Harvey Elliott 'not too far away' from playing with regular first-team: Neil Critchley

Neil Critchley, who managed Liverpool in the absence of Jurgen Klopp, praised Harvey Elliott saying that the 16-year-old is 'not too far away' from playing regular first-team football.

Liverpool suffered a massive 5-0 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa on Wednesday in Carabao Cup. The club played with youngsters as the senior players are in Qatar to play their FIFA Club World Cup's semi-final clash against Monterrey.

"He's not too far away because he trains with our first team on a regular basis. He's had first-team exposure already, the manager and staff think a lot of him," the club's official website quoted Critchley, the U23 coach, as saying.

Despite the defeat, Critchley feels that Elliot was a 'constant threat' to their opponents in the match.

"I thought he was a constant threat all night tonight, a really good outlet for us. But he was reliant on a lot of the players getting the ball to him and I thought the service to him was top class as well," he said.

Liverpool will compete against Monterrey today.