'I must be as quick as Stevie and Joe'
Conor Coady is eager to learn from the likes of Steven Gerrard and Joe Allen and adjust to the fast-paced nature of first-team football.
The 19-year-old was handed his Reds debut by Brendan Rodgers in last week's Europa League defeat to Anzhi Makhachkala at the Lokomotiv Stadium.
And while he took huge delight in fulfilling a childhood ambition, Coady has vowed to hone key aspects of his game, both in the gym and out on the training field, so that he can stake a claim for a starting berth in the senior side.
"I think I need to work on the speed of my play," Coady told Liverpoolfc.com. "I need to be able to play quicker and to play two-touch football. In the position I play you have to do that quite a lot.
"If you look at the players we have in the first team now in my position, you're talking about the likes of Gerrard and Allen and they are very quick on the ball. They know where the ball is going to break before it does.
"My aim is to keep my head down and work as hard as possible. I need to keep focused in the gym, keep getting stronger and keep improving on the football pitch. I'll see where it takes me and hopefully I can make a few more appearances."
A lifelong Red, Coady admitted he had always dreamt about the moment he would walk out onto the pitch as a senior Liverpool player; however, he never imagined it would come to fruition on a chilly night in Moscow, some 1,600 miles away from Anfield.
"I didn't expect it to be like that but to be honest, I didn't really care where it was," he insisted. "I was playing for Liverpool and any boy would want to do that in their life and now that I can say I have done that, I am absolutely delighted.
"It was the best feeling ever. For a local lad coming up out of the Academy it is always a dream to make your debut. It was the best night of my life and I loved every second of it.
"When I was in the tunnel I was a little bit nervous and when I looked to my right I could see all the Anzhi players stood next to me. I remember when I came out onto the pitch, Jonjo Shelvey said to me, 'You'll get the ball from kick-off, so get your first pass in and play from there.' And so that is what I did."
He added: "Throughout the game all the lads were brilliant with me. The manager told me to go out and play my own game, to keep it simple and keep us ticking over and play just in front of the back four.
"Carragher was fantastic - as you would expect - and some of the younger lads were superb with me as well."
However, it seems making your Liverpool debut does come at some cost, especially when it is made far overseas in the Russian capital: "I got loads of text messages after the game, so I think the phone bill is going to be a bit higher this month!
"I had lots from my family, who were all proud and they all loved watching me play for the Reds."