{"id":117601,"date":"2025-09-03T20:38:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T20:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/117601\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T20:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T20:38:11","slug":"rhys-williams-and-jay-spearing-start-in-liverpool-u21s-defeat-liverpool-fc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/117601\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhys Williams and Jay Spearing start in Liverpool U21s defeat – Liverpool FC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool U21s were beaten 2-0 in their opening game of this season\u2019s EFL Trophy, with Rhys Williams<\/a> and Jay Spearing both starting as over-age players.<\/p>\n

Burton Albion 2-0 Liverpool U21s<\/p>\n

EFL Trophy (1) | Pirelli Stadium
September 2, 2025 <\/p>\n

Goals: Tavares 37\u2032, Larsson 67\u2032<\/p>\n

The EFL Trophy \u2013 known this season as the Vertu Trophy \u2013 pits academy teams from the Premier League<\/a> and Championship against senior sides from League One and League Two.<\/p>\n

Liverpool were drawn against Burton, Crewe and Chesterfield in Group H and began their tournament with a trip to Burton\u2019s Pirelli Stadium on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

With a number of players injured and others on international duty, it meant Rob Page made seven changes from the side that beat Stoke U21s 2-1 four days previous.<\/p>\n

\"BURTON,<\/p>\n

Williams, 24, was among those to come into the lineup and wore the captain\u2019s armband, while 36-year-old player-coach Jay Spearing started in midfield to lead by example against seasoned professionals.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for a side unable to call upon the likes of Trey Nyoni<\/a>, Rio Ngumoha<\/a>, Jayden Danns<\/a>, Trent Kone-Doherty and regular goalkeepers Armin Pecsi<\/a> and Kornel Misciur, it resulted in a comprehensive defeat.<\/p>\n

There were bright moments in the first half, not least from Kaide Gordon<\/a> \u2013 denied a loan move to Blackpool on deadline day \u2013 and summer signing Will Wright<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"BURTON,<\/p>\n

But the young Reds went a goal down not long before half-time as Fabio Tavares beat goalkeeper Fabian Mrozek at the second time of asking.<\/p>\n

Kieran Morrison went closest to equalising after the break, with the 18-year-old winger working his way into the box and firing an effort which required a sharp save.<\/p>\n

Burton\u2019s nous showed as they wrapped up a 2-0 win in the 67th minute, as forward Julian Larsson cut inside from the right flank to bend an effort beyond Mrozek and in.<\/p>\n

\"BURTON,<\/p>\n

While it was a frustrating result for Liverpool it will still be considered a productive night for Page and his side, with many of the club\u2019s high-potential youngsters gaining valuable experience against senior opponents.<\/p>\n

They are now left with over a fortnight between games due to the international break, with their next clash coming at home to Man United<\/a> U21s in the league.<\/p>\n

Liverpool U21s: Mrozek; Davidson (Pitt 65\u2032), Pinnington, Williams, Miles; Spearing (Laffey 56\u2032), Pilling; Morrison, Gordon, Ahmed (Onanuga 65\u2032); Wright (Figueroa 56\u2032)<\/p>\n

Subs not used: Hall, Lucky, Airoboma<\/p>\n

Next match: Man United<\/a> (H) \u2013 Premier League<\/a> 2 \u2013 Sunday, September 21, 2pm (BST)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool U21s were beaten 2-0 in their opening game of this season\u2019s EFL Trophy, with Rhys Williams and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,739,561,82],"class_list":["post-117601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}