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Liverpool: Neil Jones hails Luca Stephenson performance
Liverpool journalist Neil Jones was left hailing the performance of Luca Stephenson despite the U21 side’s 1-0 loss away at Rochdale on Tuesday night.
The Lowdown: Two defeats
That is two defeats from two games now for the U21s in the Papa John’s Trophy, as they sit bottom of a group that contains Rochdale, Salford City and Accrington Stanley.
It gave a chance for new signing Arthur Melo to boost his fitness ahead of eventually playing for the first team, as he featured for an hour among the youngsters.
However, it wasn’t the Brazilian who caught the eye…
The Latest: Stephenson impresses
Taking to Twitter, Jones was particularly impressed with central defender Stephenson’s performance despite the defeat, even going as far as to claim that he was ‘outstanding’:
“A late goal condemns the Reds to defeat in the Papa John’s Trophy, on a night when Arthur Melo got 60 minutes, Stefan Bajcetic impressed, and Luca Stephenson was outstanding at centre-back.”
The Verdict: Encouraging
It is certainly encouraging to hear of players like Stephenson doing so well in the Reds’ youth set-up.
The 19-year-old was captain on the night, and led by example as he won 100 per cent of his individual ground duels, also making three clearances and two tackles, having a team-high 92 touches of the ball (SofaScore).
Nonetheless, having not made an appearance for the senior team yet, Stephenson would have caught the eye of Jurgen Klopp, and would have done his chances of breaking into the senior squad later on in his career no harm.
