Roy Hodgson expects Jay Spearing to be a regular member of Liverpool's first-team squad next season after the youngster impressed in Saturday's 1-0 friendly defeat to Kaiserslautern.

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The Reds boss was full of praise for his fledgling side after they more than held their own against an experienced German outfit and he was keen to pick out the No. 26 for his impact on the pre-season so far.

"Spearing in particular has done well over the last two games and definitely deserves to be a part of our first-team squad," Hodgson told Liverpoolfc.tv. "I can understand why so many clubs are interested in loaning him. It's the same with Kelly, Eccleston and Amoo. They have all done well.

"It was an outstanding performance from the young lads. I'm disappointed for them because of the way they worked and fought throughout the game. We gave an unfortunate goal away and we got caught out. I expected that to happen more than it actually did.

Video: Hodgson salutes youngsters>>

"I'm a bit frustrated for them because we contained Kaiserslautern so well and I felt we should have done better with the possession we had. It wasn't as good as it should be. These young players are capable of passing it better than they did. But in terms of work rate and desire we can't fault them. It's a good end to the camp."

The young Reds went down to Iilan Micanski's first-half strike but always looked dangerous on the counter attack.

Hodgson felt their performance was worthy of the draw and is confident the majority of those on show will make an impact on the first-team during 2010-11.

"If we'd have drawn 0-0 I don't think anyone could have said we were lucky," he said. "I think they had their work cut out. The shape of our team after just 10 days working together was good and the movement of the likes of Amoo and Ince was also good.

"They are both Academy players, but you'd have thought they'd have been playing in the Bundesliga all their lives. It was the same at the back with Kelly and Ayala. They did a fantastic job.

"Most of these players here will be part of our squad. One or two are exceptionally young, like Jack Robinson and Victor Palsson and maybe they won't be that involved in the first-team squad, but a lot of the others will."

The boss has been pleased with the players' efforts over the course of their Swiss camp and is now looking forward to joining up with the senior members of his squad when they return to Melwood.

"Overall it's been fantastic," he said. "If we'd have got a result in this game it may have been perfect - maybe that's a good thing so that we didn't do too well. We can now realise that even if you do well there is still work for us to do. But again, I couldn't be happier with the way the players have responded to the work.

"We'll see how many seniors we get now. I want a squad of about 25 players and we'll see how many of these are involved in it now."

Video: Extended 40 minute highlights>>

Video: Watch highlights of our pre-season clash with Kaiserslautern>>