West Ham United manager Graham Potter didn’t shy away from starting Oliver Scarles against Mohamed Salah as the Hammers took on Liverpool at Anfield.
Scarles has seen a real increase in minutes since Potter was appointed at West Ham, one of positives to emerge from a season which has been overwhelmingly disappointing.
The 19-year-old was first included in West Ham’s senior squad under David Moyes last season, as he often was during Julen Loptegui’s time in charge earlier this term.
However, Potter has put the England U20 defender in a much more prominent position, explaining why he was trusted against Salah and Liverpool, even with Emerson watching on from the bench.
That being said, Scarles lasted 57 minutes before he was replaced by experienced-head Vladimir Coufal, who has faced plenty of the Premier League’s best over the years.
Jamie Carragher gives his Oliver Scarles review
Speaking on Sky Sports’ coverage of the game, Jamie Carragher actually gave a fairly encouraging review of Scarles’ efforts.
Carragher admitted that the 19-year-old had found it tough – Salah was quite convincingly getting the better of him at times.
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However, the pundit thought that Scarles would definitely be better for the experience, a youngster who’s had an excellent campaign otherwise.
Carragher said: “We’ve all been there, certainly I’ve got experience of that of being a young defender and you come up against players or you have games, and it’s something you look back on.
“You tell those stories about coming up against Mo Salah, one of the greatest players we’ve seen in the Premier League.
“And he’ll definitely use that experience going forward because he’s made a brilliant start to his West Ham career.
“That’s one of those games where he’ll look back at, maybe not fondly today, but I’m sure he’ll use it to better himself moving forward.”
Graham Potter’s big positive about Oliver Scarles
Potter himself paid tribute to Scarles’ attitude and application before Sunday’s visit to Liverpool at his press conference.
The West Ham manager was clearly delighted to welcome an academy player into his first team, and one that was clearly embodying the club’s values.
Potter said: “He’s done really well. He’s a young player who’s come through the academy which is really important for us.
“Great attitude, and he’s going to get better and better with the more game time that he has.”
A superb young talent, and as Carragher says, he will learn a lot from facing someone like Salah who is still at such an elite level.
