Academy column: Alves debut and mini-derby test

I was very pleased with the way we responded as we returned to winning ways last weekend against Derby County. To lose 4-0 at home to Blackburn Rovers in the previous game wasn’t a nice feeling, but the lads showed great character last Saturday. I thought we played some excellent football in the first half and had real good control of the game. In the second half we had to show a different side to our game and we had to be quite resolute defensively and well organised. I don’t remember our goalkeeper Shamal George having to make a save which was pleasing and it was a good response.

Our centre-half Conor Masterson, who we brought over from Dublin, had his best defensive display of the season so far. He was helped by some good performances from the lads alongside him and Shamal, and he was strong and composed. The team as a whole worked hard and I was pleased with the attitude and character of the players when we came under a bit of pressure.

The Derby game also saw the debut of our talented Portugese midfielder Paulo Alves. Paulo has had to be patient. When he came over to the club he had an unfortunate injury and then we had to wait for his international clearance to come through. It was nice for him to make his competitive debut for the U18s and I think the LFCTV viewers could see he is a very talented player. He is also a very hard working player and will bring a lot to this team, and we are looking forward to seeing him develop in the future. Paulo is an attack-minded midfield player who likes to play in the middle of the pitch, but he is also quite versatile. We need him to play regular games now and get used to how the team functions and we can then see what his part will be in this team.

This season the U18s team is very young and already we have fielded a number of schoolboys. The club have taken the decision to loan out a lot of the young players which I totally agree with. What it has meant is that a lot of young players have made the step up perhaps a bit quicker than expected, but it certainly won’t do them any harm and it will be of great benefit to them in the future. Most of the teams we will come up against this season will predominantly be second-year based teams with a couple of first-year players. If you look at the make-up of our team it is first-years with a couple of second-years when possible. We have had a number of U16 players starting straight away, so in some ways it is tough for them but in other ways it’s a great challenge because you can’t buy that experience.

Unfortunately at this moment in time we are without our exciting Portugese striker Toni Gomes. Toni made a big impression in front of the live LFCTV cameras when he scored that brilliant hat-trick in our 4-3 win over Middlesbrough. Sadly, he picked up a hamstring injury in that game which has kept him on the sidelines ever since and he will still be out for a number of weeks. Toni is an infectious character who is loved by all of the players and the staff. He brings something different to our team and when he is out we haven’t got his type in the squad to replace him. Last Saturday, Ben Woodburn, who is only 15, had to play up front and he did ever so well - we were delighted to see him score. We are still awaiting international clearance for our exciting winger Bobby Adekanye who we brought in from Barcelona, so when that comes in and Toni and Yan Dhanda are fit again we will have a very exciting attack.

This Saturday we head to Finch Farm to take on Everton in the mini-derby. Nobody in our group needs reminding of the game last season that we lost 5-0, it hurt everybody. We will be looking for a response this weekend. There will be a few players who were involved in that game playing and I know they want to put things right, but we have to play our normal game and make sure we defend well as a team. It is an important fixture but in some respect at this level it’s not more important than the other games we have to play. We want to win every game we play. There will be lots of good players on show, and our objective as always is to give the players every possible chance of one day playing for our first team.