{"id":920079,"date":"2026-04-26T16:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T16:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/920079\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T16:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T16:54:19","slug":"liverpool-suffers-penalty-heartbreak-as-5-players-to-have-impressed-arne-slot-cant-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/920079\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool suffers penalty heartbreak as 5 players to have impressed Arne Slot can’t progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool U21s lost on penalties against Crystal Palace in the Premier League 2 play-offs, with Will Wright scoring twice and impressing during normal time before late heartbreak\"Will<\/p>\n

Will Wright in action for Liverpool U21s against Crystal Palace.(Image: Nick Taylor\/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Liverpool U21s have crashed out of the Premier League 2 play-offs on penalties after a goal-filled tie with Crystal Palace in Kirkby, in which 18-year-old forward Will Wright impressed.<\/p>\n

Rob Page’s side went in front through Wright in the first half, but before half-time, Rio Cardines and Zach Marsh had turned the game around, giving Crystal Palace<\/a> the lead.<\/p>\n

Wright netted again shortly before the hour mark to level things at 2-2, a day after he was named on the first team bench<\/a> for the first time in the Premier League in the absence of Hugo Ekitike<\/a> and Jayden Danns.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Egypt national team chief reveals how long Mohamed Salah will be out for<\/a>READ MORE: Liverpool owners FSG brutally fire manager and five coaches at their other underperforming team<\/a><\/p>\n

Signed from Salford City last summer, Wright has impressed in his debut campaign for the Reds. He is always a threat in behind and is a traditional number nine in style.<\/p>\n

Wright was bright throughout the game here, alongside Kieran Morrison and Trey Nyoni<\/a>, two others who have been around the senior set-up under Arne Slot.<\/p>\n

Nyoni was alongside James McConnell<\/a> in midfield on this occasion, with the latter having seen his loan at Ajax cut short<\/a>. Turning 22 in September, he may need another move when the summer comes.<\/p>\n

\"Liverpool<\/p>\n

Liverpool Academy coach Rob Page(Image: Lewis Storey\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Armin Pecsi, the Hungarian shot-stopper who was also on the bench at Anfield on Saturday, was in goal, while Mor Ndiaye, the center-back who arrived in January, also started.<\/p>\n

He was with the senior team yesterday, but was not officially named as a substitute, and also trained with the seniors earlier in the week as a reward for the promise that he has shown in the last couple of months.<\/p>\n

The Reds have high hopes for Ndiaye moving forward, after he was brought in from Amitie FC in Senegal.<\/p>\n

In the second half, Lucas Pitt made a couple of important blocks to stop Crystal Palace from extending its lead. Then, at 2-2, Pecsi made a couple of vital interventions.<\/p>\n

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The 90 minutes ended level, meaning extra time. Once again, Crystal Palace went in front, this time via Joseph Gibbard, before Keyrol Figueroa brought the teams level for a third time.<\/p>\n

Only a month ago, Liverpool<\/a> had finished its league season with a 5-1 defeat to the same Crystal Palace team, also in Kirkby.<\/p>\n

With Nyoni, McConnell and Ndiaye in the side, though, and five players starting who were with the first team earlier this weekend, the result was very different.<\/p>\n

Wright, Figueroa and Michael Laffey all missed from the spot as the game ended in shootout heartbreak for the young Reds, whose season is now over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool U21s lost on penalties against Crystal Palace in the Premier League 2 play-offs, with Will Wright scoring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":920080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8815],"tags":[51101,748,22356,393,4884,179,763,16,15,115749],"class_list":["post-920079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-liverpool","tag-academy","tag-britain","tag-crystal-palace-fc","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-liverpool","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-will-wright"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116472058364332249","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=920079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/920080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}