But Daniel Sturridge had other ideas, scoring a brace to help Liverpool to a 2-1 lead and they never looked back, with Divock Origi grabbing a hat-trick on the way to a 6-1 route.
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Klopp will be looking towards top scorers Christian Benteke and Philippe Coutinho to provide goals, and whilst the latter is still struggling with a hamstring problem, Benteke is a tempting 7/2 to score first at St James’.
The 29-year-old scored Liverpool’s victor in their 1-0 victory over Swansea last weekend, and is 13/5 to score anytime against his former club.
Ibe put away Liverpool’s fifth goal five minutes later, controlling on the chest before powerfully striking into the bottom corner and Origi sealed his hat-trick with a routine header from Smith’s inch-perfect cross – Liverpool’s sixth goal from their seventh shot on target.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Klopp said: “I like optimism, but with Phil we were too optimistic”. “I knew about his quality, not live in a stadium, but in an important tournament”.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better start in the game and it was disappointing to go in at half-time 3-1 down and then the way the second-half unfolded as well”. But if that’s the case, he has to start. “Klopp was delighted with the performance as Liverpool recorded their fourth straight win”.
“It was a good decision (to select him), I have to say”.
“Hendo [Jordan Henderson] is a good example to explain why players have to be handled differently”.
“I have absolutely no problems with a match against Everton”, he said.
“With the Southampton game we made ourselves some problems in January (in terms of the number of matches we have)”.
Liverpool’s third came on the stroke of halftime as a corner from the right found its way to Alberto Moreno, who drilled the ball low and hard towards goal, allowing Origi to stick out his boot and get the faintest of touches to direct it into the net.
The way in which the Reds overran Ronald Koeman’s side was similar to their performance away to Manchester City at the end of November.
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– The BellMeister!! (@KeithBell12)After the defensive displays against Leicester and Palace, nothing will change in time for Sunday and Klopp’s Liverpool! Very complete, defensively strong, good movement, and they killed the game with high quality, but (it was) too easy in my opinion.
