AcademyPapa Johns Trophy preview: 'Salford will be a test but we want to compete'

The young Reds begin the group stage tonight when they face League Two side Salford City at the Peninsula Stadium, with kick-off set for 7.30pm BST.

As an invited Premier League club, Liverpool are in Northern Group D alongside Salford, Rochdale and Accrington Stanley and play all of their fixtures away from home.

The winners and runners-up of each group will progress to the round of 32.

During the build-up to 2022-23, Lewtas' charges took on the first teams of Wigan Athletic and Kidderminster Harriers, and travelled for an away date with Porto's B side.

"Having a stronger squad will help us this season," Lewtas told Liverpoolfc.com. "I think there have been times in the previous games in the competition where we have just come a little unstuck positionally as well, in terms of the changes we had to make.

"Having players available to us will certainly help from a physical point of view. The competition does throw up a different kind of challenge but we have prepared the boys for it the best we can.

"It is a new group and it's a bit of a baptism of fire for them but we had some tough physical challenges in pre-season. We played against Porto's B team, Kidderminster Harriers and Wigan Athletic's first teams, so it shouldn't be a surprise to us what we will come up against physically.

"We are not naive and we understand what the game will throw up but as staff and players we are all looking forward to it.

"But we are not looking forward to it like we are guests. We want to win the game, play well, so we are going there to give a real good account of ourselves."

Read on for the rest of our match preview with Lewtas...

On last Friday's superb comeback to draw 3-3 at Tottenham Hotspur in Premier League 2…

It was obviously a whole mix of emotions really. I was pleased with some moments of the first half in terms of how we played, but obviously I was disappointed with the goals we conceded and the manner of which we conceded them. We said to the players at half-time that there was still enough in the game to suggest we could get back into it. The boys had to believe, there were certain things we needed to fix and the players needed to fix, and we were able to do that.

It's easier said than done that we felt we could get back into the game but coming from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 away at Tottenham, I've got to give the boys credit for the character. I will say, though, after the game our dressing room wasn't one of celebration and happy because the lads were disappointed with the manner of which we conceded the goals. As a group we felt it was an opportunity missed.

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On Harvey Blair's impact off the bench…

We just felt that Harvey's pace and the way he plays the game out wide in terms of how direct he is would cause the opposition a problem. I think he did that. He had other chances as well but he took his goal ever so well. That's what you want from the bench, you want to have options and you want to be able to bring people on who can change the game. I look at our squad at the moment and I feel we have got that.

On hitting the woodwork twice and having chances to win the game…

I think if Dominic Corness' first effort had gone in it would have been Goal of the Season, and he was also unlucky to hit the post in the second half after a great run into the box. We had enough chances over the course of the game and we've spoken a lot to the boys about this. The real pleasing thing is we did create good chances and we are showing that real intent to go and attack the opposition.

I am pleased we scored three goals because in our first few games we have been a bit toothless at times and not finished off good opportunities. From that point of view I'm pleased with the way we are improving and developing. We've just got to be tight at one end and hopefully score more goals at the other.

On the influential display of Corness as a No.6…

Dominic played at the base of midfield and I felt the moments when we had control of the game he plays a big part in that for us. He has a really good range of passing, he has good appreciation of the game and I was pleased with him because he put in a really good performance.

On perhaps being better equipped to play in the Papa Johns Trophy this season with two of the three group games not being played during the international break…

We have more players available and in the past we have tended to scrape together a few subs and that's not me being disrespectful to the lads. You are eligible to have seven players on the bench and last season in this competition we only had two or three. On this occasion we have more players available to us. It's OK maybe using the international break as an excuse but we've got to show on Tuesday that with having players available that we are able to go out there and compete. What comes with having, I suppose, a full squad available becomes a little bit of pressure on us to make sure we go there and perform.

On the test posed by Salford…

When we enter this tournament we understand that all three games are going to be challenging. That doesn't mean we go into them not expecting to play well because we want to compete, there's no question about that. It can just depend sometimes on the luck of the draw I suppose. Our first game is Salford City, who we have watched and they are doing ever so well. Their coach is the ex-Manchester United U23s boss Neil Wood so we are playing against a coach who knows us well as well. It will be good to see Neil. He is doing a fantastic job and they have started the season really well. They are a really good team but hopefully we can surprise their players.