Phelan has plenty to ponder before the trip to Anfield after all six of his recent signings made their full debuts in the midweek EFL Cup win at Stoke.
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Hull City boss Mike Phelan is hoping his players can learn from the mistakes made against Arsenal last weekend as they prepare to face a free-scoring Liverpool at Anfield.
The German has only played three times for Liverpool this season due to his injury and a lack of fitness after he arrived to preseason later than others due to his participation at this summer’s European Championship.
Hull midfielder Jake Livermore returns to contention for the Premier League game at Liverpool following suspension.
“Everything is down to their decision making but I’m ready and willing and up to the challenge, the players are up for the challenge, and they’ve stressed they want me at the helm”. Klopp told Liverpool’s official website that he “froze” when the pairing was announced after taking a small amount of glee at the earlier picks involving Premier league teams. “There are big games ahead, the squad will be used, it’s just a case now of finding the right balance and getting the players in who can perform for this football club”. “You can see that their mentality is good and their work rate is up there with the best”. I think we all can improve – the team, the coaches, the manager and the crowd.
Klopp is determined to reach the latter stages and believes such an intriguing draw should be seen as a positive as his side attempt to reach Wembley for the second season in a row.
“I’m quite a thankful person usually, so I am really thankful for the first half!” We have to find solutions.
“We didn’t care about it before we played Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal – not the name, not the players – only focusing on the style of play, what we have to do, where are our opportunities, where is the space we can create”. For all Liverpool’s excellent form of late this game presents a different challenge and for those who like to stick a few quid on a game it’s hard to predict beforehand how it will turn out. I’m sure that all of the players who are available understand the situation.
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It went from bad to worse for the Tigers on the half hour mark when Elmohamady was sent-off for blocking Coutinho’s shot on the goal line with his hand – the second time Hull have been reduced to 10-men in a matter of weeks.
