Klopp on reaching Wembley, penalty heroics and sitting down
Jürgen Klopp reflected on Liverpool’s Capital One Cup semi-final penalty shootout victory over Stoke City in his post-match press conference on Tuesday night. Here’s the best of what the boss had to say after the Reds booked their place at Wembley.
Klopp on reaching the Capital One Cup final…
I’m pleased, but you can’t believe how unimportant it is that I’m in a first cup final and things like this – it’s not important. I am really pleased with being in a cup final for my players because they deserve it because of so many things that have happened in the last [few] weeks, how we’ve done in this tournament, how the game was tonight and the kind of goal we conceded tonight. We stayed in the game and learnt in the game to make it better. The first half was not too good because it was a second-ball fight. I spoke about the changing style of Stoke, but I think they maybe found a way back for one game! It was really difficult for us. There were a lot of set plays and we did really well tonight. You saw a very good reaction from the lads. Then we conceded this goal - half-time and everybody tells us it was ‘double offside’! – and then we went out and had to play better. Winning the first ball is important in a game like this and winning the second ball is very important, but if you win the second ball then you have to play. That’s what we forgot in the first half, although in the second half we did it better. We fought hard and had a useful bit of luck in the penalty shootout. Now we’re in the final – that’s great!
Klopp on Joe Allen’s winning penalty…
We only decided the first five [takers], but we recognised that Joe usually should shoot. We already had five, but there was no real decision – he [Allen] took the ball and not only because of the Arsenal goal. He is a really, really good boy, a good lad, and it’s not the most easy of situations sometimes for players if you are in good shape – which he obviously is – but you don’t play from the beginning or in matches like this. He came in, he is a really good character, and he did well. He decided the game for us.
Klopp on Simon Mignolet’s penalty-saving heroics…
Until now I have not seen one penalty, to be honest – I was behind the wall my players built up [in front of me] so I will watch them at home. He did well, it was really difficult as we had 500 long balls into the box and he could not go out [for them] all the time. You could see the situation around, we are all sitting on our warm chairs saying, ‘Come on, do something’ but it’s not easy – Crouch in front of you, only on the pitch to disturb you. It’s not the easiest job, but he did great tonight. We did, as a team, really well with the set plays. It was a good reaction in this part. We played football after 110 minutes, passing – we tried to pass and that was the good thing. We knew they’d get more and more tired because Stoke had invested a lot, and we could play passes. In the end, we didn’t make the right decision in the final third, we lost concentration and wanted to finish with a shot from 25 yards. We played brilliantly sometimes, passing really well, and then we have the ball 25 yards from goal and we shoot and over [the bar]. It is never, never, never, never easy to go to the final – it’s always a fight, how it should be because it’s so important. If you have the opportunity, you have to fight for it. That’s what the lads did and so I am really pleased for them.
Klopp on what winning a trophy would do for LFC…
It’s very important and I saw it in the faces of the players, of course. But in this moment, you should not talk about it too much. Being in a final is cool – it’s the only possibility to win the final – but in the end it’s only about winning the final. You should not make the pressure too big because it’s only an opportunity. If you win it, everybody will remember it in 200 years; if you lose it, in a few weeks it’s over. So go into the final, enjoy the game, enjoy the atmosphere and make a big game of it. Do your best, that’s the thing. Don’t start thinking now, four weeks before the final, what it could mean for me. It’s not important. Play the game, do what you can and then if you want to think, you can start thinking about what it means. You have to be a real competitor in a final and not feel the pressure too much. That’s important. Go there, do your best and win in the best case. If we win, then we will recognise and see what it means to us. It’s for the club and the crowd. It was so special tonight and it seemed to be a really big thing for everybody. We should take this as a real opportunity, that’s what it is.
Klopp on why he didn’t watch the penalty shootout…
It was a mixture. Usually I want to see but with the first row of the stands, they [the fans] couldn’t see anything. I can’t be on my knees for 50 minutes – I had an ACL 20 years ago and it’s still not 100 per cent! That’s why I sat on a chair and you could see nothing. And it felt good, to be honest, only watching the crowd. In the end, we won without me watching and that’s good.