Jurgen Klopp has insisted that Conor Bradley has a bright future ahead of him at Liverpool, after admitting he didn’t play great on Wednesday night.
Liverpool came from two goals down to move into the semi-final of the Carabao Cup by beating Leicester City on penalties.
Klopp’s side were losing 3-1 at the break following an erratic defensive performance during the opening 45 minutes.
For the second half, the German manager substituted Bradley, Billy Koumetio and Tyler Morton – all of whom are teenagers – and the Reds wound up salvaging the game.
Bradley seemed to struggle quite a bit during his stint on the pitch and the Liverpool boss has conceded that the Northern Irishman found it difficult, though he still ‘loves him to bits’.
He told the club’s official website: “Conor in that situation that didn’t work out that well. Even [though] Conor is an incredible talent, I love the boy to bits, he will be a Liverpool player in the future but today in the combination we had to make changes for the second half.”
No disgrace
Bradley and the other teenagers who came off at the break may feel a little downhearted by their performances.
However, the keyword in the above sentence is ‘teenagers’.
At this level against Premier League opposition, mistakes are inevitable at their age and the important thing is that the Liverpool boss drills into them that it’s perfectly normal.
There’s no disgrace in what happened, particularly when the team winds up winning without you on the field, and that’ll be the message from Klopp in training.
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