'Let's continue our tradition'
FA Youth Cup hopes, Swansea City and keeping up tradition - all this and more in our latest column from U18 coach Mike Marsh.
We begin our FA Youth Cup campaign at Swansea's Liberty Stadium tonight hoping to continue our recent run of form.
We followed up our double win in Manchester with a frustrating draw against Stoke City at the weekend but confidence is still high going into this encounter.
Quite often you can ride the crest of a wave and end up being brought down to earth with a bang so it's important that we show the Swans a high level of respect.
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They will have their support behind them at the Liberty Stadium and at this level home advantage can often be decisive. Having said that, we are still unbeaten on our travels and feel that if we play to the standard we are capable of, then we can maintain that record and advance to round four.
I was lucky enough to be involved in an FA Cup winning squad at senior level back in 1992 but didn't have the opportunity to play in the Youth Cup.
I was 18 when I signed for Liverpool from Kirkby Town and just missed out on being eligible, which was a shame because I would love to have had the opportunity.
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I think it's a great chance for our lads to show what they can do and gain experience playing at a first-team ground. I have to give full credit to Swansea because they contacted us asking to change the date so we could play the match at the Liberty. We were due to play at a local ground but this is a much better fit for everyone.
We've had Swansea watched over the past few weeks. They've got a good set-up. There are one or two players currently doing the business for them in the first-team at the highest level who came through the ranks so we know they will have some talented players at their disposal.
As for our squad, we will include one or two of the lads currently playing for the reserves. We don't want to use everyone who could be available because there is a team we use every Saturday that deserves a chance in the competition. I don't want to chop and change too much because, like I say, we have a good side.
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We've got some talent in our squad and with all being well, and luck on our side, I think we can go a long way.
Last season Rodolfo Borrell's side could well have gone on to lift the trophy. I don't think there were many teams as good as them in the country.
It was a frustrating way to go out in the end. We lost to Manchester United in a game we dominated for long spells. There was the sending off and a loss of concentration.
It's a competition Liverpool have done well in recently and we are keen to carry that on, beginning with a win tonight.
Mike was speaking to Paul Hassall