Liverpool’s youngsters lost 5-0 to Aston Villa last night, but actually came out of the game with plenty of credit.
We had more of the ball, more shots, more corners and made more passes than our opponents!
But in the end, we were poor in both boxes and in fairness, Villa were clinical.
Dean Smith, Villa’s manager, came into our dressing room after the game though and congratulated our kids for their stellar efforts.
Both he and his assistant John Terry said some kind words, which Neil Critchley, our manager on the night, confirmed.
“I was brought up coaching U18s, U23s,” Smith began, before suggesting that “there’s some starlets” who would go on to have Premier League careers.
Listen to his and Critchley’s explanation of the conversations in the video below:
#AVFC boss Dean Smith went into the #LFC dressing room to praise the peformance of their young players 💜#LFC's stand-in manager Neil Critchley said it was "a special moment that will live with me for a long time"
🆕 Football Daily 👇
📲⚽️: https://t.co/Jl0BAuwjBz pic.twitter.com/CKDDZafTMH— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) December 18, 2019
Harvey Elliott was our brightest spark, but we were also impressed with Dutchman Ki-Jana Hoever and midfielder Pedro Chirivella.
The first two have an enormous futures with the first-team, although the skipper on the night, Chirivella is set to leave in January.