Issuing a rallying cry.
That’s what Pepijn Linders did when talking about young Liverpool defender Neco Williams. The 19-year-old Welshman has had a rough going in recent times, even going so far as to black out his social media accounts following some comments that fans made about him during the game against Lincoln City last week.
However, speaking to the press ahead of tonight’s game against Arsenal, a game in which he could feature given the nature of rotation in competitions like this, the assistant manager issued a fervent defence of Williams, saying that he was really only doing what the club asked him to do:
Lijnders on Neco Williams: “Neco is a doer and a doer makes mistakes. We don’t want safe play, we want players to take risks. I think he dealt with it really well. Our players and players spoke with him. You can’t get caught up with praise or criticism as a young player.”
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) September 30, 2020
Will Neco Williams improve as the season progresses?
Yes
No
Which I think is the correct attitude to take. Whilst Williams has appeared sporadically over the past couple of months, he is still a young player, and fans need to understand that.
At the end of the day I’d rather he make the mistakes now as he’s playing against the likes of Lincoln and get them out of his system rather than in an important game like a Champions League ¼ final for instance.
What about you? What do you make of Linders’ comments about Neco?