The Reds went into the second leg of their semi-final tie against Stoke City with a 1-0 lead, but the Potters were not about to go quietly and forced a penalty shoot-out when Marko Arnautovic fired them to a 1-0 win on the night. They rarely threatened to play their way through Liverpool and had goalkeeper Darren Randolph to thank for securing the replay.
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“I am not expecting numerous guys who played 120 minutes on Tuesday to play”, he adds, “but we are preparing to face their best side”.
A ninth match in 29 days forced the Reds boss, who is still managing a number of injuries, to make wholesale changes to his side but the younger players he brought in acquitted themselves well and should probably have won the game.
“Since Jurgen Klopp arrived at the club, Liverpool have been transformed into a team of hard-running marathon men”, he wrote in the Sunday Mirror.
Klopp, somewhat reluctantly, said: “If we hadn’t had so many injuries and so many games then we wouldn’t have seen these guys, so that is a positive. At Birmingham last season, we lost to West Brom, and at Charlton, we never did anything in any cups, so it would be nice to have a good cup run”. It was our biggest defeat of the season and we want to win there. It was a great experience.
The January transfer window deadline is quickly approaching and some teams desperate for help might rush to make a move. Desperation increasingly crept in as Liverpool tried to force the goal which would avoid another game and that gave the Hammers a glimmer of an opportunity but they could not break through either.
“The next time we are 4-3 in a game and concede, everyone will think ‘ah, there is a possibility [to equalise]'”.
“Divock and Phil (Coutinho) and maybe Daniel (Sturridge) should return to training”.
“No news, he’s still working”.
“He needs consistency in sessions and that’s what we try to do”.
“I know they can do better but it was really good and I am pleased with this”. There’s no doubt about his quality. “We focus on our work and we do it well”.
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We’ll have to wait and see though! “There’s nothing to say”.
