’s got thinking behind his 1v1s. It’s not just a case of, I’m just going to knock it past him. He’s got real intelligence with his stepover. He’s really, really bright. He’s someone that we’re really looking forward to continue working with. And for Matty Wright, he’s been fantastic in training. He really epitomises the attitude and application of what it means to wear this badge. I’ve just singled him out there in the dressing room. That save right at the end at 2-0. Where he’s got across, that’s a tap-in. That should be a goal. The way that he works his line and he gets the saving is outstanding. We managed to get back into the game because of that. I think for him, he’s just got to keep doing what he’s doing day-to-day. He’s got an infectious personality. The more players that can see how he does that, and then he turns those training performances into actions like that on a matchday. It’s really good to see.”

On the development from the start of the season to now: “I’m really pleased. I know within this role, it’s all about making sure that we can get these players opportunities across the whole season. I think when we look back, and we see players from the under-15s, the under-16s getting an opportunity to be involved in the under-18s this season, not just in training, but exposing them to the matches. Isaac Conley’s first start today. Really, really good for him. He’s been really exciting and he’s had some good performances as a 16. So for us, it’s kind of like, well, if that’s happening, we want to reward that. You’ve got Charlie Huth and Zak Coxon, who played an hour over there for the under-16s, then came over and got the last 25 minutes with us. Really exciting prospects in terms of how they conduct themselves and their honesty. They give everything for the badge. It’s really exciting. We want to reward that as well. If their levels of performance are what they have been, that is something that we’ll continue to do next season as well. It’s a great time to be at the club in terms of player development.”

Two of Liverpool’s modern greats are major injury doubts ahead of Sunday’s fixture against Manchester United.

There were fears that Mo Salah may have played his final minutes for the Reds against Crystal Palace last week as he left the pitch with a hamstring issue. Scans have thankfully since revealed that the Egyptian King should feature between now and the end of the season.

At the other end of the pitch, Alisson is close to a return, having missed the last six games, but new Kop hero Freddie Woodman is expected to keep his place between the sticks at Old Trafford.

With the summer transfer window fast approaching, Kopites around the world are worried their side’s number one could be missing from the starting lineup on a more permanent basis. Stories linking the 33-year-old with a move to Juventus have emerged in recent weeks, which would see Ali return to Italy after a glittering spell on Merseyside.

On the latest episode of our Journo Insight show, the Liverpool Echo’s LFC correspondent Paul Gorst gave his thoughts on the Alisson rumours.

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Paul said:

“It does look like Juventus are looking to make a move for Alisson Becker this summer. I think it sounds as though he is quite receptive to it.

“He wouldn’t want to do anything that might sour a legacy or anything like that, which I don’t think he could do really.

“Arne Slot got asked about it last week – I think just before the Palace game – and he didn’t necessarily say no chance, he’s staying; he’s our number one goalkeeper. I think those decisions are probably made above him anyway.

“The direction of travel – the fact that Liverpool have future-proofed their goalkeeping department with Mamardashvili – it could lead to a scenario where he leaves this summer.

“I’d love to see him stick around and play until he’s 40, but let’s face it, the injuries are coming a bit more frequently over the last few years.

“Liverpool are probably going to have to take into account his age, the fact that he’s picking up these injuries, the wages that he’s on, the money they might get for selling him to interested parties, and then trade that off with what you’d lose if he walks out the door – which is the greatest goalkeeper we’ve ever seen, hands down, isn’t he?

“If you’re asking me to predict how it goes, I can see a world in which he leaves, which might concern some people. I could see it where Liverpool looks to cash in a bit.”

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REDMEN REACTS

The arrival of Giorgi Mamardashvili last summer always appeared to be a double-edged sword. Yes, Liverpool had landed a highly rated European goalkeeper, but would he be prepared to play second fiddle to Alisson for the next three or four seasons? At 33, Ali should have plenty left in the tank, but injuries have blighted recent campaigns. Despite this, he remains amongst the best in the world, and losing him, Mo Salah and Andy Robertson at the same time would be a very bitter pill for most Reds to swallow. He is the best gloveman anyone too young to have watched Ray Clemence has seen, and has a gravitas, presence and intelligence that would be very hard to replace. Sell at your peril, LFC!