Lallana: Stoke win was for the supporters

The Reds bounced back from Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to West Ham United with a gritty performance that saw them defend Jordon Ibe’s 37th-minute winner to take an aggregate lead back to Anfield.

Lallana says Jürgen Klopp's squad discussed the need to avoid a sloppy start this time around, and show the fans that the performance at the Boleyn Ground will not become the norm.

“It’s a massive win for us,” he told the Liverpool Echo. “We spoke before the game about the need to start well. Against West Ham we were sloppy at the start. We wanted to show our intent against Stoke.

“We wanted to show what it meant for us to be in the semi-finals. We wanted to show how much we want to get this club to Wembley.

“We got the goal, defended really well and had chances to make it more comfortable. It was probably a perfect performance.

“We owed that to everyone connected with the club, but especially the supporters after what happened at West Ham.

“We all knew we didn’t perform to the right level on Saturday and we wanted to put that right. We owed the fans a performance.

“This is a tough place to come. We’ve had some bad results here in the past but we dug deep and got a great win.

“It’s always tricky over two legs and this is not over yet. We still have to finish the job off at Anfield.

“We have put ourselves in a good position. We just need to be professional in the second leg.”

The victory at the Britannia Stadium was somewhat soured by injuries to Philippe Coutinho and Dejan Lovren, who were both forced off in the first half of the contest.

Lallana lamented the Reds' back luck during a recent spate of injuries, which he believes is simply down to a clogged fixture list.

“It's a big blow losing Philippe and Dejan, and we just hope they aren't going to be out for long,” he added.

“Sometimes you are just unlucky with injuries and we've had a lot of bad luck recently.

“I know from my time at Liverpool that we've got a world class medical team here. We certainly can't point the finger at anyone.

“We have had a change of manager this season. When that happens lads look to impress more and give more.

“But I don't think these injuries have got anything to do with any changes to our training.

“We've had so many games recently that we've mainly been doing recovery sessions between games so it's not as if the training has been really intensive. You can't blame that.

“Look at the amount of games we've had over the Christmas period.

“If you look at teams around the league, I bet you'll find the number of injuries has definitely increased.

“Not every club is in the semi-finals of this competition, playing in the Europa League and about to get going in the FA Cup on Friday night.

“We've also had some massive Premier League fixtures. It's been a tough run and with the demands on players nowadays there's bound to be injuries.

“But we'll all stick together. I'm sure the lads who are out will be working extra hard to get back fit.”

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