'Klopp has been fantastic with Academy youngsters'
In this week’s Academy column, we speak to Michael Beale ahead of Friday night’s U21 Premier International Cup meeting with Benfica at Chester FC’s Lookers Vauxhall Stadium.
We return to action tonight when we host Benfica in a game the lads are eagerly looking forward to.
We lost 2-1 to them in Portugal in the UEFA Youth League last season, but this will be a slightly different team to the one we faced. This is Benfica’s B team so they could easily field players over the age of 23 to 25; therefore, we will be giving away a lot in terms of age. I expect them to be a top side and I know this season they are playing in a full league in the Portugese second division
Three or four of their players, I’m sure, will go on to play in their first team and become household names, so we are under no illusions as to the size of the task we face.
They have already beaten Chelsea and Celtic, but in saying that, it is another fantastic opportunity for our boys to play European football and we believe we have got some very talented young players, so we will go into the game with confidence and the belief that we can get a positive result.
It has again been a busy time once again for our young players during the international break, with many of them getting the opportunity to train at Melwood under the watchful eye of Jürgen Klopp and his staff.
A lot of the boys got the chance to play in the friendly 3-2 win over Wolves and it was great to see 17-year-old Trent Alexander-Arnold playing at right-back and not looking out of place in a back four alongside Kolo Toure, Dejan Lovren and Alberto Moreno. Jerome Sinclair started up front with Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Joao Carlos Teixeira playing just off him.
That was a real pleasing day for the Academy and a number of the lads got the opportunity to come off the bench. It was fantastic to see Jack Dunn get more minutes after his recent injury and hopefully he can push on now and show everybody what a talent he is. Jack was 21 yesterday, so he is coming of age and he just needs to keep himself fit. He has got a lovely left foot with an eye for goal and he can also do a good job in midfield.
We also had the friendly game with Japan U19s at the Academy last week which saw Daniel Trickett-Smith continuing his return after injury. Jack and Daniel are two players we are really fond of at the Academy and the LFCTV viewers have seen them score some cracking goals over the years, so it’s great to have them back.
We have also welcomed Brad Smith back into the group and it’s great to see him back. Brad has been away a lot with the Australia U23 squad and he has done a lot of travelling. The last couple of days he has been training with the first-team squad which is fantastic for him, so he will get a lot of minutes in the coming weeks. It’s fantastic our manager is giving these young lads a chance and he is learning more about them every day. He has been excellent with them.
After Benfica we have another challenge in the cup when we travel to Sunderland on Tuesday in the last 32 of the Premier League U21 Cup. This is the first time we have entered this competition and it’s important for our young boys to experience knockout football. It will be another tough game for us and they have played experienced sides at U21 level this season. We have fond memories of playing at the Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground in Hetton-le-Hole because that was my first game in charge of the U21s when Ryan McLaughlin scored a late winner. If you look at our team that day we had a lot of boys who have gone on to play in our first team and in the Championship on loan.
We have got a lot of games to look forward to. Manchester United is not too far away then we face Everton and Celtic after that so it’s an exciting challenge for the boys and one we are all relishing as an Academy. It’s a big month ahead for our U21 players because we have at first-team level the Capital One Cup tie away at Southampton and two Europa League games. Our manager has shown in the previous rounds he is willing to give our boys the opportunity so they have to be ready when called upon. As we advance in those competitions it will be much tougher to get into the team but the boys have to see it as an opportunity to do something that catches the eye, and in these games with Benfica and Sunderland it’s the perfect stage for them to do just that. We know they have the talent, they need to do the rest themselves.