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LFC Reserves & Youth Team Goals/Highlights

I don’t care about the team results at this level as long as they are producing talent for the 1st team and they are. The team may not have even quality around the field and gaps get exposed, but we only need 1 or 2 per year pushing 1st team and that is a great return.
 
I read that we conceded 3 after Bradley was substituted and all 3 supposedly came from that flank. With Neco unavailable, I guess we had a shortage of quality in that area.
 
Do we have many youth players who are slight of build? They seem quite skilful, but I wonder if they are able to cope with the physical demands of the PL. James Balagizi (sp?) is the only one who looks like he's physically mature from the videos.
 
I'm starting to wonder if we're maybe hyping these kids too early. I mean the results aren't looking that good.
The score 1-3, the polish kid scored another.
Then suddenly Chelsea just turned it around. Finished 4-3.

Liverpool U23s: Pitaluga, Bradley (Gallacher, 63), Clayton, Koumetio, Beck, Morton, Bearne, Norris, Balagizi (Dixon-Bonner, 77), Musialowski (Corness, 85), Woltman.

So you've got the Brazilian FIFA u17 champion in goal.
Rush's brother/sister's grandson Beck at left back.
Bradley who gave away a pen during against Norwich.
Koumetio who was supposed to be great.
Morton who actually did well in the League cup.

Can't really fault the attackers. They did the business.
Gordon was missing for some reason probably because he's too good for that level.

Not sure if our u23 team is actually that good. They're 10th in the league.
For league position you have to take into account that it's relatively unimportant to the club. They regularly take the best players out and bring them into the 1st team squad, either just to train or in exceptional circumstances to play or sit on the bench, I'm not sure how many other clubs do that, City + Chelsea don't for sure !

For that particular match it's worth noting that TBH we were a little unlucky, twice as many shots as Chelsea and more on target (and even after the win Chelsea are actually still below us!) plus as Rurik said, all 3 goals came after Bradley was subbed. I watched this match on and off thanks to Binny's live feed but went to bed after our 3rd as the way we were playing it looked done and dusted.
 
Do we have many youth players who are slight of build? They seem quite skilful, but I wonder if they are able to cope with the physical demands of the PL. James Balagizi (sp?) is the only one who looks like he's physically mature from the videos.
The Chelsea players did look physically a lot larger/more mature. Though how much of that is age related and how much is natural physique is another question.

EDIT. Quick check : most of Chelsea's back 5 were 17-18. Their midfield and one forward however were 21, 24 & 26 year old with two more 18 yr olds up front.

Our starting lineup (front to back): 17,18, 20, 18, 18, 18, 19, 20, 18, 18, 18. The 3 subs were brought on were 18, 20 & 22 (Gallagher - clearly not that good and no future here).
 
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Do we have many youth players who are slight of build? They seem quite skilful, but I wonder if they are able to cope with the physical demands of the PL. James Balagizi (sp?) is the only one who looks like he's physically mature from the videos.
Yeah I've observed that too, seems the only players over 5'10 or 180 cm that we developed are Jones and Kelleher, not sure about Trent.
 
'This kid, I'm telling you, he's something else': Charting the rise and rise of Liverpool's Conor Bradley

[article]Tyrone teenager Conor Bradley made his competitive debut for Liverpool against Norwich on Tuesday night – Neil Loughran talks to some of those who watched his rise, and finds out that the Red Hands could have been on the radar had things been different…

“WELL, did you watch the match last night? He done well, didn’t he?” The chat never stopped at McHugh’s Oil in Castlederg yesterday, where there was only one name on everybody’s lips.

The previous evening, 18-year-old Conor Bradley had made his competitive debut in the famous red of Liverpool as Jurgen Klopp’s men beat Norwich 3-0 in a Carabao Cup clash at Carrow Road.

Despite giving away a first half penalty, the Tyrone teenager produced an assured performance in the right-back berth normally filled by Trent Alexander-Arnold - his manager gushing about the boy who has risen rapidly through the ranks since joining the club’s youth academy in 2019.

“We saw Conor Bradley and I heard before the game he was the first Northern Irish player [to play a competitive game for the club] since 1954. It sounds too long to be honest,” said Klopp.

“If somebody would have told me that before, I would have brought him in probably earlier. It is a great, great thing and he played a super game.”

The man behind the desk at McHugh’s wore a smile as broad as the German’s famous grin all day long.

Rory Lynch was Bradley’s first soccer coach at Castlederg club St Patrick’s, and has followed his journey every step of the way. A Manchester United fan, it felt “weird to be sitting at the kitchen table cheering on Liverpool”, his heart-rate rising every time Bradley came into view.

“He looked so comfortable… obviously there was penalty, that’s a young head, that’ll come with experience, but the more the game went on the better he got.

“It’s actually a bit surreal to be honest - surreal seeing him on TV against players you’ve been watching for years.”

But was Lynch surprised to see him there? Not a bit of it. For years, he has been telling anybody who would listen that Conor Bradley was a star in the making.

Indeed, Dungannon Swifts underage coach Ciaran O’Kane recalls attending a nine-a-side tournament on the 3G pitch at Stangmore Park around a decade ago.

O’Kane - who coached Bradley with the Swifts U16s - was there with Lurgan outfit Oxford Sunnyside when he got talking to one of the St Patrick’s coaches.

“I can always remember him saying to me ‘this kid here, he’s the best player in his age group in the country’. Conor was only eight or nine at the time.

“You would have heard the like of that but, right enough, he was excellent.”

“That would have been me,” laughs Lynch, “I was always sure.”

And yet it was by chance that he saw Bradley play in the first place.

“Aw, completely by accident.

“It was actually a primary school tournament which I really thought we’d a fantastic chance of winning, but a bug hit the whole team near enough - all our main players were gone. That morning I had no subs, so I was just phoning round, flat to the mat, trying to get somebody, but no joy.”

One of the remaining players, Shay Gallagher, suggested his cousin - Conor Bradley. Only eight, turning nine the next day, Lynch wasn’t having it.

But as the morning wore on, options were running thin on the ground.

“I was beat, totally beat.

“Conor’s house was on the way to the pitch so I rung his mum Linda, and he was happy enough to come along. He was just this small kid, I remember him getting on the bus and his backpack was bigger than him… I was worried he was going to fall backwards. You’re just thinking ‘what am I doing here?’

“Linda was like ‘we’re for Spain tomorrow, make sure nothing happens him’. I was only planning to throw him on quickly if we were winning, but in the first game another one of our players got injured, out for the tournament, so I’d no choice but to put Conor in.”


Linda Bradley’s words ringing in his ears, Lynch warned the young man not to be diving into tackles. Not to be taking anybody on. Playing against boys nearly three years his senior, the instruction was simple: if you get it, give it on straight away.

“But then what’s the first thing Conor does when he’s on the pitch? He ploughs straight into a tackle on some big lad and wins the ball. That was him.

“His pace was a big help but we’ve loads of players with pace. Sometimes players with pace, their brains can’t keep up with their legs, but this kid just had something natural about him. It’s wile hard to explain… I’ve seen a lot of players coming through, and nobody really stood out like that.

“Even Kyle Lafferty, I saw him loads of times playing against our own team, always thought he was a good player but never really stood out as top grade. But Conor… I’d never seen nothing like this.

“He ended up winning player of the tournament and scored the winning goal in the semi-final against a team from Cavan, a header from a corner - at eight years of age. And him no size at all. Honestly, I was in awe… I was like ‘what am I watching here?’”

Lynch told the St Patrick’s U13 manager Adrian Mythen he had to give Bradley a run out. Back then, in the absence of other underage sides, that was the only place within the club he could go.

Like Lynch, Mythen was initially sceptical.

“He says ‘catch yourself on’, but eventually I got him talked into it.

“I mind I came home to meet the minibus and Adrian just walks off and says ‘Jee-sus Christ’. He couldn’t believe it. We knew we had something special on our hands.”

Bradley, though, was equally adept across different sporting disciplines.

Mum Linda was a talented cross-country runner and Conor’s athleticism saw him catch the eye with Finn Valley AC. But Gaelic football also had a claim in those early days.

Last month his cousin Barry McMenamin was part of the Tyrone U17 panel that lost out to Meath in the All-Ireland final, and St Davog’s Aghyaran stalwart Kevin Moss is convinced Bradley would have followed that same path had it not been for the pull of soccer.

“Conor was a very good Gaelic player too, played centre half-forward for us,” said Moss, who managed Bradley at U14 and 16 level.

“He was very fast, very neat… what probably marked him out then was his commitment. Soccer was always his number one, especially when he moved to Dungannon Swifts, but around that he never missed training with us. He would’ve done everything perfect.

“If he’d stayed on he’d definitely have got on a Tyrone minor panel – the speed and the skill he had, he would have played Gaelic football for Tyrone. Whether he would’ve gone on to senior level or not, you never know, but with his attitude he definitely would’ve gone on to bigger things.”

As it was, Bradley continued to develop his skills simultaneously, with St Patrick’s, Castlederg growing as a result of his involvement.

“More and more boys wanted to come and play with us because they wanted to be a part of ‘Conor Bradley’s team’,” says Lynch.

“In my last year, at U16s, we won everything going. That’ll never happen again.”


It was fellow St Patrick’s coach Steafan Deery who first gave Liverpool coach Cliff Ferguson the heads up about this emerging talent, with Bradley training twice a week at the club’s Belfast base. Manchester United and Manchester City were among the other clubs sniffing around, but there was never any doubt where Bradley was bound with those options on the table.

“Conor’s a huge Liverpool fan, so I knew there was only one team he was going to,” says Lynch.

“Liverpool did so well with him because, from no age, they brought him over the odd weekend, for a tournament or something else… just kept him a part of the club.

“When it was time to go, obviously he’s young to be leaving home, but I knew he’d be okay. Conor’s football-mad and he’s very lucky too that his parents are so solid, always had him grounded.

“I’ve seen a lot of talented players go through our club but they just hadn’t that foundation at home. It makes a huge difference. He had the talent and that foundation, that’s why I’d never any doubts he’d do it.”

Ciaran O’Kane had no doubts about Bradley’s ability to succeed either. But the Lurgan man also saw the scale of the challenge that lay ahead – that still lies ahead.

“Yeah, I have to be honest,” he says when asked whether he was surprised just how quickly Bradley had come to the fore at Anfield.

“That’s to take nothing at all away from Conor but, at the end of the day, he’s at Liverpool – it’s one of the biggest clubs in the world. At the minute they have one of the best teams in the world too… arguably Liverpool are ahead of the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid at the minute.

“But then Conor’s the type of boy who will settle in very quickly because of his personality. It’s not that he has an outgoing personality, but he has a determination and a pleasant way about him. He’d be mature for his age.

“He’s obviously impressed at training to the extent where’s he’s been brought up to that level.

Everything has happened so quickly… surprised? Yes. But absolutely delighted for him.

“Getting that kind of experience at such a young age is priceless.”


It is a mark of how highly Bradley is regarded that he signed a long-term contract at Anfield back in July. Having forced his way into Ian Baraclough’s plans with Northern Ireland over the summer, the world looks to be at his feet.

“The only surprise is they’ve not sold Alexander-Arnold yet,” smiles Lynch.

“Conor wants to be the best about, he’s always wanting to get better. I mind so many times driving past Mitchell Park, stopping down and there was Conor, cones set up, him and Steafan Deery just down doing drills by themselves. The cub was always trying to improve.

“You haven’t seen anywhere near Conor’s full potential yet. This kid, I’m telling you, he’s something else.”

And while Tyrone Gaels continue to bask in the glory of their All-Ireland triumph, there is plenty of pride too at watching one of their own edges towards the big time in a different code.

“It’s been a fantastic few weeks,” said Aghyaran chairman Kieran McGuire.

“Obviously Ronan MacNamee has been a big part of our club for many years, his mother’s involved, winning the All-Ireland was just brilliant. And then Conor has given so much to Aghyaran at underage level, now he’s got his opportunity to play professional soccer with his favourite club.

“It’s been phenomenal, and the buzz going around last night on the WhatsApp groups. You can just see the delight in everybody.”
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Interesting… He does seem versatile, but a midfield position at a club like LFC will be very competitive.
 
But it will allow people on here in 10 years time to ask "Gerrard started at RB, Bradley moved from RB to midfield, so is it now time to consider moving our captain, 7 times Premier League champion and 5 times Champions League winner and the best right back in the world, into midfield?"
 
Liverpool teenager who models himself after Roberto Firmino and Harry Kane could be next to make breakthrough
[article]If the early signs are anything to go by, 18-year-old forward Max Woltman could be set for an exciting future at Liverpool.

Woltman, who has been at the Academy since the age of seven, signed his first professional contract with the Reds in January after making considerable strides at youth level.

Last season was a roaring success for the youngster, who scored 13 goals for Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's under-18s and helped Liverpool reach the final of the FA Youth Cup in the process.

The Reds would end up losing to Aston Villa in the all-important fixture, but this was an impressive journey nonetheless.

"Max has done really well," Liverpool U18s boss Marc Bridge-Wilkinson told the ECHO following the Reds' FA Youth Cup quarter-final win over Arsenal in which Woltman netted the crucial opener.

"He has adapted. The way that we started to play at the start of the season was a little bit different and Max was in a different role back then.

"He adapted to that and did really well but as we have lost players through injury and people moving up to the U23s, he has adapted again.

"His season has been really impressive and it was nice for him to get a goal on such an occasion.

"His link-up play] is definitely [something that has progressed this season]. It is something that we have talked about and worked with him on and we have shown him clips and different things.

"But ultimately, it is down to Max. We can show and say things and put different sessions on and all that sort of stuff, but ultimately, Max is the one taking the information on and he is going out and performing like he is.

"He deserves a lot of credit."

Since then, he has been promoted to Barry Lewtas' under-23s side and didn't take long to announce his arrival this season.

The teenager scored in a 3-1 Merseyside derby win versus Everton back in August, opening his goalscoring account for the 2021/22 season as well as helping earn local bragging rights.

What makes Woltman such a valuable asset to Liverpool is his versatility.

Able to operate in several positions across the frontline, the youngster's preference is to serve as a number nine.

Asked previously if his style resembled Roberto Firmino or Harry Kane, Woltman responded: "Bit of both! It's the way to be.

"I like playing number nine as I feel it gives you a bit of freedom to run in behind and get the ball to feet. That's where you get all the chances too."

One competition which could provide the platform for Woltman to further raise his reputation this season is the UEFA Youth League, a competition in which he is already off the mark.

The Wirral-born forward was on target in the Reds' 2-0 victory over AC Milan one month ago and will be eager to add to this tally should group stage progression be secured.

Representing Liverpool in this very tournament only two years ago were the likes of Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and Neco Williams - all of whom have since been handed first-team opportunities by Jurgen Klopp.

Should Woltman seize his chance, there's every chance he could follow a similar path.
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But it will allow people on here in 10 years time to ask "Gerrard started at RB, Bradley moved from RB to midfield, so is it now time to consider moving our captain, 7 times Premier League champion and 5 times Champions League winner and the best right back in the world, into midfield?"
Gerrard played a few games at RB. Not enough to even call him a RB.
A better example would be Gareth Barry.
 
Went to see the Under 23s play Arsenal today.

They won 3-0. Decent team performance with everyone getting stuck in. We're not the best at keeping the ball, but the pressing and defensive work was excellent. The first half was tight but we took control on the second half scoring all our goals then.

Morton, Bradley and Musialowski were the standouts, with the later looking the best player on the pitch. Reminds for of what I imagine a young Jota to play like. Prefers the left side, direct sharp dribbling, plays with his head up. If he keeps this up it won't be long before he'll be considered too good for this level. He just needs to learn to release the ball a bit earlier, but it's a small gripe and expected at this stage of his development.

Nice to see Anfield full of local kids, too.
 


Glatzel's footwork and the way he leads the line and brings teammates in looks so similar to Firmino. Not sure why he's been so ineffective for Trenmere (according to their fans); back at the U23 level he looks to be well above it.
 
Klopp did rate Glatzel for a short while before he did his knee.
 
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His progress seemed to have been hampered by injuries and it looks like the Tranmere loan isn't working out for him...
 
That U23 team would suggest Morton, Balagazi and Polish Messi might get a game against Preston.
 
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