Jürgen: What I said to Daniel and Divock
Jürgen Klopp was delighted to see a key decision pay off after Divock Origi and Daniel Sturridge scored five goals between them as Liverpool thrashed Southampton 6-1 on Wednesday night.
The German named both forwards in his line-up for the Capital One Cup quarter-final at St Mary’s, with the latter making his first start for the Reds in two months.
Within a minute, Klopp’s side were behind. Sadio Mane nodded home Ryan Bertrand’s cross from the left at the back post and the Saints were on top.
But Sturridge produced two clinical finishes in quickfire fashion before the half-hour and a two-goal advantage was established by half-time when Origi turned in Alberto Moreno’s shot to open his account for the club.
After the interval, he tripled that tally through a blast into the top corner and a close-range header either side of substitute Jordon Ibe’s precise drive, as Liverpool marched into a semi-final with Stoke City.
At his post-match press conference, Klopp said of Origi: “We had a talk. We sat together; it’s not too often that we [manager and player] completely agree in each thing.
“I said ‘You have to learn this, this and this, do this and don’t do difficult things’ and he said ‘Yes, I know’. He wants to show everything in the short time he’s playing, that’s normal.
“Everybody knew him before Liverpool bought him and everybody wanted him. He’s a really big talent. But he has to learn and he has to be patient, that’s the truth.
“In 10, 15 years when he looks back on his career he’ll have no idea about the games he didn’t make in this moment. We can take the time to train.
“Today he made his easiest game, only easy passes, used his feet, was in the game and good defending. It was really good. And he got some good crosses! It was really good from him but he’s still young and he has to learn.”
On Sturridge, the boss said: “I said to him after the game, ‘Now I know what everyone is talking about! Thank you!’ But of course I knew about his quality, that’s not a problem.
“Not live in a stadium in an important tournament, but the rest I knew about. It’s important for us that we have these good strikers that can react in the moments.
“Christian Benteke was injured then played two games and is in good shape so you have to think about how often you can play him – the same with Roberto Firmino and so on.
“Now we have our own little experiences where we know the third game is sometimes a little bit of a problem. So if we can bring completely new and fresh players, we have to think about it and that’s what we could do tonight.
“The problem with Daniel is that we didn’t know how long he could play; but if you don’t know how long then he has to start because you can change on 35 minutes or whenever.
“Because he didn’t have the perfect pre-season, everybody knows. It was a good decision, I have to say, and the same with Divock! Sometimes it works like this.”