A little under two months ago, Jayden Danns, Bobby Clark and former Sunderland academy prospect James McConnell were all brought on for Liverpool by first team manager Jurgen Klopp in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium against Chelsea. The rest became history.
‘Klopps Kids’ was the title they soon earned as the trio, supplemented by Trey Nyoni and Lewis Koumas who were on the bench, played their part in helping Liverpool claim the first piece of silverware of the season and a 10th League Cup triumph for the Anfield club.
On Monday, all five of those players arrived at Eppleton Colliery as part of Liverpool’s under-21s side to take on Sunderland in the penultimate Premier League 2 game of the season. They were also joined by Stefan Bajcetic, a player who back in September played over an hour in the Europa League for Klopp’s first team against Austrian side LASK. The 19-year-old Spanish midfielder has 11 Premier League appearances to his name as well as four Champions League appearances, including 85 minutes against Real Madrid in last season’s round of 16 tie. All told, he is a player held in high regard in the confines of Melwood.
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It meant that Graeme Murty’s team were in for a difficult night to round off their regular season home campaign – a night made all the more challenging inside 10 minutes when Koumas capitalised on some hesitation from centre-back Henry Fieldson to hand Liverpool the lead. But Murty’s team have excelled in the newly restructured Premier League 2 this season and have risen to the challenge when called upon against teams they would otherwise not have faced this season.
Harrison Jones stabbed home an equaliser when Fabian Mrozek fumbled Caden Kelly’s corner before Timur Tutierov completed the turnaround in the second half when converting from Tom Watson’s excellent low cross 10 minutes after the break on a night Sunderland’s young pretenders came of age to secure their participation in the end of season knockout phase.
“We’re really pleased that Liverpool brought a strong side, I think it shows where they are as a club,” Murty explained. “But it also shows they’ve paid us a really big compliment by bringing that team, so our players have to stand up to that and they have to make sure they go and deal with the problem and I thought, actually, conceding the goal calmed us down a little bit and we were a lot better after that.
“We were deserving of being on level terms and then both sides showed real good quality at times and really erratic finishing. It could have been a higher scoreline but having said that, I’m really proud of the players and the efforts they put in. They deserved that today.
“Most importantly it’s about not being overawed by them and going and measuring yourself against them,” he added. “I don’t learn anything as a coach, the players don’t learn anything if you let good players play; if you give them an extra yard because you’re a little bit fearful. I don’t learn anything.
“I don’t learn if your drop step needs working on. I don’t learn whether you can pivot to your left or your right or not. You need to go and put yourself to the challenge and you learn more about yourself and I think the players will be really pleased with the work they’ve done and I think they’ll have learned giving time to good players can make you look really bad. Giving excellent players a lot of time then it becomes a real challenge for the entire team and I thought, collectively, they managed that really well.
“They actually stepped forward into the challenge which is something we’re really pleased with.”
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In truth, Sunderland could have won by a greater margin. They hit the bar twice and spurned a number of good opportunities. The in-form, and much talked about, Watson was menacing and dangerous, Kelly confident and driving in possession, Marshall Burke committed and composed, Oliver Bainbridge controlling and effective to the point you question why he wasn’t considered during Sunderland’s injury crisis at left-back earlier this season, the returning Ellis Taylor courageous and leading by example.
All of these impressive displays came under the watchful eye of interim head coach Mike Dodds who would have been hard-pressed not to have been enthused by the performance.
It’s a performance which has been something of a yardstick for Sunderland’s academy team this season. A team who have relished the step up in opposition and a team who are demonstrating they can more than hold their own back at an elite level of development football.
Murty’s team, who have one game remaining against Blackburn Rovers on Sunday, will compete in the end of season knockout phase with this result securing their place in the top 16 with the participation in next season’s international cup all but rubber stamped – such has been the productiveness of this campaign.
“I think with a group of players who are playing their first year in this competition, and we’re really quite a young team – when you see us physically we’re a little bit immature, but they’re brave, they’re technically good and they’ve surprised a few people this year and, importantly, the players have surprised themselves,” said Murty.
“Now they expect a little bit more from themselves than they did previously. Not only are they expecting it, but they’re working really hard to match that aspiration and that’s the important part.
“We’ll always be a club that holds youth players in high regard, we’ll always be a team that promotes and pushes them through and they know they have to go and perform and having that little bit of pressure, whether it’s internal or external, has been a really good thing for the players this year and playing against better opposition has helped their development and it’s speeded it up this year.”
One of those players who now appears to be enjoying that development is Tutierov after the 18-year-old scored his first Premier League 2 goal against Liverpool. The Ukrainian arrived on Wearside 12 months ago after leaving Premier League side FC Kolos Kovalivka and produced his best display when leading the line against a high calibre Liverpool back line.
Tutierov has endured a challenging first year in the North East with injury and illness as well as the struggles of adapting to a new culture. The teenager has been leaned upon to aid his fellow countryman Nazariy Rusyn in the first team with regards the language barrier while trying to develop his own game in the academy.
Tom Watson continues to impress for #SAFC's academy but what is the plan with the teenage winger?
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The Ukrainian still has around 18-months left on his contract at the Academy of Light and Murty was pleased his recent endeavours were rewarded with the winning goal against Liverpool.
“He’s had a hard time,” Murty admitted. “He’s brilliant to work with. He’s really keen and really energetic and wants to do really well and he missed a chance early on and I looked at him and thought ‘you’ll get another one, just keep going’ because we’ve got players who are going to create chances.
“Some of the chances we created were excellent but you have to keep on making those runs. Tommy’s cross that he put in for him was excellent, but you have to be there. The entire build-up for that goal was awesome, and it’s been that way all through the season.
“What Timur does, relentlessly, is be optimistic in that situation. Where, as a defender, I’d be a pessimist waiting for the worst thing to happen, he’s gone to a place and hoped for the best thing to happen and thankfully we’ve got some good quality on the sides that can put something there for him.
“I think when we analyse the chances we made against a really good team we can be really pleased with our creativity.”
Sunderland will complete their Premier League 2 regular season campaign with a trip to Blackburn where a result could see them finish the season in the top eight which will mean they will be handed a home tie in the knockout phase next month while a top 12 finish will officially confirm their participation in the international cup next season.
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