An emphatic second-half display on Saturday at the Kirkby Academy saw all the goals scored after the break by the Reds.
Finn Inglethorpe supplied three of them, Erik Farkas netted twice and Lenix Conde and Daniel Majekodunmi each chipped in too.
The big win was a timely one for Wiles’ charges, halting a run of two defeats and two draws in league and cup.
Liverpoolfc.com spoke to the U18s head coach post-match – read the interview below.
On a great team performance…
Yeah, really pleased for the players. We’ve been speaking a lot about making sure we’re really difficult to play against, and I know we haven’t had the results of late in terms of that for the back line. So, I was absolutely delighted for the foundation at the back to get the clean sheet to then allow the players at the top end of the pitch to go and be ruthless in front of goal, which is what we got.
On the contributions of the defence…
I think we could go across the whole back five with that – Lenix, Joe [Dixon], Dara [Jikiemi], Cam [Williams] and obviously Matty [Wright] in goal. I thought they were outstanding. The way that they went into their duels and one-v-one situations was really, really impressive. But really pleasing as well as a unit. I thought they were really good. And still lots more to come from that. So, I’m delighted for the whole back unit. The clean sheet, not just those but the rest of the team are really pleased with.
On Williams getting 88 minutes and an assist…
He has been building up to that and that has been really exciting for us. I only saw him for two 45-minute halves last season. All the rest of the staff around the building have seen Cam for years and years. For me, it was a little bit of a dangle of a carrot – ‘I want to see more.’ For him to get to this stage now, we’ve just got 88 minutes under his belt with an assist, but more so just his overall performances.
He adds so much to us. He is really composed on the ball, he has got really good game intelligence. He likes the one-v-one duels but he also likes to attack. So, we’ve got an exciting full-back on our hands. Ultimately, we’ve just got to keep making sure we manage him the right way for him to keep getting more of these full games under his belt.
On Inglethorpe scoring a hat-trick…
Amazing, delighted for him. The goals are going to keep coming, the way that we create and attack, but most importantly for when he gets into these moments you do feel like there’s always going to be goals when he’s letting fly. He’s got the full range of finishes. There was only going to be one outcome when we got the penalty through some really good play from AJ [Yeguo], who was again really threatening.
Really pleased for Finn. I thought his first goal was outstanding. Coming in at half-time, I thought we had quite a lot of control in their half in the first half and the one thing that was missing was the goal. So, we had to speak to them about how we can try to open that up. It was going to take something special, in my eyes, and I thought the ball in from Erik and the timing, the header from Finn was outstanding. He made it look easy but that’s a really difficult skill, to get that timing of his header. The quality of the ball in. It was a really top finish. That was the one that put us into a little bit of a flow going into the second half.
On Inglethorpe being named U18s captain this season for extra responsibility…
Yeah, for that reason. When we were looking to decide who to give the armband to, we want to see somebody who works just as hard on the pitch as he does off the pitch. We want somebody that can lead by example with his daily actions and how he is in and around the building. Also, someone that sets the standards that others will recognise, pick up and learn from.
When we looked at the whole group, we thought Finn was the right person for that. He has done really well with that so far and there is still much more to come from a leadership point of view as well. He is leading by example, he has got his goals, his application both on and off the pitch has been really good. We just want to keep him striving for more.
On Yeguo’s form…
He’s doing really well at the moment. The conversations that we’ve had at the start of this season on the back of last season, his approach to the day-to-day and his approach to matches is certainly improving. He looks a real threat. If you look at this game, when he’s coming inside he looks dangerous and when he goes on the outside he’s looking dangerous. He’s just got to keep mixing his game up. And if he can keep mixing his game up and bringing those last parts then I’m sure he’ll continue to keep progressing the way that we want him to.
