KLOPP: WE WA NT THE LOT!
Reds relish fight on FOUR fronts
JURGEN KLOPP is revelling in the challenge of going for the grand slam of all four trophies after a much-changed Liverpool beat Norwich to keep their Premier League hopes alive.
The German’s seven alterations to his line-up looked ill-judged as the Reds trailed just past the hour mark thanks to a Milot Rashica strike early in the second half.
However, goals from Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz turned the game on its head, maintaining the pressure on leaders Manchester City.
With the Reds set to contest the League Cup final next week and also going well in both the Champions League and FA Cup,
Klopp is excited by the possibilities the season holds.
He said: “We enjoy it – not all about it, the travelling and flying back on Thursday and playing on Saturday and these kinds of things, that’s difficult to enjoy.
“But the situation we really enjoy, we see it as an opportunity and we never had it before.
“Being in all four competitions, it’s incredible, we really enjoy that and long may it continue because that means we can play a lot of football games, which is what we love most.
“But it’s not easy for the boys and that’s exactly why we changed seven players today.
“I expect the boys listen when I say the next game we play is absolutely the most important game we’ve ever played and today we wanted to help with fresh legs.”
Liverpool were given an early warning that they were in for a tricky afternoon as Alisson was forced to push a Max Aarons cross over the bar with less than a minute on the clock.
A Teemu Pukki shot that drifted just wide of the far post came soon after, but that represented Norwich’s last attacking contribution to a half that was subsequently one-way traffic.
They had Angus Gunn to thank for not falling behind, the keeper stopping efforts from Mane and Salah, while Mathias Normann did his part in heading a Salah attempt off the line.
And only a brilliant Grant Hanley block prevented Alex OxladeChamberlain testing Gunn after a quick break just before the half-time whistle.
However, the fact that the Englishman’s attempt was the 15th Liverpool shot of the half but did not add to the four that had been on target said a lot.
Klopp’s men were punished for failing to do more going forward almost immediately after the restart, Alisson being left with no chance by a deflection off Joel Matip that sent Rashica’s shot from distance curling in at the far post.
But the Liverpool response did not come until past the hour, when Klopp rolled the dice in introducing both Divock Origi and Thiago Alcantara.
That ambition was rewarded with two goals in three minutes, Mane burying a brilliant overhead kick from Kostas Tsimikas’ header, and Salah controlling an Alisson pass before sending a right-footed effort dribbling over the line for his 150th goal for the club.
The Kop created a raucous atmosphere that provided the soundtrack to Diaz’s first goal for Liverpool, a chipped finish over Gunn after a delicious pass from Jordan Henderson.
The final scoreline felt harsh on Norwich, who had impressed for large parts, but boss Dean Smith made no excuses at full-time.
He said: “It was really gutsy but I have to be honest,
“I’m a realist, we got what we deserved, which was nil points. But we can take an awful lot of confidence and belief from the performance, which was better than it was last week against Manchester City.
“We asked some serious questions of a really good team and it took a front three of Salah, Mane and Diaz to ultimately take the points away from us.
“No disrespect to the opponents coming up, but we won’t be coming up against this calibre in the next few weeks.
“Our position won’t be determined by results against Liverpool.”
Still being in all four competitions is incredible. It means we play a lot of games, but that is what we love most