Should Liverpool’s 20-year-old talent start against Everton?

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Suso impressed in the Capital One Cup. Is it time to finally give him his chance?

There was something very uplifting about Liverpool’s struggle to beat Middlesbrough yesterday night.

It wasn’t the fact that Brendan Rodgers’ side gave away too sloppy goals, failed to win outright over the course of 120 minutes and needed 15 penalty kicks to finally beat the Championship side.

No, it was the promise of youth, as the likes of Jordan Rossiter, Jordan Williams and Suso delivered an encouraging assessment of the shape Liverpool’s youth system is currently in.

But, for Suso in particular, youth is not the right word. The Spaniard is 20 years of age, older than Raheem Sterling and the same age as Lazar Markovic.

After his goalscoring performance against Boro in the Capital One Cup, then, why isn’t the midfielder in the Reds’ first team more often?

As Opta stats show, no Liverpool attacking midfielder has really flourished this season except Raheem Sterling.

Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson have created more chances than most in Rodgers’ squad but the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana and Lazar Markovic are yet to deliver at Anfield during the current Premier League campaign.

Lallana and Markovic need time to settle, while Coutinho is simply off form. But why not give Suso time to settle, after all his patient waiting for a place in the first team?

“A mention for young Suso,” Rodgers said after yesterday’s game. “He hasn’t had a lot of game time but he has kept working every day and I thought when he came on he was really bright for us and took his goal really well.”

Time to give him that game time, Brendan. The Merseyside derby against Everton is the perfect chance.