Ben Doak could be thrown into the Liverpool deep end this weekend as fans are calling for him to come to Jurgen Klopp's rescue amid a mounting injury crisis. And a call from U21s boss Barry Lewtas to limit his involvement with the youth sides hints they may just get their wish.
17-year-old Doak has blown the Anfield side away since joining from Celtic in the summer, exploding up through the ranks to find himself already on the fringes of the first-team. He already has three senior appearances to his name, the most recent coming off the bench against Wolves in the FA Cup last weekend.
It was by no means a fringe Reds side either as Doak came on for Mohamed Salah in the 2-2 draw, joining Darwin Nunez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the forward line. The Reds' options up top had already been depleted at that point with Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino and Luis Diaz all out, and news of a new blow that will keep Nunez out this weekend leaves Salah and Gakpo as Klopp's only available senior forwards.
That led U21s manager Barry Lewtas to give Doak just 45 minutes in their game against Spurs the following night - revealing the plan was always to substitute him early amid his growing first-team involvement. He was brought off at half-time after fellow Scot Calvin Ramsay was sent off and Lewtas said: “Ben was always going to come off too, after he came on last night (against Wolves) as well. With us going down to 10 men, the job was going to become that little bit tougher.
“You’ve got to remember, Ben’s only a first year scholar. We have to monitor him a little bit. The minutes are always gauged on the game as well. Once we knew how the game was going to look, we made that call.”
With just Salah and Gakpo available, it means that Klopp's options to join them in the forward line are Oxlade-Chamberlain, Fabio Carvalho, and Doak himself. And after blowing fans away with his explosive directness off the bench in recent weeks, there are no points for guessing who they want to see.
One fan simply wrote: "Unleash Ben Doak," while another added:"Looking increasingly unlikely that Darwin will be missing tomorrow. Not looking good here for the Reds. I’d start with Ben Doak somewhere in that front three. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough and nothing fazes that lad."
One more posted: "With no Nunez tomorrow. I’d go Gakpo left, Salah central and start Ben Doak on the right. At the least he’ll have a go at them and is fearless. Plus Mo has been hiding the last while aswell."
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