'Enjoy Anfield, embrace it and show why you play for LFC'

The Reds lost their lead at the top of the division following Monday’s 4-0 defeat at Leicester City, and Critchley is looking for a response from his team.

Read on for the manager’s thoughts on his young team having to learn quickly at U23 level and the exciting challenge of playing at Anfield…

On the loss to Leicester…

It’s important when you look at the game that you take into context [the young team we had out there]. That’s the beauty of having experienced staff because we have that perspective that sometimes the younger players don’t have. It was a tough night but even though it was tough to take at the time we will take so much from it. As long as the players learn from it, and the best players learn very quickly, then it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a good thing that players are taken outside their comfort zone, they have to be challenged and Monday night was a challenge. Fair play to Leicester, they are a very powerful team and you could see there was a big difference in experience, and that told. We played like a young team at times, so they need our help, they need our guidance. There’s no massive inquest and we are not going to get after the boys after that type of performance. They need our help and we have got another great occasion to look forward to on Friday. If our players want to be playing at stadiums like Anfield and the King Power in the future in the Premier League then they have to handle these type of games.

On the differences between U18s football and U23 level…

It’s a little bit of everything really, definitely physicality yes, the speed of the game. Therefore because players run faster, are stronger and cover the ground quicker, your technique has to be better under pressure, your touch has to be better, you have to think better and your decisions have to better, so the level just keeps on going up. There is a massive jump from U23 football to Premier League football. We have had an experience of that when we have played against the first team this season in training games, which have been fantastic for us. We want our players to play in more of these games, you learn more from a defeat than you do by winning. By winning every week sometimes I think you can get in a comfort zone and you can become lazy with your thinking. It’s easy to think then that everything is hunky dory and OK when maybe it’s masking the true picture, so it’s a challenge for the players and it’s a challenge for the coaches as well, getting beat like we did the other night. It’s also quite exciting because you are looking around the pitch and we are thinking, he can do more, he can do more as well and that’s what we are here to do - that’s our job to help them, to improve and develop them, and I’m sure we will do in the future.

On facing United at Anfield on the eve of the clubs' first-team clash at Old Trafford…

It’s not often that happens when the U23s and the first teams are playing against each other on successive days. Hopefully we can get off to a good start on Friday and the first team can follow that on Saturday. Six points would be nice and we are really looking forward to it. We really enjoyed the experience of playing Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield earlier on this season. We had a very close game against United at this level last season at Anfield. We played them recently in the UEFA Youth League and I think the teams will be similar on Friday night. It will be a close game and when it’s Liverpool v Manchester United there’s always that rivalry and history and we’ve had a decent record against them over the past couple of years, and hopefully that will continue.

On whether he thinks it helps that several of his players have played at Anfield before…

I do yes. It's just that little bit of extra experience and you are not standing there bewildered or getting overawed by the stadium. The more times we can put our players in these situations then the better they will be for it. You can’t buy experience and you can’t get that until you are in those situations. Even though Monday night wasn’t a pleasant experience it’s still one that they wouldn’t have had if we still had some of the lads that played for us in the first part of the season. That definitely helps and I’m sure it will help them by playing at Anfield again on Friday night.

On why he will be taking nothing for granted despite United being bottom of PL2…

It depends on your approach to the league, the development of your players, and I wouldn’t read too much into the league positions, I really wouldn’t. We don’t get carried away by being top of the league. We want to win games and if we got a chance of winning the league then of course we are going to go for it and we will do everything we can to win on Friday night. I think you saw two different types of approaches at Leicester City on Monday and I think you will see two similar types of approaches to development and football on Friday. There’s no right and wrong and you have to do whatever you think is right and you believe in. That comes from our club and what we have had instilled into us here over the years. That comes from Alex [Inglethorpe] and it’s what we believe in and we believe it’s the right way, so we will always stand by those values and principles.

On what his message to the players will be before they step out at Anfield…

 A mixture of things really. It’s important that we show a response from Monday night so the players should be hurting after that type of defeat. I would hope that they will show a response. It’s important that we start the game well because the players maybe suffered a bit psychologically on Monday with conceding a goal in the opening few minutes. They have to enjoy it and embrace it. It’s a magnificent stadium to play in and if you want to play for Liverpool you have to rise and you have to believe in yourself. You have to think that this is my stage so you have to push your shoulders back, stick that badge out on your chest and go and believe why you play for Liverpool and show why you play for this club.

On an exciting title race with games against Arsenal, Everton and Chelsea coming up…

We had a meeting 10 days ago and I said to the boys if I was a young player I would be rubbing my hands together saying 'I fancy a bit of this you know!' There’s some terrific games to look forward to between now and the end of the season. They are tough games so as a young player wanting to prove yourself and to say that I can handle these games and I’m ready, then you get no better games than the ones we have coming up and that starts with Manchester United.

You can watch Friday night's game at Anfield live on LFCTV. Kick-off is at 7pm GMT with our coverage starting at 6.30pm. Click here for further details.

For supporters wishing to attend the game in the Kop only, tickets must be purchased in advance from the ticket office only up until 5pm on Friday.

Only supporters in possession of a ticket should travel to Anfield.

Please note that once the ticket sales end at 5pm on Friday March 9, we will not be able to accommodate any further walk-up sales.