Tim Sherwood has claimed that Tyler Morton is ‘not ready’ to play on his own as a number six, as he told Premier League Productions (19/12/21 at 7:10 pm)
The former title-winning captain added that Morton is a ‘decent’ player on the ball, but it didn’t work for him against Tottenham on Sunday.
With a number of COVID cases in the Liverpool camp, including Fabinho, it meant that Morton was handed a Premier League start yesterday.
The 19-year-old has been thrust into the limelight before, when he started Liverpool’s Champions League tie against AC Milan at the San Siro and he impressed on that big stage.
But things were a bit more difficult for him in north London, as Sherwood touched upon the problem he was facing.
“With the young boy Morton, as the six,” said Sherwood. “I think he is a decent player on the ball, but he’s not ready to play in their on his own.
“To be the only protection, with Trent and Robertson just vacating them areas and playing as wingers really.
“I think with Henderson, I can understand it, even without Van Dijk. But you have to tweak it sometimes without Van Dijk.”
Morton was booked early on in the game, as a hungry and aggressive Antonio Conte side pressed Liverpool’s into problems throughout the match.
It was a crazy game between the two, and in truth, it could have and should have been more than the four goals that were scored.
For Morton, he was taken off on the hour mark for Roberto Firmino and that game would have been a huge learning curve for the teenager.
Too much shouldn’t be looked into it because he didn’t have the protection of Virgil van Dijk behind him, nor were the likes of Fabinho or Jordan Henderson playing either side of him.
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