Jurgen Klopp has placed his trust in Liverpool’s young stars for Liverpool’s FA Cup fifth round clash against Southampton tonight, with Bobby Clark, James McConnell and Lewis Koumas all set to start for the reds.
Conor Bradley will also start for the Reds in defence alongside Jarrell Quansah who is set to partner up with Virgil van Dijk at the back.
It comes after Clark, McConnell, Bradley and Quansah all played a part in helping the Reds’ claim victory against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday, with Koumas an unused substitute for the match.
Forward, Jayden Danns, who came on in the 87th minute of the match for Liverpool on Sunday has also been named in the squad for tonight’s game at Anfield but will start on the bench.
Caoimhin Kelleher will keep his place in goal with Alisson still injured, Joe Gomez will slot into the right-back position with Kostas Tsimikas on the left. McConnell, Clark and Bradley are set to operate as Liverpool’s midfield trio with Koumas, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott up top.
The Reds had eight academy stars in their Carabao cup winning side, but his press conference ahead of today’s match, Klopp took the pressure off his younger stars urging them to enjoy playing football.
‘First and foremost, they don’t have to show anything. I know what you mean. It’s easily misunderstood,’ he said. ‘The story of Sunday was one of the best football stories I ever heard of. It’s 100 per cent right.
‘Chelsea was younger than us, stuff like this. That’s a different project [but] it’s not about that [and] we don’t compare it. The public might do that, we don’t do that. But our boys played in youth teams [and] U21s, stuff like this, and only came up recently and not trained with us for a long time.
‘That is the absolutely nil experience, but a lot of talent and they just showed that. That’s the situation we have to create for the boys.
‘If we play more of them now tomorrow from the start or whatever and we have a look [and say], “Well, you’re not as good as I thought after Sunday,” that would be horrendous. There’s absolutely no pressure. All that these boys have to do is to really enjoy what they’re doing.’
Liverpool’s younger stars have stepped up amid a growing injury list that has left Klopp without key stars including Alisson, Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai.
The Reds also lost Ryan Gravenberch to injury after he was seen carried off on a stretcher during Sunday’s match.
After the final, Klopp lauded the maturity of his younger players stating: ‘I saw that and I saw them doing that and it obviously helped and it gave confidence.
‘[There are] so many things you cannot buy. Usually you need years for getting these kind of experiences in the flesh. It’s all good. How I said, I don’t know, but it’s possible that a few of them have to start. That’s absolutely clear. We don’t know it yet.
More to follow…
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