Liverpool's Shining Lights Brought Back Down To Earth With A Bang
Several weeks ago Liverpool's U.18's played Southend
United's U18's in the previous round of the FA Youth cup and made quite a name
for themselves by scoring 9 goals in what was an enthralling game. Several of
the youth players stood out and one in particular more so than the others. His name was Raheem Sterling and having
watched the game, I can understand why.
His movement and his ability to read the game certainly contributed as
much as the goals he scored.
Since that Monday evening all eyes have been on that young
man and as soon as it was announced their opponents in the next round were
Manchester United, it became as much a vocal point as what was happening with
the first team. Kenny also gave him a
chance along with several of his team mates to train and accompany the first
team to Spara Prague. This was done to
give them an insight into what being in the first team would be like, when
especially in Raheem's case the time comes for the move upwards.
They still have a lot to prove before that day comes though
and their match against Manchester United in the next round would be part of
that. It was to be played at Anfield on
the 13th March and although I suspect the date had nothing to do with it,
before kick-off, there was no indication that it was going to turn into the
horror story it did.
The build up to the game ensured that The Kop stand at Anfield was more or less full and according to reports, due to the hype surrounding young Raheem, there were more members of the press in attendance than usual for such a game. The sun had even decided to be in attendance so the scene was set.
Anfield was buzzing and with the sound of You'll Never Walk
alone reverberating around the stadium the teams come out onto the pitch and
after the customary handshakes, the toss was taken, which meant that Liverpool
would be shooting into the Kop end during the first half.
The game itself started off quite well for the home
side. The team seemed to be full of
confidence and very quickly began to run rings around their Manchester United
counterparts. Young Raheem nearly scored
very early on after making a fantastic run, but his final finish let him down.
It was just one of those things and knowing that young man, I expected him to
bounce back as did the crowd. As soon as he touched the ball the sound of
encouragement from the Kop was the same as what they give the first team when
playing, but it simply was not going to be young Raheems day.
The day though before it descended into utter chaos belonged
to young Adam Morgan who worked his socks off and was rewarded with a wonderful
goal shortly before half time. This seemed
to settle the team down and we began to see the flowing football that had been
evident, several weeks before. With half time looming, Liverpool continued to
play well and they went into the break full of confidence and in front.
Meanwhile in the away end, the Manchester United supporters
were causing their own brand of trouble. Throughout the half, there had been
reports that they were singing their usual repertoire of hate songs about
Hillsborough and Hysel. This is bad enough but then some idiot decided to let
off a flare. Suddenly that end of the stadium was full of red smoke and could
have been extremely dangerous but for the swift action of the stewards who I
understand threw the lad out.Those incidents I suspect had the desired effect
on the Liverpool team and although they started the second half brightly
enough, with young Adam Morgan scoring his second goal, nerves suddenly became
a major part of the teams play.
This led to a professional foul by Stephen Samba who was
given a straight red card. This brought
Liverpool down to 10 men and with the alarm bells ringing, the referee awarded
Manchester United a penalty. Then the
most bizarre moment of the match happened,
The referee decided that the Pogba had exaggerated his run up and
immediately gave him a red card.
Manchester United were now also down to 10 men and with the penalty duly
converted by Cole the score was now 2-1.
This was the moment though when the game was turned on its
head, the Liverpool team simply lost their way and with Manchester United now
in the ascendancy, Morrison scored the equaliser. Liverpool now had to either push forward and
score or take the game into extra time.
Things though disintegrated even further with 2 more red
cards being dished out by the referee.
This led to Conor Coady being sent for Liverpool and Tyler Blackett for
Manchester United being sent off.
Although this caused Rodolpho to shuffle his pack, Manchester United
found an opening and scored in the dying minutes of the game to send them on
their way to the semi- finals.
Whilst it is shame the team were knocked out there are many
lessons that the team can learn from their experience. Several of them showed that at some point in
the next year, they will find themselves in the first team. Young Conor Coady, Adam Morgan and Suso are
the most likely of those, but I think the occasion got to young Raheem today
and perhaps another season or two is needed before he makes his expected move
upwards.
The other thing the match showed was that things are
definitely happening at Kirkby and hopefully there will be many more youngsters
in the future making their way through to ensure they get their turn on the
famous Anfield turf.
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It was not a straight red for Pogba it was 2 yellows. Maybe you should pay attention if you are going to write reports on the games in future.
raheem was brilliant today - are you for real ? all the creative football came from us, set pieces and not playing silva from the start cost us.