There was further gloom, however, for Southampton as second-half substitute Ibe drilled home from 20 metres to make it five before Origi completed his hat-trick with an 86th-minute header.
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The 26-year-old striker joined Divock Origi and Adam Lallana in attack, ahead of a three-man midfield of Lucas Leiva, Emre Can and Joe Allen, while Connor Randall came in for Nathaniel Clyne in defence alongside regulars Martin Skrtel, Dejan Lovren and Alberto Moreno.
Sadio Mane put Southampton in front at St. Mary’s Stadium.
In another boost for Liverpool, captain Jordan Henderson and forward Daniel Sturridge returned from injury off the bench in their 1-0 win over Swansea City on Sunday.
Southampton continued to have joy down the Liverpool right and Adam Bogdan kept out Victor Wanyama’s header from Dusan Tadic’s fifth-minute centre.
It means Liverpool, who will make a record 16th appearance in the last four, face the Potters, who have not reached this stage since winning the competition in 1972. Origi’s backheel finds Moreno in space down the left, his deep cross finds Ibe, who takes it on his chest and lashes a low shot in from 15 yards.
“(We need to) be aware (about) what we did very poorly last weekend.
Moreno tried to claim the goal but TV replays showed Origi got the faintest of touches to leave Maarten Stekelenburg wrong-footed.
“How do I know if he can be better than a couple of seasons ago?”
That could be bad news for the Reds’ top four rivals and maybe talk of a title tilt is not so fanciful after a scintillating display in the final 65 minutes. This German is hugely entertaining when he speaks and may be too honest for his own good at times, with his comment last week suggesting striker Sturridge needs to play through the pain barrier a little more an example of his bravado with the world’s media.
“We spoke before the game about making a good start and we were delighted with the way we did, but we’ll have to assess the game obviously now”.
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There are clearly still some concerns for Klopp to address when his side play on home soil against teams intent on promoting a defensive game plan. “I’m not a manager who changes a lot if the team is doing well, but always the question to the players is when they get the chance, you have to take it. That’s also the reason after Saturday that I said to Steven he will start”.
