As we’ve mentioned in various pieces over the years, youth football is much less about results than it is about progress. Development is very much about, to twist an old phrase, the friends you make along the way.
That’s why looking at the U21’s positioning in the Premier League 2 table, for example, isn’t necessarily the best marker of quality for any given academy. For example, [Liverpool](https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/) are currently 15th in the table but I don’t think most folks would say that the Academy is a shambles. On the contrary, most would likely still count Liverpool’s youth system as among the best in the country, what with having had Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, and Jarell Quansah among first-team breakthroughs. There’s also last year’s Carabao Cup run - including the Final - where the Academy lads all played prominent roles in securing one last trophy in the Jurgen Klopp Era.
But, it’s not like the result don’t exactly matter - a positive result can be something to build confidence and is a great starting point when explaining the why of certain aspects discussed while in training. And that’s why news of the [U21s beating Blackburn Rovers 2-1 in a friendly](https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516590&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.liverpoolfc.com%2Fnews%2Fliverpool-u21s-beat-blackburn-rovers-2-1-friendly&referrer=sbnation.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fliverpooloffside.sbnation.com%2F2025%2F3%2F30%2F24397024%2Fyouth-watch-u21s-take-2-1-victory-over-blackburn-premier-league-2) is still something worth noting, if for no other reason than for the continued development of the youth.
A positive development here is that the kids managed to score both goals before the end of the first half and essentially controlled the match, which hopefully bodes well when the lads return to Premier League 2 play against Brighton.