Q&AJürgen Klopp press conference: Fulham comeback, semi-final tie, Nunez, Bradley and more
Jürgen Klopp declared himself 'absolutely happy' after Liverpool came from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 at Anfield on Wednesday in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.
The Reds scored twice within the space of three second-half minutes to turn the encounter around and take a slender advantage into the Craven Cottage meeting on January 24.
A Curtis Jones deflected strike cancelled out the 19th-minute opener from Willian before Cody Gakpo's close-range finish secured the win.
Read on for a full transcript of Klopp's post-match press conference…
On the reason for Liverpool again coming from behind to win a game...
It's mentality, but why you create mentality sometimes and sometimes not, we spoke about that. To turn around a game, first and foremost you need quality; to turn a game around you obviously need belief. That's the main thing and summing up everything beyond that is mentality. We had that this season where we had to overcome real difficulties very early in the season and nobody knew how we would react on that because you cannot plan it, you cannot train, you just watch it. The boys did it against Bournemouth at home, against Newcastle away... so many moments. Tottenham is a top example, unfortunately without the result.
So, in the situation we are in with a lot of players not in – we don't go for excuses and stuff like this, but it is obvious, you have to change. It's not the problem that the players are not there, rather the problem is the patterns you develop over the weeks or months, they are not there. That's more the problem. First half we were super-dominant without outcome, no finishes. We played around the formation, we didn't stop pretty much on the wing when we found the player, once we crossed it was behind the goal, the next got blocked and stuff like this. There was no fluidity, nothing.
You have to get through a half like this because you see it but it's really difficult to get any influence from the outside because you tell one [player] in the ear and he gives the information to the next player… then in the end the outcome is not great, right? It's a funny part of it and that's a little bit how it could be in football: I tell one, he tells the next, he tells the next and then you don't see anything anymore. So, you try to get through it with little adjustments and then, unfortunately, we were 1-0 down at half-time. That's not cool but it can obviously happen.
Then in the end we had to adjust at half-time. It was not that much a problem because little things helped and we started to play better football, but immediately our protection was not better organised anymore and they had the counter-attacks. But we scored the goals, won the game and all good for now.
On why Liverpool have had 30 goal involvements from substitutes this season – more than any other Premier League team...
The boys. If we have more players available and you all know we love the kids, but you have to bring them in the right moment or when you have to take risks or whatever. That's how it is, but it must be the right moment. When we have all available and the quality we can bring on then is pretty good, I have to say. Of course, they are not all available but the boys that came on they have real quality already, obviously, and the others will have that in the future probably. And that's the reason for it, you see that.
I don't know how to explain the Darwin [Nunez] situation. I'm so happy about our crowd and how they take it; I am so happy about Darwin's reaction and how he takes it, but you cannot be more unlucky than he was in this finishing situation. It is just not possible. He does absolutely everything right and then the ball is not in. Then he still sets up the other goal. I think that's really special to do that again. He did it for Mo [Salah] against West Ham, if I am right, and today for Cody. Super-special. The impact they had was obviously really big, but before that we found our feet already.
On the tie...
It's not over yet. I didn't expect to have a result where I can say, 'We can book the hotel.' It was clear. Marco [Silva] was probably here before me, will not be overly happy tonight but knows they are still in it. They caused us real problems. They will cause us there even more problems – hopefully we will be then better from the start but we will see that. It's a few days and a game between now and then, so other things in the moment are more important. For tonight we couldn't do really more than win the game. And with the whole story of the game, I'm absolutely happy with the result.
On Nunez...
He plays outstanding, I have to say it. So many things I really love about the game. The first year was the year to adapt and he scored here and there. But now the contribution in games... he would have started tonight but he had cramps in the last game, so three days later you don't start a player. The boys don't start or not start because they score or not score. My belief and my trust in them is – as long as they behave properly – endless because they just deserve it because of the effort that they put in.
That you can bring Cody and Darwin from the bench, that's a proper change. And we changed, on top of that, system and formation and set-up. All of a sudden the high press was not organised anymore, we had problems there, we tried to fix that from outside and then all of a sudden protection was not [there] because we changed a couple of things. But the offensive situations were much better, it's good – he's a big part of that.
On the performance of Conor Bradley...
I told him before the game already I was waiting for that moment that we can give him the opportunity. I was really waiting for it because when he got injured in pre-season, my opinion about him was already here [high] and then he was out for a pretty long time. A top boy. Today was pretty intense for him. Somebody has to drive him home hopefully because he really is sitting in the dressing room and doesn't look great!
He gave his absolute everything and it's just so nice to see, it's really so nice to see. And the next is sitting outside on the bench already. That's really cool that he could show how good he already is and, of course, so much more to come. In the first goal, things like this happen, but if you are a defender there will always be an involvement in a goal somehow. But it's all about how quick can you get into the game again and I didn't see any kind of reaction – I liked that a lot.
On how much he is looking forward to the winter break...
My English is not good enough to put that in words!