Jurgen Klopp has said Liverpool’s senior stars have ‘enjoyed’ the involvement of the club’s academy prospects in recent weeks.
Several of Liverpool’s best young talents have impressed in recent games as Klopp has looked to the academy to combat the club’s injury problems.
Conor Bradley and Jarell Quansah have become first-team regulars this season, while Bobby Clark, James McConnell, Jayden Danns, Lewis Koumas and Trey Nyoni have all had involvement in cup wins over Chelsea and Southampton.
Danns and Koumas were each on the scoresheet in the 3-0 win over Southampton on Wednesday evening and Klopp has spoke on his pride at that result and winning the Carabao Cup final last weekend with an inexperienced side.
“I felt the joy and the pride after the game, it’s wonderful to see,” Klopp said at his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Nottingham Forest this weekend.
“It’s a full squad achievement. We all agree if we put just the young boys on the pitch they are wonderful players but they have no chance. They need to be guided and led. I congratulated the senior players after the game [against Southampton] because the first half was frustrating.
“The senior players really enjoyed having them [the youngsters] around.
“I’m not here in general to think about these kind of things though.
“Yesterday was a wonderful day, usually when we win a trophy we do a staff picture and yesterday we did it 100% with the academy too. I really wanted everyone to feel it and understand the role they played in that whole story. It was really cool. But two days later we play Nottingham Forest and we have to move on.
“We always have to be ready. If you asked me what is the definite line-up for tomorrow, I couldn’t give you an answer and it’s 12:30 on minus-one [day]. We just have to trust the process and that’s what helped us [against Southampton].”
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