Reserves v West Ham

[MrsB]

McMahon looking for Hammers response

Steve Hunter, 5th Oct 2010
LiverpoolFC.tv



John McMahon is looking for an instant response from his players against West Ham United at Prenton Park tonight after their below par showing at Chelsea last week.

The 3-1 defeat at Cobham left the reserves boss furious and he is hoping his team will show their true colours tonight in a match you can watch exclusively live on LFC TV online from 7pm.

"We certainly will be looking for a response because we were very disappointed with our overall performance against Chelsea," McMahon told Liverpoolfc.tv.

"We gave them too much respect and too much time on the ball. We have got some good players in our team but we just didn't perform on the day.

"The main thing the lads will have learnt from that in the future is how not to approach games. Having the right mentality going into games is very important. We went into the Chelsea game with the wrong mentality.

"I let the lads know that performance was not acceptable and we showed a much better attitude and spirit in the second half."

The Hammers' second string arrive at Prenton Park with a talented squad made up from the acclaimed West Ham production line that has produced players in the calibre of our own Joe Cole and Glen Johnson.

Meanwhile, McMahon will be without several of his usual squad tonight as Jonjo Shelvey, Andre Wisdom and Michael Ngoo are away with England U19s, Chris Mavinga is with France U19s and Danny Wilson is away with Scotland U21s.

"This will be another good game for us as you want to really test yourselves against different teams and players," he added.

"We will have several senior players from Melwood playing so it will be a good balance with the younger lads.

"West Ham are renowned for producing good footballers so whatever team they put out this will be a tough game for us, but hopefully we can come out winners."

Leading the line for Liverpool tonight will be Nathan Eccleston and McMahon has praised the 19-year-old for showing great courage and determination after he was devastated when he missed a penalty in the shoot-out against Northampton.

"Nathan Eccleston has shown a great attitude and he's a good lad," he added.

"He took the penalty miss personally and that would have hurt him because he felt he let everybody and the fans down.

"That will make him a better player and a stronger person in the future. He's a confident lad and he's got lots of ability."

McMahon also revealed the likes of Academy starlets Conor Coady, Toni Silva and Raheem Sterling could make the step up to the reserve squad at some point this season.

"I think they could get an opportunity at reserve level this season - they are certainly good enough," he said.

"I have regular discussions with Rodolfo Borrell, Pep Segura and Frank McParland about the players and it's about using them at the right time and for the right games.

"We are not pushing them too early at the wrong time. We will monitor the players properly and then push them at the right times.

"We have several very good players in the U18 team and we are excited about the future."

[RoadEnd]

Ryan Babel, Jay Spearing and Danny Pacheco played 90 minutes for the ressies tonight.

Final Score - Liverpool 0 - 1 West Ham

A Benni McCarthy penalty

[BigChief]

You gotta be kidding me!

Spearing, Pach, Babel and we still can't win. Useless pieces of sh....

[little dave hedgehog]

i reckon no matter how you feel about babel, he mus be moved on. we spent 11.5 million on him, and for hat kind of money in the state we're in, we need a player who's gong to be challenging for a first xi spot week in, week out. even if you're one who reckons he could still be a great player, you must admit it's not worth the money we could get for him to wait around for. even someone who was not as good but a lot more consistent would be better.

[-V-]

No wonder he hasn't been on twitter for about 2 weeks. Rather than playing for Holland, he is failing in our reserves. His career is going down the pan.

Ryan Babel played the full 90 minutes as Liverpool Reserves slumped to a 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham on Tuesday night.

The Dutch winger led the line alongside Nathan Eccleston but could not find the spark to inspire the second-string who went down to a second straight loss courtesy of Benni McCarthy's 79th minute penalty.

It was a bitter blow for John McMahon's side who shaded the majority of the encounter but paid the price for a series of missed opportunities, leaving them with just five points from as many matches so far this season.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, all the pre-match talk in the stands had centred upon Babel's inclusion in Liverpool's starting XI and he came close to making an immediate impact when he won a free-kick in a dangerous position on nine minutes.

Dani Pacheco floated in the resulting kick from the left hand edge of the area, providing the Dutchman with a free header that he somehow managed to power over the crossbar with Boffin in no man's land.

It would prove to be one of the few chances of a tight first half with the Reds' only other efforts of note arriving just prior to the half hour mark.

An astute Irwin pass parted the Hammers defence, allowing Pacheco the freedom to send Ince into the area but the winger's disguised cut back was brilliantly read by a visiting defender who hooked the ball to safety.

From the ensuing corner the ball was delivered to the edge of the box where Irwin arrived to fire a well-executed volley towards goal that Boffin did well to smother at his near post.

McMahon would have been keen to see his side step it up a level in the second period and the introduction of David Amoo added some extra impetus down the right flank.

On 52 minutes the wideman showed Filip Modelski a clean pair of heels before cutting the ball across for Eccleston to turn his man and fire a shot inches wide of the near post.

Pacheco then seized upon a misplaced pass and fizzed inches over the top before the Hammers gave a warning of their threat on the counter attack.

Oliver Lee was played in down the left edge of the area and he crossed low and hard for McCarthy, but the South African hitman steered his shot well over the top from six yards out.

It was looking more and more likely that one goal would decide the outcome and Babel came within a whisker of being the hero on 68 minutes, but Boffin smothered at his feet after initially failing to hold Amoo's low drive.

With time running out Liverpool continued to probe but when Eccleston smashed over after great play by Jack Robinson down the left, it became clear that it wasn't going to be their night.

And it proved to be the case, as the Hammers stole the points when they were awarded a spot-kick after Robinson was adjudged to have handled with 11 minutes remaining.

McCarthy accepted the responsibility and showed great composure to blast a ferocious effort high into the net to clinch victory for the Londoners.

Liverpool Reserves: Jones, Flanagan, Robinson, Darby, Coady, Irwin, Spearing, Ince (Amoo 46), Pacheco, Eccleston, Babel. Unused Subs: Hansen, Roberts, Bruna, Suso.

[Lee]

We'll be lucky to get £6m for Babel now to be honest.

What's up with Bruna?! He was on the bench tonight, but I haven't heard / seen of him for a while. Has he been injured?

[Ben_Itez]

There were quite a few of the ressies off with their U21, U19, U18 teams so they missed this game. The sweeping changes to the line up can't have helped.

I just hope Roy doesnt insist on his first team flops being included for reserve games, it should be all about the youngsters.