NewsU18s preview: 'Don't waste an opportunity, don't miss a moment, have no regrets'

The young Reds are hoping to put things right after a bad day at the office in their campaign opener at Derby County when Middlesbrough visit the Academy on Saturday.

Last weekend’s 5-1 loss was a tough one to take for the players – but the manager has tasked his charges with learning from their mistakes, keep on improving and having no regrets.

You can watch the match with Middlesbrough live on LFCTV and LFCTV GO from 12.25pm BST.

Liverpoolfc.com caught up with Bridge-Wilkinson ahead of fixture No.2 in 2024-25 – read on for the interview…

On the qualities of his U18s group this season…

Last season when a lot of the boys were still U16 we gave them opportunities to play at this level and our hope is they have now got a headstart as first-year scholars. We put them in a little bit earlier than we had done previously because of players moving up to the U21s and obviously some of the young boys getting their chance at first-team level. We are just trying to build on a positive pre-season and see where we can go.

On a tough opening day at Derby, with young players learning from mistakes and putting things right…

It was frustrating in terms of the way we conceded the goals. Some of them – the first three – were individual errors really, which happens in youth football especially, so we can’t burden ourselves by thinking about those things. We have just got to know that we have got to improve in both boxes, make it harder for teams to create opportunities against us and we need to create more at the other end.

On Ben Trueman’s fitness…

Unfortunately, Ben is still a little way off at the minute. He would be a good addition back into the group, as will a few of the other boys when they come back from injury. As always, when a player is not available at the moment, like Ben, then other boys will get their opportunity and it’s then up to them to take it and give it their best.

On Josh Sonni-Lambie getting off the mark for the new season…

Josh has done quite well. He is not quite the finished article yet and he is quite a way from that, but at the minute he’s showing an awful lot of potential and he scored a really good goal at Derby. Hopefully we can get him into situations more and more around the box to create and score goals.

On the return of left-back Clae Ewing after injury…

It’s a really nice moment for Clae. He missed the whole of last season and didn’t kick a ball at all for us in training, which is really difficult for a young boy to take. He handled it really well. He played his first 90 minutes in 18 months at Derby, so we are really pleased with him and hopefully he can continue playing and continue developing and improving.

On Saturday’s first home game of the season against Middlesbrough…

It will be a test. Middlesbrough will be aggressive, they will be up for the game and have a real identity about them, I’m sure. It’s up to us to instil our version of the game that we want to play on them and hopefully we can stand up to that challenge and show people what we are about as a group.

On his message to the group in 2024-25…

Don’t waste an opportunity, don’t miss a moment. Better yourself in every game and every training session, every moment that you can do. Don’t rest on your laurels and go give it your best shot with no regrets. It’s as simple as that. We are here to try to help these boys try to reach the level that they are capable of, and ultimately they have got to give their all in terms of application and desire they can to make sure they give themselves the best opportunity.

On an incredible last season for the Academy, with young players shining and helping the club win a major trophy…

Every season is a fresh start. This season is probably a bit different as well with the first-team manager changing. Again, that will create opportunity in different ways. So ultimately we’ve got to make sure our boys go in with the right attitude, the right characteristics and then hopefully the ability levels that they have got and the way that they play will showcase themselves to the first-team staff at the right times in years to come maybe and then who knows?