Jürgen Klopp was left singing the praises of Conor Bradley once again after a phenomenal performance in Liverpool’s win over Chelsea. The Northern Ireland international was also credited alongside two other players for maintaining the Reds’ lead in the Premier League in recent weeks.
Bradley was the architect of Liverpool’s 4-1 win as Chelsea was thrashed at Anfield. Having set up Diogo Jota for the opener, the 20-year-old then fired in his first senior goal for the club to put the hosts in complete control.
Darwin Núñez missed the chance to extend the lead from the penalty spot just before the break, but Bradley was on hand once again after the restart to set up Dominik Szoboszlai to make it 3-0. Christopher Nkunku gave Chelsea some hope of a late comeback, but Luis Díaz wrapped up a comprehensive victory for the Reds.
And on a night when the Anfield crowd was left singing Bradley’s name, Klopp couldn’t help but beam with joy as he spoke about his latest star from the club’s academy. “What a wonderful kid he is,” Klopp told the BBC’s Match of the Day.
“Outstanding finish, the whole game, the contribution, the involvement. It’s a job to play against [Raheem] Sterling, that’s not easy. I’m really happy for him.
“He’s a very serious young man and that was pretty special I have to say. We saw in pre-season. He is really doing well. A few weeks ago when I was in holiday a few Bolton fans asked if they could have Bradley back but it’s too late!
For us it’s important because we could not have put this string of results together without these boys. Without [Jarell] Quansah, Conor and Bobby [Clark], they really helped us through this period. Joe Gomez has created his own position if you want. It’s really good, really happy for the boys.”
On his side’s performance, Klopp added: “I don’t think you can have an outstanding team performance when the individuals don’t work together. The start was brilliant, we were really going for them.
They tried to find [Cole] Palmer and we had struggles when the pressing was not right. We were outstanding, it was a top game. We could have scored and should have scored more goals. You cannot score five, six goals against Chelsea if you are not outstanding.”
Liverpool.com says: You don’t want to go too hard too early, but what a player Bradley looks. We saw how comfortable he seemed in the first team during pre-season, but to be producing the sort of performances he is now in the Premier League is something else.
Bradley, Quansah, Clark, James McConnell — the list goes on. Liverpool’s academy is producing such an exciting batch of players, and the future post-Klopp looks very bright.
