John Giles says he was impressed with the Liverpool debut of Caoimhín Kelleher and seeing players physically shaking before their first outing.
Giles spoke about finding the balance between nerves that one can use to drive on during a match, and those that will only undermine elite performance.
Saying that football at that level is 'not natural' in that sense, Giles credited Kelleher for his performance against Ajax on Tuesday.
Caoimhín Kelleher
"He looks the part - great temperament," Giles said of Kelleher.
"He looked very competent and confident; he looked like everything you wanted from a young 'keeper coming into a big match like that - he looks great.
"It's great for [Ireland], great for himself, and great for his family."
Giles believes that - given Alisson's unimpeachable grasp on the number one jersey - that Kelleher should look for first-team experience elsewhere.
"I think he should go out on loan, and do what [Dean Henderson] did at Manchester United.
"At some stage, you need experience. It's ok playing in the reserves for a certain period - even for outfield players. But goalkeepers, particularly, they need to be in the big crowd in the big games when they are good enough to do it.
"He is obviously good enough to do it."
Giles' MUFC debut
Giles recalled his debut for Manchester United, and why it is so important to channel nervous energy in the right direction.
His debut against a Spurs team that would go on to become the first team to do the domestic double in 1960-1961 stood him in good stead, but he came to know how to identify those that wouldn't make it.
"My feeling is that players I knew that were going to be players had a certain amount of 'show-offness'.
"You knew you were good, you wouldn't be there if you weren't so you wanted to get out there and show everyone how good you were.
"Not in a big-headed way, because if you were going out there shaking then you wouldn't make it in the first place."
But those that did get to that level and showed a similar level of nerves, Giles knew they wouldn't make it to the top.
"There was a couple of lads in [the Leeds team] - I won't name them - who weren't up to it.
"They wouldn't be excited, they would be quiet. They would look quite natural. You wouldn't know before the match.
"I used to find that in the cup finals, there was at least one player on the pitch that couldn't handle it.
"It happens."
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