Garth Crooks has showered Conor Bradley with praise after catching his eye with a showstopping performance against Chelsea.
The young Northern Irishman had a hand in three of the four goals registered against the Blues at Anfield, even registering a terrific goal in the process.
“I saw this lad make his Premier League debut at Bournemouth and he caught my eye then. However, what took place against Chelsea 10 days later stopped me in my tracks,” the former Tottenham star wrote in his team of the week column for BBC Sport.
“First and foremost Bradley can defend, and secondly the goal he scored against Chelsea was of the highest quality.
“I’ve seen current Liverpool strikers smash balls towards the goal without a great deal of thought. Bradley’s strike in the 4-1 demolition of Chelsea was so precise if the Blues had two keepers in goal they wouldn’t have saved it – it was a fabulous goal.
“What impressed me most about the full-back’s performance was he played the game as though he belonged in the team.”
The 20-year-old has since been handed compassionate leave after his father sadly passed away on Saturday following a battle with illness.
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An incredibly bright future
All hands were on deck at the panic stations after Trent Alexander-Arnold was handed a stay in the treatment room.
It’s a testament to Bradley’s maturity and quality, however, that our No.66 was barely missed throughout that period.
If anything, Liverpool looked considerably weakened when welcoming our first-choice right-back into the starting-XI for the 3-1 defeat at Arsenal.
Alexander-Arnold, admittedly, would have been considerably rusty, though it’s telling just how much his understudy was missed in London.
Bradley’s got one hell of a bright future on Merseyside – that’s for sure.
There is no doubt that this lad has a fantastic future and is just what the new manager will need TAA is such an engigmatic player that it’s for the new guy to decide how to employ him. Bradley’s defensive qualities are absolutely brilliant and will allow Robbo to get forward more knowing that Konate won’t be dragged over to cover TAA.