Alan Shearer picked out two ‘superb’ Liverpool players for praise after the roles they played in the 2-0 win over Arsenal on Sunday.
With the teams deadlocked at the 75-minute mark, Jurgen Klopp rolled the dice by bringing on Conor Bradley and Bobby Clark for Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones, and the double substitution worked a treat.
Trent Alexander-Arnold duly pushed into midfield, from where he helped the Reds to get over the finish line and stave off an unwanted replay, and the BBC pundit gave credit to the young duo who were introduced as the game entered its final quarter-hour.
Speaking about Bradley and Clark on the Rest Is Football podcast, Shearer said: “Did you see when he brought the two youngsters on in the last 10 or 15 minutes, Jurgen Klopp?! It was 0-0 at the time and I thought both of them were superb when they came on.
“I think there was an element of ‘we’ll just go for it here’. They didn’t want the draw because that would’ve messed their winter break weekend up, because they’d have had to go into a replay. I think Klopp thought ‘I’m just going to go for it here’ and it was brilliant. The two youngsters coming on were superb.”
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The contributions of the young pair were probably overlooked by many as the likes of Trent, Ibrahima Konate and Luis Diaz grabbed the bulk of the plaudits, but Shearer is right to have singled them out for praise.
Bradley helped to lock down the right flank for Liverpool by making one tackle and winning two duels after his introduction, while Clark – in just his third senior appearance – came away with a 100% passing success rate and made one clearance in helping his team to turn parity into victory in the final 15-20 minutes (Sofascore).
It was certainly a gamble by Klopp to throw the inexperienced duo into the fray at such a critical juncture, but his bold move worked wonders and was wholly justified by the end result.
The two youngsters who came on for the final quarter-hour will surely take huge encouragement from their cameo performances at the Emirates Stadium and may even have played their way into the manager’s thoughts for further game-time in tomorrow night’s Carabao Cup clash against Fulham.
#Ep98 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️