After Liverpool reserve’s final game of the season, head coach John McMahon took time out to praise French defender Chris Mavinga and Finnish striker Lauri Dalla Valle. Mavinga especially had an excellent performance in the 1-0 win over Sunderland last night. McMahon said to Liverpoolfc.tv:
“Chris was very good for us and we are pleased with him. He started the season really well and then had a dip but he has ended the season in good form. He is a good prospect and can get better. He is a good lad and he has good attributes. Sometimes you have to recognize what you can do on certain pitches and that was never a good footballing surface. We made good decisions and did well.”
McMahon also singled out striker Dalla Valle for praise. The Finnish striker scored the only goal in the victory over the Black Cats. Referring to the goal, McMahon said:
“Lauri is capable of scoring goals like that. It was good link-up play between him and Nikola Saric and he showed his quality. I think there is a lot more to come from Lauri and all of the players. He has still got a lot to do in terms of his progression, timing of his runs and how to use the ball. He has got really good attributes and hopefully he can keep progressing. Lauri is new to the Reserve set-up this season. The U18s had a striker shortage so we decided to keep Lauri with them for the first part of the season.”
A very promising season for the reserves ended disappointingly with 5 straight defeats which effectively ended the team’s title hopes, but they will hope this victory at the end of the season will hold them in good stead for the next campaign.
