Klopp: I am as keen on Cup as ever
JURGEN KLOPP has dismissed suggestions that his attitude to the FA Cup has changed as Liverpool prepare for their first quarter-final in the competition under him.
In six previous attempts under the German, the Reds had only ever made it as far as the fifth round, suffering four fourth-round exits.
However, ahead of battling Nottingham Forest today for a Wembley semi-final spot, Klopp credited a stronger squad and kinder draws for their change of fortunes.
He said: “Usually people question my tactical ability and stuff like this but never my attitude. My attitude didn’t change, not at all. If you look at my German history, most of the finals I lost – it’s still a big number – were the German Cup final.
“Obviously when you have the players available then it’s OK and you can do it, if not, you have to make changes where people say, ‘Why is he doing that?’. But we come to the point where I ask the players for an awful lot until a specific point and then take them out.
“We said it before that we were not always unlucky but we did not have the best draw as well.
“It’s not that we thought, ‘Let’s go to Chelsea away or United away’ – or Chelsea at home in a situation where we didn’t have players.
“So no, the attitude didn’t change, I always wanted to go to Wembley, it just didn’t happen.”
Glory
The likes of Divock Origi, Takumi Minamino and Kostas Tsimikas played a key role in the Reds’ journey to League Cup glory earlier this season and have taken on a similar role in the FA Cup.
But Klopp believes it is the contribution of such fringe players in the Premier League and Champions League that has allowed him to name strong sides in domestic cups.
He added: “It’s not changes for the FA Cup but changes in-between.
“For the league games you can make changes and then for the FA Cup the players are available.
“You need a specific amount of senior players available that you can bring in the young ones, but if you have to play only with young ones then it’s really tricky.
“We had to do that from time to time but it is then really difficult. The mix makes a difference.”