The second round of fixtures involving Liverpool players has just gone but how did the players get on? Italy won 4-0 against hosts Israel but Fabio Borini stayed on the bench for the whole game, England on the other hand lost meekly to Norway 3-1 with a Craig Dawson penalty turning out to just be a consolation. Jordan Henderson was the only Liverpool player to start the game with Jonjo Shelvey and Andre Wisdom both coming off the bench, Jack Robinson was an unused sub.
Despite only captain Henderson starting for England out of the Liverpool contingent I wrote as many notes as I did for the previous game. Compared to the Italy match Henderson managed to have much more influence on the game, for me he was England’s man of the match and was one of few players who looked really up for the game. He started in an attacking midfield role ahead of Lowe and Chalobah and from the start he looked to move the ball quickly and up the tempo of England’s play. Prior to Norway scoring in the 15th minute England were in charge of the game and Henderson whipped in a good free kick in the 14th minute but Danny Rose headed over. He had a penalty claim not long after and just before half time he put in a good cross from a free kick to set up Caulker to score but it was disallowed for an offside.
Right at the begginging of the second half England won a corner and the ball fell to Henderson on the edge of the box, he hit it first time on his left foot and the Norweigen keeper had to pull of a very good save to deny Henderson what would have been a stunning goal. Norway went 3-0 up in the 51st minute but only 6 minutes later England managed to get their first goal of the tournemant. Henderson took a corner and Dawson was apparently fouled, Dawson took the penalty himself and scored low into the bottom left corner.
Nothing much of note happened for Henderson for a while after that, but he was booked for diving in the 82nd minute and headed a Shelvey cross just wide in the 84th minute. Overall I think he had a good game, certainly alot better than the first match against Italy, this may be down to the fact he was up against easier opposition but he can be pleased with his performance.
Jonjo Shelvey:
Shelvey was subbed on for Redmond in the 67th minute, this meant a change of positions for a few players and Zaha took Redmond’s position on the left wing. Shelvey played off Wickham like he did in the first game and immediately looked to try and create chances; he hit a number of long range passes of which most came off but some were a bit overhit. His best moment came in the 84th minute in which he whipped in a good freekick to Henderson but Hendo couldn’t direct his header on target.
Wisdom was substituted on in the 85th minute for Dawson and had little to do at the back as England looked to try and score. The little he had to do he did well and hopefully he’ll be able to start against Israel on Tuesday in England’s final match. Borini’s next opportunity to play is also on Tuesday as they face Norway in a game which will decide which team tops the group. Due to these results England are now out and Italy are into the semi finals.
The next U21 update will be on the site not long after the final group A matches on Tuesday, let me know what you thought of how Liverpool’s players got on, I’m always interested to hear people’s opinions so leave a comment below or you can tweet me at @JLwi11iams.
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