KLOPP: ‘I HAD TO MAKE CHANGES’
Jurgen Klopp last night insisted that his decision make nine changes for the FA Cup defeat against Wolves was by necessity.
“I changed a lot because I thought we had to, not because I wanted to and to say, ‘come on, let’s have a look at how that works’,” he said.
“The intensity of the last few games gave me the information it was not possible to start with the usual three up front.
“Devan Lovren played and then was injured. That’s the story of the game,” added the Liverpool boss.
LIVERPOOL are out of the FA Cup and while they have far greater prizes to chase this season, the frustration will be that this defeat to Wolves may have come at a price.
They lost Dejan Lovren to injury in the opening minutes in what was a makeshift line-up and while they eventually called on their big guns, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, they could not rescue this tie.
It means that Jurgen Klopp’s side have now lost two games in a row, after last Thursday’s defeat to Manchester City, but this was a far different occasion.
Still, they will have to respond away to Brighton on Saturday and may have to do so with one fit centre-half in Virgil van Dijk.
Whatever the mitigation for Liverpool, it was a memorable win for Wolves who fielded far closer to their full-strength team, despite also making changes, and reaped the benefit.
Serious
There was an early, potentially serious blow for Liverpool with the loss of Lovren. Almost from kick-off Klopp sent his substitutes to warm up as Lovren went down, apparently holding his hamstring.
He chose 16-year-old Ki-Jana Hoever to replace him for his debut, becoming the youngest player to represent Liverpool in this competition, and the third-youngest to play for the club.
Six minutes had passed and the ramifications for Liverpool were obvious and possibly significant.
With Joe Gomez and Joel Matip out, it meant that Van Dijk was the only fit central defender. Attention would focus not just on Hoever, but also Fabinho, the midfielder who was being used in the centre of defence.
The annoyance for Klopp is that he had rested nine players from the team who had started against Manchester City, and had now lost one of the two players he had kept in.
The other was James Milner, with another setback being Adam Lallana’s withdrawal from the squad due to a “minor issue”.
Inevitably, despite their dominance of possession, it left Liverpool, fielding two other teenagers making their debuts in 17-year-old Curtis Jones and Rafael Camacho, 18, vulnerable.
Milner dropped deep to add further protection.
Inevitably the first goal arrived via a mistake, with Alberto Moreno putting Milner in trouble on halfway and Wolves countering.
The midfielder miscontrolled, trod on the ball and was dispossessed by Diogo Jota, who quickly found Raul Jimenez on the right. He had time and space to run into the area and arc his shot around Simon Mignolet and into the net.
It was a well-taken goal, but a poor one to concede for Liverpool.
Sturridge had made one pass to Origi in the first half, Origi had made none to Sturridge
It was also the first chance that had been created with Liverpool only able to reference a miscued shot by Xherdan Shaqiri inside the area which was woefully wide.
Just before half-time, Liverpool failed to clear, with Moreno again appearing at fault, but Jimenez was crowded out.
It had been poor from Liverpool, as Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi failed to show any threat; any intent.
Sturridge had made one pass to Origi in the first half, Origi had made none to Sturridge. This was an opportunity for some of their players, and especially those two and Naby Keita, to push their case and it’s likely Klopp let them know about it at half-time.
Would they respond? They did. Origi scored, out of nothing as the ball broke to him on the edge of the area from Milner. The Belgian shifted it away from Willy Boly and, with goalkeeper John Ruddy unsighted, found a powerful, crisp finish.
If that was a fine strike then Wolves topped it. They worked the ball from right to left and back into the centre. Ruben Neves pulled the trigger from 25 yards with a fierce drive that bounced as it skidded beyond Mignolet’s dive. Liverpool had been level for just four minutes.
Wolves threatened again, with Jimenez charging down a clearance and stealing the ball away from Hoever as he tried to run it out of play – but the forward’s shot drifted wide.
Klopp brought on Salah and Firmino but not before Shaqiri had gone incredibly close with his curling 25-yard free-kick cannoning back off the inside of the post. It was, in fact, because of a brilliant save by Ruddy who had flung himself to brush his fingertips on the ball.
Liverpool pushed. A deflected Salah shot was headed away and Hoever launched another attack but Wolves held on with Liverpool the biggest casualty of the third round. (© Daily Telegraph, London)