'Anfield brought hope at end of tough week'

Phil, who is also assistant academy manager, is tasked with overseeing the welfare of the Academy's 198 young players from the Elite Development Squad, U18s and U9-U16 schoolboy programme.

In his latest column, he explains how staff and players reacted after Reds youngster Marc Pelosi sustained a serious injury at the end of last week...

The week started on a low for us as on Sunday evening Marc broke his leg during the game against West Brom at the Hawthorns.

It was a horrific challenge and everyone who witnessed it on the day was very shaken by it. Marc had a very good game, there were just a few minutes to go and the challenge was made. To witness that type of injury was difficult for all who saw it.

As soon as the game finished, Frank McParland, Rodolfo Borrell, Clive Cook, Steve Cooper and I went down to the dressing room where Marc was being cared for by Andy Renshaw and Richie Partridge from our medical team.

It was quite clear straight away that due to the severity of the injury, Marc would be going straight to hospital. So it was arranged that Andy would go to the hospital in the ambulance with him and that Frank and I would follow in the car.

Marc was x-rayed and then Andy and Nigel Jones, our Academy doctor, liaised with the first-team medical staff and helped figure out the best scenario for him.

Marc is from America, so it was about talking to his parents and letting them know what had happened and what was going on.

He had fantastic care in the hospital in Birmingham but it was agreed that he should be moved to a hospital in Liverpool where he could be cared for by the people who are employed by the club.

He had his operation on Monday evening and he's recovering now. The great support that the medical staff at the club have given him and the communication and the interaction with his family has been brilliant.

His family have flown over this week and we're just working with them to make sure everything is okay with Marc. It's very hard for them, as you can imagine. For a family to understand what is going on with their son when they are thousands of miles away on a different side of the world is tough.

The advice our medical team has given them has been first rate and the whole situation has been handled really well. We just hope now that Marc can have a trouble-free recovery and get back to where we want him to be.

The last month has been a particularly difficult one due to the injuries that Brad Smith and Samed Yesil have incurred as well as Marc's on Sunday, but all three are now focused on their rehabilitation.

Plenty of our players were clearly shaken when they saw Marc's injury. So in the changing room after the game Alex Inglethorpe, Frank, Rodolfo, myself and others were making sure they were okay.

The lads unfortunately have to understand that, as difficult as it may be, there are times when these type of things happen in football. Marc has had the best medical attention that he could ask for and now we're all focused on him recovering.

When you see this sort of thing happen on TV, whether it's someone from another team or when it's someone that you work with each day, it really does hit home. But as a group you come together and support each other through these tough times.

On Thursday night we saw another example of how this club sticks together in adversity and we were so close to an historic win on a memorable Anfield night.

When you watch some of the games over the years, you understand how fantastic the Anfield crowd is and how fantastic the supporters are. Through whatever adversity that is put in front of them, the crowd will support the team.

Some of the players who played against Zenit St Petersburg or watched from the stands have never witnessed that sort of emotion and atmosphere. Thursday was a great example for the players, particularly those who are younger, of how great a club this is.

Earlier in the week the manager spoke to Mike Marsh about the potential for some of our younger players at the Academy to be ball boys at the game. I spoke with Marshy and it was agreed this would be a great experience and we would do everything we could at the Academy to support this.

As you can imagine, it was a fantastic environment for the young lads to be in. I spoke to them before they went and I told them: "Enjoy the experience but take on board the noise and the crowd because if you ever reach the level where you are able to play in this arena, these are the things you have to be able to cope with and thrive on."

It was fantastic for our U13s. We have tickets available to our U21s and U18s for them to go to the Anfield games, but through injury and the lads returning late from the game against Sporting over in Lisbon, a lot were unable to attend.

So it meant we were able to allow other players from younger age groups to go - which was fantastic for them.

They were able to go and watch a player who plays in their position, see the standard of opposition in European competition and see the style and the philosophy that the manger is implementing in the first team and relate it back to the work that is being done at the Academy.

Any chance to go and watch on a night like that is vital experience for our young players and will undoubtedly inspire them. It will also reinforce what they have to do, not only get to that level, but to stay there.