Liverpool told to learn harsh lesson as AC Milan slayers enter 'real world'

Learning lessons is part and parcel of the development of any young player. And Liverpool's next generation are discovering the unique demands prompted by the relentless nature of the modern game.

An under-23s side containing many of the players who started in the UEFA Youth League opening group game win over AC Milan four days earlier suffered a heavy defeat on Sunday when they were overpowered 4-0 by Leeds United at the Academy.

Having been largely restricted to one game a week last season due to coronavirus restrictions, the Liverpool youngsters are now being handed a more regular, busier workload.

And U23s boss Barry Lewtas believes there is a growing realisation of what the Academy hopefuls can expect when they make the step up to senior football.

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"The last couple of weeks have seen some tough games for us," says Lewtas, who was without Kaide Gordon and Conor Bradley with the pair set to join up with the first team for the Carbao Cup third round tie at Norwich City on Tuesday.

"If I was going to be fair - and not an excuse, as we were fairly beaten by Leeds - we had Tottenham last week, then seven of the lads played against Milan and then five played against Leeds.

"That's real tough going. In the COVID season, we did get into a run of playing just one game a week, which isn't the real world.

"We need to get back to the boys playing twice a week as that's something they'll have to get used to whether they go on loan or stay here."

While the average age of the teams was not too dissimilar, Leeds could boast a far greater wealth of first-team appearances including 22-year-old Pascal Struijk, who was eligible to play in the competition despite being dismissed in the Premier League meeting between the teams the previous weekend.

The Reds had no answer to Liverpool-born 19-year-old forward Joe Gelhardt, who scored two long range-range strikes and was denied a hat-trick by a fine penalty save from home goalkeeper Marcelo Pitaluga.

And Lewtas says: "We feel our younger players will benefit from these kind of games. Leeds had a few more seniors than us and brought a lot of league appearances off the bench, but that’s not an excuse.

"I thought we played some good stuff in certain periods but we could have competed better in certain moments, which was disappointing.

"We made our own problems. Technically, we’re a lot better than that. We are kicking ourselves a little bit.

“They’re lessons that the lads are going to have to learn quite quickly. When you’re playing against as much of the experience as they’ve got there, it was tough."

Lewtas adds: “I am a firm believer that you can cruise if you want, play older players and win games, and you can set yourself up for a little bit of a fall further along.

“It’s important that we stick to our guns, we keep playing the players we’re playing and push them. We want them to be better.

“There will be a few bumps in the road along the way, but we firmly believe longer-term that we’re going to get some players from it.”