Us Reds fans have been blowing the trumpet for bringing through some of the youth prospects for a fair few months since it became apparent that the league campaign was not going to be a successful one. It seemed an ideal time to try out a few younger players. Still, only those at the club really know whose ready and who isn’t, and Kenny played his hand superbly last night. With his comments prior to the game, he took the pressure off the younger players, and did not give any indication that he would give them a try out, but when he opted to give John Flanagan his debut, he ensured that he was ready for game by taking all of the heat off him by letting him know how he wanted him to play, and also not allowing a big build up in the press by announcing he would be playing only two hours before the match. Flanno stated:
“Kenny was giving me advice, telling me not to be nervous and to get on the ball, do what I do and keep it simple. That helped me a lot. I was obviously nervous – first game against Man City, a big team. But I just tried to get the job done and we got a good win.”
Flanagan did everything which was expected of him last night. Great credit must be given to the work the Academy has been doing over the last couple of years and also for Kenny for knowing when the right time was to put the player in the first team. Although he wasn’t directly up against a left winger, he was assured on the ball, making a fantastic diagonal ball in the first half to Fabio Aurelio as well as showing his great tackling ability on Gareth Barry in the second period. Dalglish took all the pressure off the youngster, and the player performed to his best. It was his first game so there is still a long way to go, and he is still learning, but it is good to see a young player who was not overawed and showed he was not out of place at the highest level.
Follow us on twitter @live4Liverpool or like us on Facebook
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at live4liverpool@snack-media.com
[bet_365 type=’generic’ size=’468′ af_code=’365_061434′]
This week it is former LFC WAG Joanna Taylor!
————–
CLICK ON THE IMAGE OR HERE TO GET TO THE GALLERY
his display was as expected, kelly is better of course, it seems to be the local lads making it through to the frirst team – is it because they want it more ?
Kelly’s a better center-back and should be taking Skrtel/Carragher/Kyrgiakos’ place alongside Agger through the middle asap, instead of continuing out of position at full back. I’d much rather see him groomed as our own Smalling/Pique than our own Corluka/Ivanovic…
Tbh tough, it’s pretty tough for the foreign lads to break if they can’t get onto the pitch no matter how badly the first teamers in their position have been performing…
One of the reasons flanagan was good was that carra kept organising the defense and kept giving him advice over his positioning. If we need young blood in the defense we need some1 like carra along side them. Yes agger would do too, but carra does a much better job at that.