When Liverpool re-signed Jay Spearing as an Academy player-coach earlier this month, it was partly with clashes against Football League opposition in mind.
Having seen a number of sides turn to seasoned professionals in their second-string to act as senior role-models and aid with youth development in recent years, the 33-year-old was seen as the perfect former Red to fulfil this inaugural role at the club’s academy.
And as Liverpool’s youngsters fell to a heavy 6-0 defeat against Wigan Athletic on Tuesday night, it is easy to see why the Reds felt the need for the creation of such a role. On paper, the midfielder might have made little difference to the scoreline but this is only the start of this innovative new Anfield role.
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Liverpool have been dealt heavy thrashings against Football League opposition before in the Papa John’s Trophy. Against Championship Wigan, albeit newly-promoted, a repeat experience was always likely, and not just because the Latics are further ahead with their pre-season preparations and had twice the number of substitutions to call upon.
With a number of the Reds’ youngsters with Jurgen Klopp’s first team in Asia, experienced heavy loss themselves against Manchester United just hour earlier in Bangkok, the side that faced the Latics was filled with the remaining Under-21s players along with newly promoted Under-18s. This was always likely to be one of their toughest tests of the season, despite the fact it is only mid-July.
It will have been an eye-opening experience for Liverpool’s next generation as they were left second-best from start to finish against their far more experienced and developed opposition. Perhaps the road to senior football seems further away than ever.
But this is where Spearing comes in. A coach on the pitch as he marshalled in midfield, he encouraged his younger team-mates to keep on fighting on this most difficult of pre-season days, even if they were often chasing senior shadows. He will have experienced heavy losses like this before and on much more competitive occasions too.
This is where the midfielder will be most beneficial to Liverpool’s youngsters behind the scene as he leads by example and passes on his experience. Boasting 461 career appearances from Premier League to League Two, he has achieved what this next generation desire and many of his fledgling team-mates will look to follow in those footsteps in the years to come, even if such opportunities don’t present themselves at Anfield.
He adds some experience amongst their young heads and provides an intriguing narrative for the forthcoming season, with the success of his involvement ultimately not one that can be judged until the end of the campaign when club bosses can reflect on the progress of this latest crop of youngsters.
On a day where Liverpool inevitably had no answers for Wigan, Spearing will help the young Reds try to find them over the season ahead as the club look to bridge this hefty gap between senior and youth football.
A team of Carraghers
“We all dream of a team of Carraghers!”
For 737 matches, spread across 16 years, Liverpool fans serenaded the one and only club legend Jamie Carragher as he won virtually the lot at Anfield. A rare breed as a one-club man, when he decided to hang up his boots in 2013 it was ultimately a sad day for the Reds.
At one point there was hope of a younger Carragher following in his footsteps, however, with son James coming through the Liverpool youth ranks, only to depart for Wigan in 2017. But while not at Anfield, the 19-year-old is now making his own mark on the senior game.
Everton had been interested in signing the defender last summer, after he captained the Latics to U18 Professional Development League title glory in 2020/21, before he ended up signing his first professional contract at the DW Stadium last August.
And after making his Wigan debut in the League Cup last season, Carragher looks set for a breakthrough role in the campaign ahead.
It must have been a surreal moment for the travelling Liverpool fans, some who will have seen Carragher senior make his Reds debut back in 1997, when the club legend’s son came on at half-time against his former club. If that wasn’t, then hearing the first cry of ‘Carra’ from a team-mate certainly will have been.
And then, with his proud father watching on, witnessing the defender rifle home Wigan’s fourth with a smart first-time finish from a corner, considering his father’s meagre goalscoring record, would have felt particularly strange!
Had things worked out differently for the latest Carragher, he would perhaps have been starting for Barry Lewtas’ side against the Latics. Instead, after taking one step back by leaving Liverpool, he’s now taken two steps forward towards senior football.
A point made against his former club? Perhaps. But by scoring against the young Reds, like Spearing amongst their ranks, Carragher has also shown his team-mates an alternative path to senior action if the Anfield dream doesn’t work out.
More to come from Musialowski
Having wowed at Under-18s level in 2020/21, supporters were excited to see what more was to come from Mateusz Musialowski as he stepped up to Under-23s football. Indeed, having gone viral with spectacular individual goals, many have questioned why the ‘Polish Messi’ isn’t with Jurgen Klopp’s first team in Asia.
Truth be told, the answer is there in front of us all in his 2021/22. The transition to Under-23s football was not a smooth one for the winger as he endured something of a stop-start season.
Yes, he scored at Anfield in a 3-0 victory over Arsenal. But he would be limited to just 14 appearances for Barry Lewtas’ side, scoring three times and registering no assists. Meanwhile, he’d feature just three times for the Under-23s in 2022.
Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s time to write off the 18-year-old. Some players simply take longer than others to adapt when making the step up as they adapt to the physicality.
And the experience of playing Championship Wigan showed glimpses of how he is stepping up to that challenge. Against a senior defence, the winger was ultimately left to feed off scraps.
But when he did get the ball at his feet, Musialowski, who has been linked with a loan move away from Anfield in reports overseas, did what he does well - run with the ball, take men on and cause defenders problems. The fact that he was the best of a quiet bunch against Wigan shows the potential.
He might have been playing at the DW Stadium rather than the Rajamangala Stadium on Tuesday, but the door to Klopp’s first team remains open, even to those youngsters left behind on home soil.
It’s still early days for the Pole at Anfield but if he is now ready to make more of an impact in Premier League 2 this season, senior opportunities, either in training or even in the first team, could follow. It’s just up to Musialowski to be ready to take them if he is to ever live up to supporters' ever-growing hopes.
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