Socceroo Brad Smith has spared Liverpool’s blushes in the FA Cup after the defender netted a second-half equaliser in the 2-2 draw with Exeter City on Friday.
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“I don’t think, when we play them at Anfield, he will change the team as much”, said Morrison to TalkSport.
The League Two side were not to be denied, however, and regained the lead in the first minute of stoppage time at the end of the first period when Lee Holmes’s corner drifted over Adam Bogdan’s head.
City started the second-half brightly and had a shout for a penalty appeal when Ribeiro went down in the area, but there appeared to be minimal contact, if any, from Brad Smith and referee Stuart Attwell waved play on.
Liverpool’s league form has been hugely inconsistent this season and they now sit eighth in the table after a 2-0 defeat to West Ham at Upton Park last weekend, and with a League Cup final at Wembley already a realistic possibility, it’s easy to see why Klopp isn’t making the FA Cup his top priority. I can’t judge the young players after this one game, it doesn’t work like that.
As it happened, Exeter stunned their Premier League rivals when they took the lead inside the opening 10 minutes when Tom Nicholls slid in to make contact with a low cross.
Liverpool now have 11 players out on loan after they recalled Shey Ojo, Ryan Kent and Tiago Ilori from their loan spells.
Philippe Coutinho, Dejan Lovren and Kolo Toure were all injured at Stoke to take the number of Liverpool players now sidelined to 13.
“We had some more games than other teams because we are still in the Capital One Cup, we played Europa League, that’s all”, Klopp continued.
“We’ve had two or three years of steady financial decline, sold Matt Grimes to Swansea last year, and money’s come back into the club”.
“We had a few good moments but today it was really hard for us and I think you saw that tonight. It was an advantage for Exeter, they know the pitch better than we do”, he added.
“But they were strong on the wing, they were quick in transition and they made a spectacular goal from the corner”.
City got off to a dream start as they scored with their first meaningful attack after nine minutes.
The date of the replay is unconfirmed, but we’ll be sure to get to know our youngsters a bit more later this month. “The players helped us in our situation”.
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It might be the funniest pre-match interview we’ve seen and we’ve got a lot of time for Klopp, especially when he’s giving interviews in a League Two side’s tea room and talking more about coffee than the match.
