Andoni Iraola singled out Trey Nyoni for special praise following Liverpool's 1-0 pre-season victory over Wrexham. The 19-year-old midfielder started the match at Yankee Stadium as the new head coach continues to give youngsters opportunities on the US tour.
Nyoni has been linked with a potential loan exit this summer, with Swansea City reportedly interested, but his performances against Sunderland and Wrexham have impressed Iraola.
Iraola on Nyoni: 'So, so good'
"Trey is very good on the ball, very calm, he reads the situations well," Iraola said. "We're reinforcing him in the work without the ball, in the press, and he is absolutely doing very well.
"I think the timings of the jumps are very good. He is always confident on the ball so we encourage him.
"Sometimes even if he loses the ball, 'Try to find the No.10, try to find the No.9, even balls in behind, look a little bit further' because he can do it, because he is so, so good.
"At the end, he is a midfielder who, I always say, you have to ask for the ball sometimes with pressure – and he doesn't feel this pressure.
"Even when he has one opponent quite close, he asks for that ball and he's confident, he doesn't rush. For me, that is very valuable."
Five other youngsters praised
Nyoni was not the only starlet to impress Iraola. The head coach also name-dropped five other youngsters when speaking to club media after the match.
"I'm happy today because we played a lot of the young players," he said. "Some of them had difficult match-ups, [Luke] Chambers playing as a centre-back against big bodies, he covered very well and played very well from the back.
"The wingers – Josh Abe, Kieran Morrison at the end. I think both [Lewis] Koumas and Will [Wright] have done a very good job today.
"They were helping us on the press, helping us also attacking the spaces, linking up also with Harvey [Elliott], with Dom [Szoboszlai], with the players behind them. Both of them have done a good job.
"Good performances from young players, which I think is always good."
Performance over result
Despite the narrow 1-0 win, Iraola revealed he was more pleased with the performance than his side's 4-2 victory over Sunderland earlier in pre-season. However, he conceded his new side are not yet where he wants them to be.
"I think overall we were more solid than the other day," he said. "It was a different kind of game, the pitch is quite narrow and there are not a lot of spaces.
"But I think we had good spells. And even if the other day maybe you score more goals and it looks nicer, I think today we were more a team and more collective.
"I think we're still not there. We are sometimes arriving late, but I think it's a step forward, since especially the first half against Sunderland. That is more of a reference than the second half.
"Slowly, slowly I hope every game we are closer and closer. We start to add new bodies, because now we are playing with a lot of the young players.
"Slowly, slowly we have to add the senior players that are starting to train with us, so we can arrive to the beginning of the season in a good place."
