Cameron Brannagan Determined To Seize His Chance

Generally speaking, a draw in the 3rd round of the FA Cup isn't an ideal outcome, due to the forced replay, and especially given the League Two opposition. However, because of the severe injury crisis that Liverpool have been hit with over the past few weeks, Klopp was forced to field a very young squad. The few senior players who were involved didn't make an impact, but several of the youngsters impressed.

Among them was 19-year-old Cameron Brannagan, who has been with the club since the Under-9s, made his fourth senior appearance on Friday in the midfield alongside Liverpool debutante Kevin Stewart. Brannagan realizes that this injury crisis may be the opening he needs to make an impression on manager Jürgen Klopp, and he intends to take advantage.

"We’re there every day training with the manager and our aim is to hopefully push on and work our way into the first team. That’s what we’re aiming to do.

"Obviously it’s a disappointing time to see some great players injured, but we’ve got to take our chance when it comes and carry on with what we’re doing.

"We were disappointed to draw. We were hoping that we could get the win but it was great for us youngsters because that’ll hopefully give us chance to play again

"Everyone is made up and looking forward to the next game."

He also gave credit where it was due, praising his fellow Under-21 players Jerome Sinclair and Brad Smith for their work scoring Liverpool's two goals on Friday.

"It was disappointing to go into the break 2-1 down. The manager got us together at half-time and said, ‘Come on, we need to dig in and keep doing what we’re doing and play our football’. We came out in the second half and we did that.

"I’m happy for Brad Smith to get his goal and Jerome as well. It was a great experience for us and hopefully in the next round we can do the job.

"We’re all together in the U21s and everybody knows each other well. It was all about experience and enjoying the moment. The manager just said, ‘Enjoy it and go out there and show what you can do. Don’t worry about it if you make a mistake'.

"I don’t think the pitch bothered us, it was fine at times. Obviously it got a bit bad towards the end but we dug through it. None of us made it an excuse. We carried on playing like we do."

With Klopp's options limited for the time being, and with so many matches coming up, he may just get some more opportunities in the future.