Carragher’s high hopes for Williams
JAMIE Carragher says Welsh wonderkid Neco Williams is more than capable of filling in for Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool.
But has seemingly poured cold water over the chances of Harry Wilson and Ben Woodburn making an imminent first-team breakthrough at Anfield.
Alexander-Arnold is widely regarded as one of the best fullbacks in world football, but Williams has earned himself rave reviews on the back of some strong showings in the club’s cup campaigns.
The 19-year-old has been so impressive that he was even tipped for a call-up to Ryan Giggs’ Wales squad for the upcoming European Championships, shortly before they were moved to next summer due to the current coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to the Football Show on Sky Sports, the former Reds centre-back said that Jurgen Klopp may well be tempted to strengthen in certain areas, but insisted that Williams has what it takes to deputise for the England international.
He said: “Liverpool have been lucky in that the best players, the most important players for Jurgen Klopp, have never really suffered injury wise.
“You think of the front three, the two full-backs and then Virgil van Dijk. They’re on that teamsheet every week.
“I think with Trent, there’s a young lad coming through in Neco Williams, who Klopp’s given a go. I think he’s now shown that he’s good enough to be his back-up, or his replacement if he’s out injured.”
Countrymen Wilson and Woodburn have both been tipped for big futures in the past, despite being sent out to Bournemouth and Oxford on loan respectively.
But the duo’s future at Anfield looks increasingly uncertain, given they currently sit behind one of the world’s strongest front threes, with Klopp’s attacking options further strengthened by the signing of Takumi Minamino.
PLAYERS in the English Football League have reportedly been told the chances of finishing the season are rapidly diminishing in what is the biggest indicator yet that the 2019/20 campaign is over.
The Premier League are set to thrash out plans on how to resume their season in a ‘Project Restart’ meeting on Friday, however the outcome of the EFL’s own board meeting appears to point only in one direction.
According to the Daily Mail, Swansea City’s Matt Grimes and Cardiff City’s Sean Morrison, along with every other EFL captain and all the PFA reps, in the past 24 hours have been told to tell their team-mates there is a ‘very real possibility’ of no more football being played in this campaign.
The board have told the players in no uncertain terms that there is “very little expectation at EFL level of any football being played in June,” according to the Mail.
It is said Championship clubs are still clinging on to the possibility of finishing the season if at all possible, while the resolve in League One and Two is weakening.
In another bombshell revelation, it was discussed at the board meeting that, at EFL level, there will be no supporters allowed in stadia until January 2021. It is thought the main stumbling block with their return-to-play strategy is down to the volume of coronavirus tests that would be needed for players, a requirement for all levels of football under the tentative proposals which have been tabled.
That number is expected to top the tens of thousands and, given the clear struggles when it comes to testing the NHS and key workers, it is a very clear danger that the number of testing kits needed will not be able to trickle down to football in such a capacity.
The Mail report that one option of deciding how best to finish the campaign is on ‘sporting merit,’ with the preferred method being determining league positions based using a points-per-game system.
There is a possibility that the two teams in the promotion spots, currently West Brom and Leeds United, might be given promotion, with no relegation from the Premier League.
However, such a circumstance would need to be sanctioned by the Premier League.
It would mean Cardiff City and Swansea City, currently two and three points off the play-off spots respectively, would see their promotion hopes dashed.
This all comes after many, including former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan, warned of the potential dangers of resuming football too early without proper measures in place.
“We’ve got a disease, as much as I don’t want to be a doomsday merchant, that we don’t have a vaccine for,” he said on talkSPORT.
“Despite the fact that everyone going to work and spreading it is an issue, everyone isn’t spitting and kicking one another and putting sweat over one another as footballers do.
“You cannot have a situation whereby a global sport of this magnitude has a player that becomes infected, which is an absolute inevitability, because they’re going to get infected until we find a vaccine.
“And if something dreadful happens, what happens to sport then? Corporate manslaughter? Is that what we’re going to talk about next?”