Jurgen Klopp has challenged Tyrone youngster Conor Bradley to strive to reach the next level following the defender's impressive display in Sunday’s 4-1 FA Cup win over Shrewsbury at Anfield.
The full-back caught the eye with a hand in the side’s first and third goals scored by Kaide Gordon, who the Reds manager was also full of praise for, and Roberto Firmino while Irish international Caoimhín Kelleher made his 14th appearance for the Reds.
"I am delighted, even when I know they both can do so much better because they are real talents," Klopp said of 18-year-old Bradley and Gordon, who at 17 became the club's youngster FA Cup scorer.
"I'm really happy about that and I'm happy about a lot of things. Conor can play how good he could be and can be in the future. And Kaide obviously finishing-wise he's an adult, his finishing is really exceptional, but all the rest he is still a kid. So playing the position the way he plays, there is so much to improve."
Klopp was back on the touchline after his period of isolation ended but the Covid-19 outbreak within the squad this week, which forced a 48-hour shutdown of the first-team training centre, had meant selecting a side had been tricky.
In the end five academy players were utilised - having made a combined 15 senior appearances between them - while Firmino and Takumi Minamino were pushed into service as second-half substitutes after only just returning from Covid and injury respectively.
Conor's message for the fans after a big performance 🙌 pic.twitter.com/aeKndTpTgp
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 9, 2022
"This was the team we could line up today and the boys did really well," added Klopp.
"We had last week a proper outbreak and it showed up that we had a lot of false positives but the rules are like they are so all these players who are false positives couldn't play.
"The only real positive came from Trent Alexander-Arnold and all the rest was false positives."
Klopp also dispelled any concerns midfielder Thiago Alcantara could miss the rest of the season with a hip problem.
"He didn't train this week but we expect him to be back to do rehab stuff from tomorrow on and then we will see," he added. "It is not that he is out until the end of the season, not at all."
