The Academy Wrap: It Starts Now!

Editors Note: The Academy Wrap will be a biweekly feature for American Scouser and is a recap of last week/weekend’s action. Giving our contributors time to watch the matches and provide updated content.

The first matchday is behind the U21 squad having the task of hosting last season’s league champions on Sunday afternoon at Kirkby. The match proved to be a wake-up call for the young Reds. I’ll review this result and this week’s rundown on notable Academy members plying their trade on loan. But first, onto the match at hand.

LIVERPOOL U21 (0) – MANCHESTER CITY U21 (3) 8/7/2022

As hard as it may seem to find positives from this result, the Reds did create chances, but ultimately Manchester City proved to be too strong.

The Reds started off bright by creating the first opportunity when Melkamu Frauendorf struck just wide. But the Reds were down within two minutes as Adedire Mebude struck beyond Harvey Davies in the eighth minute.

The Reds remained passengers for much of the first half and were lucky to keep the deficit at one with Davies making a string of fine saves. The Reds had a few chances from both Frauendorf and James Norris but went into the half down by a goal.

The second half started with the Reds nearly leveling as Jake Cain set up Norris, who ultimately shot wide. From this point, City took the match by the scruff of the neck, nearly doubling after a Mebude shot was saved point blank.

City would take the lead in the 66th minute as Medube doubled his tally for the day off a Carlos Borges cross. Three minutes later, the match was put out of reach, as Daniel Ogwuru capped off City’s third goal.

The Reds fought hard to get back into the match, but the deficit was too much to overcome. The next action for the U21s is a trip to Brighton in a PL2 fixture.

Notable Academy Players on Loan

Tyler Morton (Blackburn Rovers) – 89th-minute substitute appearance (3-0 win)

Leighton Clarkson (Aberdeen) – 12th-minute substitute appearance, goal (4-1 win)

Rhys Williams (Blackpool) – 90 minutes played (2-0 loss)

Conor Bradley (Bolton) – 81 minutes played, 1 assist (3-0 win)

Marcelo Pitaluga (Macclesfield FC) – 90 minutes played, clean sheet (2-0 win)

Adam Lewis (Newport County FC) – 83rd-minute substitute appearance (1-0 loss)

James Balagizi (Crawley Town) – 90 minutes played (1-0 loss)

That’s a wrap for this edition of the Academy Wrap! Stay tuned to the next edition, where I’ll rundown the latest on the U21s, the opening matches for the U18s, and the latest on our loaned-out academy players, until next time… Up the Reds!

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