Liverpool suffer 'hangover' as coach reveals what was said in dressing room

They have been the toast of Anfield who helped continue Liverpool's quadruple aspirations.

But several of Reds' youngsters who helped Jurgen Klopp's side be crowned Carabao Cup champions and move into the FA Cup quarter-finals were given a reality check last weekend.

James McConnell came off the bench at Wembley in the win over Chelsea, while he started the 3-0 win over Southampton. Lewis Koumas made a dream debut when opening the scoring against the Saints while 16-year-old midfielder Trey Nyoni made his debut and 17-year-old Amara Nallo was an unused substitute.

However, the quartet were back on under-21s duty and were part of a 2-0 loss against Aston Villa on Sunday. Barry Lewtas' side conceded either side of half-time at the AXA Training Centre as their three-match winning streak came to an end.

The young Reds were without Bobby Clark, who made his full Premier League debut in Klopp's troops' 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, with Jayden Danns - who plundered a double against Southampton - came off the bench at the City Ground.

And Lewtas admitted that the highs of the past few weeks meant there was a hangover suffered against Villa. The under-21s head coach told the club's website: "We are disappointed with [the defeat] because we are competitive and we wanted to get the result and we want to do well.

"But I’ve just said to the boys in the changing room that this has probably come off the back of a real emotional couple of weeks for everyone – staff, players – with the real highs of what has gone on in our group in particular. It has been an amazing time and I just think probably [the Villa game] was the hangover in terms of being kind of flat. There was no lack of enthusiasm but I think at times we probably tried too hard in certain moments. But that can happen and we’ll be back next week.