ReactionJürgen Klopp press conference: Norwich FA Cup win, Anfield emotion, returning players and more
Jürgen Klopp enjoyed a ‘wonderful afternoon’ at an emotionally charged Anfield, where Norwich City were beaten 5-2 in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup.
First-half goals from Curtis Jones and Darwin Nunez were added to after the break as Diogo Jota, Virgil van Dijk and Ryan Gravenberch also scored to secure a comfortable win and a home tie versus Southampton or Watford for Liverpool in round five.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai all returned from injury as second-half substitutes during what was, of course, the Reds’ first match after Klopp’s announcement that he will leave the club at the end of the season.
Read what the manager said in his post-match press conference below.
On the professionalism of his team given the circumstances after Friday’s announcement about his future…
Top, a top performance from everybody involved. Really good. I liked the game. It’s a difficult game, you play against an opponent [that is] obviously going for counter-attacks, that’s absolutely fine, 4-5-1, so we have to get used to it on all accounts. We could have – and we told the boys in half-time anyway – passed with a bit more purpose, a bit more direction, quicker in moments, but it’s difficult. I saw one or two diagonals that we tried which were good but then in the wind didn’t, arrive and then we didn’t do it anymore. That makes not-too-much sense. We scored anyway two goals, two wonderful goals, we conceded a set-piece goal which was well executed – we could have done better in that situation for sure anyhow.
And then second half it’s clear, when you are as dominant as we are, it’s clear that if you keep being dominant and improve in some departments you will create more chances. Diogo’s was the third goal, right? This wonderful half-volley, that was the direction you needed. It was a difficult ball for the defender to defend, I would say, and then we could score from there. And then another screamer from Norwich and we could finish the game off, all good. Could bring the boys back, could give them minutes, which is very helpful, the kids showed up [and] were involved in four out of the five goals, that’s great. So, actually, nothing really to complain [about].
On how he personally found the afternoon from an emotional point of view…
It is [emotional] but my job is to… OK, it’s not always easy but I have to pull myself together and I received all the messages the people sent, I’m not made of wood so I get all of these. I said not too long ago, ‘Don’t sing the song during the game’ – people obviously stopped already listening to me, that’s good! But it’s fine, we won the game, we scored after that, so the reason for being superstitious is done in that case and it was great, and it’s the first game after that and I am not here to tell the people what to do. It’s just that we play on Wednesday again and if we could then ignore for 95 or 100 minutes that the manager is leaving at the end of the season and just do everything to make it as uncomfortable for Chelsea as possible that would be great. And I know the people know that as well so I actually don’t have to say it. But it was a wonderful afternoon in all parts of it.
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On full debutant James McConnell’s performance and whether the talent emerging from the Academy currently is the strongest it has been during his time at Liverpool…
Yeah, and you don’t know a few [emerging players] yet. So, maybe you know them but they were not with us yet on the pitch and stuff like this, but there is a lot to come still. Today Bobby Clark didn’t come on and I think he did particularly well in the last few games. Trey [Nyoni] and Dannsy [Jayden Danns] especially as well from the U18s, [Lewis] Koumas… there is a lot of really good players coming up still so yeah, the Academy is in a good moment, I would say, producing-wise. It’s wonderful.
James probably would consider himself rather as a No.8 but a midfielder probably should do, if you don’t play your whole life as a No.6. But he is a smart footballer. He has the necessary aggression, the vision and all these kind of things that he can play that position as a No.6 and he did it really well today, and on top of that [he is] a good footballer, how you not only saw with the cross for Curtis but in a lot of other moments. It’s really nice.
Conor [Bradley] the same, just really good, [Jarell] Quansah, I’m not sure how long we have to talk about him as an Academy [player]. He is, yes, [that is] great, but he is now settled I would say [in the senior squad]. He can still improve of course because of the age but he is an important part of the squad, like they all are. And we wouldn’t be where we are if the boys wouldn’t have been there, there is no chance, and that is why it is so cool to have them and it is not about me giving them opportunities, it is about them knocking on the door [so] that I can’t ignore it, actually, and that is what they did.
On the importance of Alexander-Arnold, Robertson and Szoboszlai getting minutes following injury…
Very important that we could give them minutes. So, Trent and Dom were not too long out, but I think they would say too long anyway, but Robbo was really out for a long time. Each minute they can get now is really important and today it helps as well to share the intensity again. Darwin we didn’t take off because he played bad or whatever, of course not, it’s just the amount of games we played and will play, and then the same with Joey [Gomez].
All good, we could share the minutes, that’s the most important thing and we could win the game and that’s it now. In four weeks we play the next FA Cup game and until then we play just Premier League and one final, so let’s do that [and] make sure we are ready for that. That the boys are back is great but we played pretty well without them, to be honest, so it’s not about who is playing, it’s about how we are playing and we have to make sure we are the one team Chelsea doesn’t want to play against and Arsenal doesn’t want to play against. So, let’s see what we can do with the players we have now available.