McMahon Welcomes Changes

Liverpool Reserves boss John McMahon has welcomed a more competitive Barclays Premier Reserve League North in 2010-11.

After discussions during the summer, the Reds second string will come up against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea in the new campaign.

Fresh from agreeing a new 12 month deal, McMahon will once again take sole charge of the reserve team and he believes the new look league will be of great benefit to the young players at the club.

A McMahon managed Liverpool XI will be in action tonight when they face Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground, with the match kicking-off at 7.45pm.

"It is very positive the changes that have been made and we look forward to playing the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal," McMahon told Liverpoolfc.tv.

"It's a more competitive league now and if you are going to push players through to the first team squad they need to be playing against good quality opposition.

"We have got some really good games to look forward to and it's always nice to play against different teams and test yourselves against quality opposition like Arsenal and Chelsea.

"Aston Villa have been in the national final for three years in a row so they are very strong at reserve team level, so it's going to be very competitive that's for sure."

It's also change off the pitch for the reserves as they will now be based full-time at the Academy in Kirkby.

"We were always planning to move the reserves squad to the Academy for a couple of reasons really," he added.

"One is the limited space down at Melwood and two is it's nice for the reserve squad to have a good base and then they can aspire to get to work with the first team at Melwood which is the ultimate aim.

"The transition has been an easy one and it's good because when we want to use younger players from the U18 team to come and train with us we can."

McMahon also spoke about meeting Roy Hodgson for the first time and added: "It was good to meet the boss and we all met as a staff and discussed the way forward in terms of what we are looking for ahead of the new season.

"I'm looking forward to taking the reserve team again and it's another good challenge. We will be a young squad again and we will be looking to continue their development.

"I will be in constant conversations with the manager and Sammy Lee about the progress of the young players and give them my opinions about their progress."

A number of players from McMahon's reserve team could feature for Hodgson's first team when they take on Grasshoppers in Switzerland - a match you can watch exclusively live on Liverpoolfc.tv.

McMahon believes the experience the young lads will get from taking part in the Swiss training camp will be invaluable for their future development.

"It's an exciting time for those lads like Steven Irwin, Daniel Ayala, David Amoo, Lauri Dalla Valle, Victor Palsson and the younger ones like Tom Ince and Jack Robinson," he added.

"It is a great experience for them and hopefully they can learn and improve and it will make them better players."