Randolph pulled off a string of stunning saves to deny a much-changed Liverpool team a win, with his efforts certain to have pleased Republic of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill.
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Whereas his predecessor, Brendan Rodgers, rightly bemoaned a lack of leaders at Anfield, Klopp evidently believes experienced players who have graduated to Liverpool should be capable of taking responsibility. We lacked that kind of quality we normally have in the last third of the pitch, so overall I am happy with the result. “It’s not that we haven’t got money or anything, but you have to work respectfully and responsibly”. Stepping up for his first start in the first team, Steven Caulker slotted in at centre-back alongside the returning Dejan Lovren.
They have reached the Capital One Cup final after a penalty shootout victory over Stoke in midweek, and are preparing to resume their Europa League commitments with a last-32 tie against FC Augsburg.
“Every time I play I enjoy it. That is my job and that is what I like to do”. It’s hard to play against, as most of the teams in the Premier League have felt when they’ve met them.
One thing is for sure, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp is using this year’s FA Cup to either blood in some of Liverpool’s rising young stars or see which of them will be given the door come the end of the season.
That tally will rise to eight if they beat West Ham United in next week s FA Cup fourth-round replay.
“We are in conversations at the moment”, Teixeira told the Liverpool Echo a fortnight ago. We are always in touch with under-21s, they are very often in our training with us.
The England striker, who has played just 106 minutes for Klopp, said on Twitter on Boxing Day that he was “good to go” but has still not trained with his team-mates. “You don t need to make that pressure bigger”.
“There is a lot of potential”.
“Those players are in our squad because they are an option for us”, Klopp said. “There is enough time between now and then for more opportunities so I will keep the faith and hope to go to the Euros in good nick”.
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West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic dismissed the idea that the Hammers are likely to play against a Liverpool side with key players missing – saying the Reds will still field a strong side in the late kick-off today (January 30).
