Liverpool's young starlet shines despite 3-0 loss to Strasbourg

The Reds were in action twice across the weekend, with the FA Community Shield victory over Manchester City followed by a 3-0 defeat against RC Strasbourg Alsace for a youthful line-up at Anfield. Harvey Elliott featured in both games and the No.19 is eagerly awaiting the beginning of the new league campaign versus his former club at Craven Cottage.

“The performance from the lads [against City] was unbelievable, from the boys that came on to the boys that started,” Elliott told. “No-one looked tired and no-one looked lethargic in any areas of the game. To top it off with a win proved and showed what our performance was like. It’s all credit to the boys who played a part and just as a team we stuck together throughout pre-season.

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“That’s all credit to us and the coaching staff to get some silverware at the start of the season, which has put us in good stepping stones for the season. Hopefully we can just keep adding to it this season, which is our aim. Our focus now is on Fulham. We have a week to build up to it and hopefully we can start off with a flyer.”

Defeat at Anfield

In their final pre-season fixture, Jürgen Klopp’s side – which featured eight teenagers in the XI – were undone by three Strasbourg goals inside the game’s opening quarter. While the result on home turf stings, Elliott feels everyone involved will feel the benefits of the experience in the long term.

“Obviously conceding three isn’t easy to come back from against any team, especially these guys who were very well organised and played great football against us,” he said post-match.

“It’s a learning curve for the young lads and everyone else involved. It’s more minutes in the legs and getting to play in front of the home crowd, which is always an honour and very exciting to come and play back here again. We are disappointed but we just need to take the positives and learn from it. Elliott continued: “I think the youngsters need to learn the hard way sometimes and some of them did that today, but in all fairness they bounced back and played the rest of the game really strong so it’s all credit to them.

“Youngsters are always going to make mistakes, and even senior players, so it’s just about how you react, and their reaction was very good. Everyone makes mistakes in life and we are all a team and we’ve all made that mistake together. There’s no-one single-handedly made it themselves, so we all stuck together and encouraged everyone, and just told them to keep playing their football, which they did.

“It’s all credit to them and, as I said, if they don’t make these mistakes then they won’t learn. Everyone played a great part today and gave it their best and that’s all you can ask for.”

Having missed a large portion of 2021-22 due to a serious ankle injury, Elliott has enjoyed a full pre-season programme this summer. The 19-year-old is determined to keep expressing himself and positively influencing the Reds’ football whenever given the opportunity.