Liverpool’s hopes of reaching back-to-back FA Youth Cup finals were dashed as they squandered a three-goal lead to lose 4-3 to Chelsea at the Academy on Saturday evening.
Strikes from captain Luke Chambers, Kaide Gordon and Oakley Cannonier sent the Reds into dreamland early in the second half, before Tudor Mendel-Idowu rounded off the visitors’ impressive 25-minute comeback deep into injury time.
Despite the nature of the defeat, there was plenty of promise for Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s side who bossed the Cobham scholars for large sections of the game.
The long-term planning at the Academy and Anfield was clear to see in flashes, with the young talents reflecting their senior counterparts in their better moments.
Here are the ECHO's talking points from the match...
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Game management
It was the harshest of lessons for the young Reds who had their hearts set on avenging last season’s final defeat to Aston Villa.
For just over an hour, they looked in cruise control as James Balagizi and Isaac Mabaya excelled in a two-man double pivot.
But the game appeared to flip on its head with a flick of the switch - or more appropriately swing of a boot - as Charlie Webster’s deflected effort from range planted the smallest grain of doubt into the minds of those in red.
The ten-minute period between Chelsea’s second and third goal is exactly where they needed that extra bit of nous, in order to extinguish the Londoners’ momentum.
At that moment there only looked like one side deprived of confidence, as Liverpool’s foothold on the game slipped beyond them.
It’s a loss that will sting the pride of all those involved for a short while.
However, it’s a lesson that the young Reds were bound to be taught at one point in their careers, and in time they will be thankful that it’s happened now.
Captain fantastic
Despite captaining his side to defeat on the night, Chambers will be able to add the game to the list of his impressive personal performances this campaign.
As Andy Robertson did in London just last weekend with a handful of assists, Chambers stole the show from full-back.
Operating on the left of a back four, the England youth international formed a magnificent partnership with Melkamu Frauendorf during the early stages of the first half - before the latter switched flanks.
Overlapping his attacking partner just five minutes into the game in typical Liverpool manner, Chambers picked up Frauendorf’s ball, drove into the box aggressively and slammed his effort past the helpless Chelsea shotstopper.
That strike was just his third goal of the season, but those penetrating attack runs have a been the story of his season so far as he’s cemented himself at the go-to left-back for Bridge-Wilkinson.
Having already trained with Jurgen Klopp’s senior side on a handful of occasions this season, it’s fair to say his future on Merseyside looks very bright.
Academy phenomenon scores again
Another one of those who will be able to take away some kind of positive from the gut-wrenching defeat will be 17-year-old Cannonier - who fired his 24th goal of a ruthless campaign in front of goal.
Overall, it was a different type of test for the youngster last night as he got close attention from two physical centre-halves all night long, and struggled to get on the ball in the first half.
Usually - similarly to Roberto Firmino - Cannonier is about to create the option of dropping between the lines and get on the ball.
However, on the night that was off limits given the sheer volume of bodies trying to get a foodhold of the ball in the middle of the park, which required him to display a type of patience he probably hasn’t needed before.
Thanks to Frauendorf’s perfectly-weighted ball in the early in the second half, the Yorkshire-born forward had the length of Chelsea’s half to pick his spot in Prince Adegoke’s goal.
Opting for the bottom left corner, the forward’s was immediately mobbed by his team-mates near the corner flag as he’d finally grabbed his goal.
Given that he doesn’t have the most imposing physical presences, as he looks to progress up the age groups picking his moments and drifting into games at a second's notice is something that he will no doubt be required to more frequently - and here that skill was very much on display.
The forward is already seen as a cult hero by millions of fans worldwide after his involvement in Liverpool’s heroic comeback against Barcelona in 2019.
And he passed a vital lesson that will stand him in good stead as his bids to progress up the Liverpool ladder in the coming years.
