The Sun Newspaper

IF you’re playing a team as outstanding as Liverpool, the slightest hint of a weak link gives you hope.
So if 19-year-old centre-back Rhys Williams makes his debut against West Ham at Anfield today, you can bet West Ham will be determined to make his life as difficult as hell.

Rhys Williams is set to make his Premier League debut against West Ham Credit: EPA

I love this kid’s story — on loan with Kidderminster Harriers in National League North last season, then playing an hour of a Champions League game at Anfield on Tuesday.
Having been on loan at a non-league club, I know how good a grounding he will have got.
And that says so much about the strength of the English pyramid system, which is something that needs protecting now more than ever.

But however talented Williams is — and he looks good — West Ham will have been working on targeting him, getting the ball behind him, making him turn and face goal with an experienced Premier League striker breathing down his neck.
They will target him with crosses and set-pieces, they will target him relentlessly.
This is no disrespect to Williams. When Virgil van Dijk, the best defender in the world, is absent, then any replacement will be a downgrade.
But with Joel Matip and Fabinho also injured, there is an obvious potential weakness in the Liverpool defence.

Jurgen Klopp’s other option will be Jordan Henderson. I’ve got huge admiration for Jordan but unlike Fabinho, who has played a lot of in defence, he has barely played there.

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When Watford ended Liverpool’s unbeaten record with a 3-0 win last season, Dejan Lovren was in defence.
Lovren has played in World Cup finals and Champions League finals but even he was singled out as a potential weakness as he hadn’t been playing regularly.
If you’re Watford or West Ham, you know that if Liverpool play at ten out of ten and you play at ten out of ten, you are going to lose.
You need the stars to align. You need every player to be at ten out of ten and every Liverpool player to be at six or seven and that is what happened.
But if it’s Williams, on debut, or Henderson, in such an  unfamiliar role, you know there is a chance.
While we all miss fans being in the stadium, this behind-closed-doors era is a good time for Williams to make his debut.
Even though a capacity crowd on The Kop would be doing everything they could to support him, you would still be able to sense the edginess.
Liverpool haven’t started this season as well as they’ve played in the last two campaigns, so one mistake from a youngster and that edginess can spread.

This time last season the teen was playing in the National League North on-loan at Kidderminster HarriersCredit: PA
In normal times, Williams would probably have 20 family members at Anfield — and that brings extra pressure, too. That’s difficult to block out.
So I hope Klopp does give him the chance today.
I think it’s great that Williams went down to National League North because that is a real life experience.
When I was at Walsall I went on loan to Halesowen Town, a similar level to Kiddy, and that is an experience I still look back on.
If you’re a kid who has come through a Premier League academy, you are going to be used to the best facilities and having privilege.
That’s their version of ‘normal’ — so I think any player between 17 and 20 would benefit from going on loan and experiencing a whole different world.
You often hear a kid like Williams will head to the lower leagues and get a kicking and be forced to toughen up.
That is true. You have to learn to be a man in a boy’s body — but that isn’t the whole story. At Halesowen, I had team-mates who played a Saturday afternoon match, got showered, then headed straight out for a 12-hour night shift working on the roads or the railways.

Troy Deeney is an exclusive columnist for Sun Sport Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Then there’s the travel. I remember going on a five-hour trip to Merthyr Tydfil — 20-odd lads packed into the sort of bus your kids travel into the  swimming pool at school.
Then they’d stop off at service stations and have a pack of Discos for their pre-match meal.
In the Premier League you have luxury travel. At Watford we might have flown to Sheffield, or first-class rail to Manchester, or in a coach with a full-on kitchen out the back.
Then there’s the fans, the 100 or so who follow Halesowen away. The dedication of those people to their small club and the support they gave to someone like me made me feel ten feet tall.
You learn to respect the non leagues and lower leagues — the histories of those clubs, what they mean to their communities.
These smaller clubs are under threat because of Covid. But the solution is not to have Liverpool B and Manchester United B playing in League One — that would take so much away from what makes English football unique.
I’m sure Williams will agree.
And I’m sure if he plays for the mighty Liverpool today, he will be thankful for the  opportunity to have played for Kidderminster Harriers.

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IT feels as if Dele Alli might need a move from Tottenham.
After he was taken off at half-time in the Europa League defeat by Antwerp, it seems Dele’s face doesn’t fit with Jose Mourinho.

Dele Alli has struggled to impress under the management of Jose MourinhoCredit: EPA

I have always been impressed when I’ve played against Dele but it seems as though there is a personality clash and that he doesn’t fit in with Jose’s way of playing.
Spurs are now operating without a classic No 10.
Harry Kane is deeper and the wide men, like Son Heung-min and Gareth Bale can hit teams with pace.
For that reason, Spurs benefitted from Christian Eriksen moving on, however good a player the Dane is.

I don’t know if Dele is not a great trainer but that is what you hear.
And when you also hear of the intensity at which teams such as Manchester City and Liverpool train, you understand how they have gone up a notch.
Mourinho is now trying to replicate that at Tottenham.

Kevin De Bruyne is a magnificently gifted player but, when you play against him, you are soon struck by how hard he works.

Dele has to do the same — and maybe he needs a different club to get the best out of him.
Whoever does would be recruiting a seriously good player.

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BREXIT is struggling to resurface among the turmoil induced by Covid-19.
And the same applies in football, too.

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The FA and the Premier League are in hand-to-hand combat as they consider exactly how to amend the current regulations on foreign players once Britain leaves the EU on January 1.
Roughly, they stand at the right of each club to include 17 foreign players. The question is how and why they qualify to work alongside the home-grown players in a 25-man squad.
This may seem a fair compromise, except that Brexit will destroy the rights of EU members not to require visas.

In future they will and visas will not be particularly easy to acquire if a player isn’t in the highest categories, although it is regarded as some sort of consolation that the new system will simplify moves for non-Europeans.
Did I write ‘simplify’? Sorry about that.
Buying footballers is going to become even more complicated – about as straightforward as crossing a minefield on a steamroller.
It would be, wouldn’t it, with the involvement of the Home Office, Brexit immigration, UEFA, FIFA, FA, 20 Prem clubs and Uncle Tom Cobley.

The part played by FA chairman Greg Clarke in Project Big Picture leaves him as wide open as an empty goal to criticism for anything and everything.
After all, it was him, Rick Parry and six Prem clubs who all played a part in attempting to consign the remaining 14 teams to bit-parts of the league.

But putting that to one side, the FA’s plan would unnecessarily increase the restrictions of a points-based system – and will not deliver a better England team.
It will, however, impact the Prem as other European leagues have no restrictions when recruiting overseas players. They can recruit talent earlier and at a reduced price.
And the FA’s preferred system would prevent the Prem from recruiting the best young high potential talent, while European clubs will be able to recruit our equivalent talent – for example, Borussia Dortmund signing Jude Bellingham.
Clarke makes these recommendations on the grounds that the England team would eventually benefit.
If, as is often charged, the Prem’s driving force is money then, equally, the FA assertion is from dreamland.
National team success is based on a small pool of high-quality players as opposed to having large volumes available.
The big five nations use on average 40 players each season in competitive and friendly matches. It is not about quantity, it is about quality.
England have won nothing since 1966, whether the squads were born-and-true subjects of the Queen or a mix of United Nations.

The part played by FA chairman Greg Clarke in Project Big Picture leaves him wide open to criticism for anything and everythingCredit: PA
I would also add that the quality of squads has been improved by foreign managers, staff and players, the supply of skilled youngsters has grown impressively.
From Trent Alexander-Arnold through to Marcus Rashford, the prospects keep coming for Gareth Southgate.
As a result, the England team is successful and is young, ranked fourth in the world and with an average age of 24.9 years.
And let’s not forget that there were 238 English players appearing on the Prem pitch last season.
There are degrees of agreement between all sides, including the Government.
They like the prestige of the Premier League, recently classified as No 1 league in the world.
They like the world-wide appeal.

Young prospects keep coming through for England boss Gareth SouthgateCredit: AFP
Most of all, they relish the income they receive from it in tax – £6BILLION at the last count.
 And let’s face it, they need all the tax they can get their hands on these days.
But in this country, we can’t help fiddling with what works.
The 17-8 squad ratio operates well and so, give or take minor adjustments, does our football structure.
The football landscape between club and country has a good balance of quality and does not need intervention.
The Home Office gives ultimate authority over football to the governing body, the FA, although the Prem is known to impress ministers who understand that wealth and strength add up to a lot of negotiating muscle.
Which is why if there is no agreement with the FA, Prem chief executive Richard Masters’ alternative proposal will be given a worthy hearing in Westminster.
The truth, though, is that Brexit will win for better or worse.

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CRYSTAL PALACE will pull the shutters down to avoid more prying on their Molineux suite tonight.
Roy Hodgson is still furious his post-match inquest was shown live on TV after they lost 2-0 at Wolves in July — a seventh straight Premier League defeat.

Palace boss Roy Hodgson could be seen talking to his players after the defeatCredit: BT Sport

Wilfried Zaha’s early-season form has been hailed by his Eagles’ boss Roy HodgsonCredit: AP:Associated Press

Covid restrictions meant Palace had to prepare for the match in a glass-fronted hospitality box overlooking the pitch.
BT Sport showed footage of an  animated Hodgson addressing his players — but the broadcaster later deleted their video from social media after a private blast from Palace’s boss.
However, Hodgson  is furious it was broadcast live and pundits labelled it as an angry rollicking.

I’m telling you it wasn’t a dressing down. I’m still not happy about that situation and we made it clear to the TV company concerned.
Roy Hodgson

SunSport understands Palace’s kit men will make sure suite blinds — which Wolves say were in place last season at Molineux — will be fully drawn.

Hodgson, 73,  said: “I’m telling you it wasn’t a dressing down. The people who were filming had no idea what my message to the players was.
“But they decided in their wisdom they would make up my message and set it forth as a dressing down to the players which was far from the truth.
“I’m still not happy about that situation and I think we made it perfectly clear to the TV company concerned.
“At Wolves we thought it was amiss you’re asked to change in a hospitality suite with clothes all dotted around — nothing like a dressing-room atmosphere.

“Yet at the same time you’ve got people filming through the windows because it looks out on the pitch.
“We’ll make absolutely certain this time  that doesn’t happen again.

“If I then wanted at some stage to say something to the players, either positive or negative, it would stay in the dressing room, where it belongs.
“Whatever happens in the dressing room stays in the dressing room. It isn’t broadcast to the world at large.”
Palace talisman Wilfried Zaha, 27, is in buoyant mood having scored the winner at Fulham, with his five goals in six matches this season already eclipsing last season’s total.
Hodgson, whose side will go joint-top with a win tonight, added: “Wilf is an excellent player. He has got so many qualities, so much to give.
“We’re fortunate this year, he has started well. His form has been good, his attitude has been excellent.

“I’d think if he can keep this up, there’s no reason he can’t continue to score goals.
“He’s really thinking: ‘Right, I need to be more selfish. I need to get amongst the goals myself, start shooting more’.”
 C PALACE (likely): Guaita, Clyne, Dann, Kouyate, Van Aanholt, Riedewald, Milivojevic, Schlupp, Townsend, Batshuayi, Zaha.

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THE honours and accolades are being piled on to Marcus Rashford — and justifiably so.
An MBE, a national treasure, a potential BBC Sports Personality of the Year, the greatest living Englishman.

Marcus Rashford has been craving the chance to lead Man United’s attackCredit: Getty

Boris Johnson and the Tories know how good Rashford is coming from the leftCredit: Alamy Live News

Rashford’s extraordinary dedication to his campaigning against child poverty has fully earned him all this.
Yet there is one status Rashford has craved above all in his 4.5 years as a first-team player — that of Manchester United’s first-choice starting centre-forward.
And in Wednesday’s 5-0 Champions League rout of Germans RB Leipzig, he looked closer than ever to fulfilling that aim.

After the Bundesliga leaders were filleted by Rashford’s 16-minute hat-trick, there was some sarcastic chuckling between Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand and Gary Lineker in the BT Sport studio that the star was ‘a winger, not a centre-forward’.

The comments stemmed from Jose Mourinho’s time as Manchester United boss — when Rashford played predominantly out wide, with Romelu Lukaku as the No 9, and he frequently struggled for form.
Back then, Rashford was a one-goal-in-five-matches man.
Under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, he is close to one in two.
This is not to entirely blame Mourinho. Despite Rashford’s instant impact when he burst into United’s  starting line-up in 2016, he was never a  classic overnight sensation.

Unlike Wayne Rooney or Michael Owen, who peaked in their teens, Rashford has needed time to develop and learn his trade.
Yet now, as he prepares to celebrate his 23rd birthday tomorrow, Rashford is now approaching the finished article — his best years about to come.
His goals against Leipzig, after he’d come off the bench to replace Mason Greenwood in a front two ahead of a diamond, were those of a classic centre-forward — pace, poise, directness and instinctive finishing.
Then there was perhaps the most telling moment of all. 
Rashford had the opportunity to complete the first hat-trick of his senior career as United were awarded a penalty — only for him to cede spot-kick responsibility to Anthony Martial, who needed a goal more. The fact that Rashford then claimed the match ball in injury-time was true poetic justice.
He is beginning to look like the best  centre-forward at the club. A better option than Martial, Greenwood or Edinson Cavani, who can all operate centrally or out wide.
Yet Rashford’s selflessness, so apparent off the pitch, marked him out as a true team man — and with it the claim that he is a future United captain.
Former Old Trafford ace Owen Hargreaves, speaking on BT Sport, said: “He’s looking out for his team-mates. Marcus knows he’s going to get his numbers, I love that.
“That’s being a great team-mate. That’s why he’s going to be the captain — because he thinks about everyone else.”

That is unlikely to be one for the near future, given that Harry Maguire’s leadership qualities are more apparent than his defensive capabilities.
But it all helps Rashford’s cause as a central figure at United — no longer on the periphery in terms of his playing position or personality.
Rashford had the most prolific season of his career last term with 22 goals for United, nine more than his previous best.
He had  netted 19 times in three months for club and country before a back injury in January kept him out until after lockdown.
Then, a slowdown in his scoring rate, which sparked accusations that his charitable and political work were affecting his form.
It always sounded like patronising ‘stick to football’ nonsense  and usually came from those who don’t back his anti-poverty stance.
This season the emphatic response has arrived, with seven goals in nine games — including a belter in the victory at Brighton, a winner at Paris Saint-Germain and then that treble against last season’s Champions League semi-finalists.
Rashford wreaks havoc coming from the left wing, as the Tory Government know. Yet his future belongs at the centre of United’s attack. And that future is almost here. More