Reaction'Kelleher was magnificent - and the younger players stepped up'
Nathaniel Phillips hailed goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher and Liverpool's youngsters after Wednesday's Carabao Cup victory over Derby County.
WATCH: Extended highlights and penalty shootout
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The Reds secured passage into the fourth round of the competition and continued their defence by claiming a 3-2 win on penalties following a 0-0 draw in 90 minutes.
Jürgen Klopp opted to field a fully changed line-up while handing a number of opportunities to the younger members of his squad.
Kelleher once again proved to be the hero between the posts, saving three Derby kicks in the shootout to help earn victory at Anfield.
Read on for the full Liverpoolfc.com post-match interview with Phillips below…
On a euphoric feeling after the shootout victory…
It does, [it was] a difficult game. I think it’s always difficult when you’ve got a group of lads who haven’t played together loads, trained loads together even. It was a real mix of younger lads and senior boys who need minutes. But I thought we did well, we competed well, especially the young boys.
We matched Derby physically, which is always difficult when you are a young lad. We did well to keep the clean sheet, we had a few chances to score but it just wasn’t to be, and then obviously Caoimh was magnificent in the shootout as always.
On needing to stay patient when things don’t always go your way...
Yeah, I think so. That was a key message that you could tell after the first five minutes Derby had a plan, and they were just going to sit in and try to absorb as much of the pressure as much as they could and try to hit us on the break.
In those moments you have to be patient, you can’t get frustrated so obviously the responsibility to try to portray that message falls on the more senior boys. That’s what we did. We didn’t get the goal but obviously in the shootout we came through it.
On the shootout being topsy-turvy...
I think me and Joe [Gomez] were getting a bit twitchy as the centre-halves as it went on! Caoimh bailed us out as always and we saw some of the younger boys stepping up to take one. Harvey got our winning penalty, which is a high-pressured situation, and he did brilliantly there and I’m glad we are through.
On coming through with Kelleher at the club and Klopp’s claim he’s the best No.2 in the world...
I couldn’t disagree with him there. I see him day in, day out on the training ground and he is top-level. With these opportunities when he plays, I think he shows that himself. He wasn’t called upon too often tonight other than the penalty shootout, but I think that’s a credit to him, his attitude and professionalism, he can still maintain those high standards when he is not playing week in, week out, and having that drive to want to improve and maintain a high level.
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On waiting for chances to come his way and remaining patient for them...
Exactly and I think from my point of view and my own experiences I’ve learned first-hand that you never know when an opportunity might arise, and it’s your responsibility to make sure you are ready to play games when needed. Things can change very quickly in football. That’s the way you have to be, and I think for your own personal benefit continue to develop. It’s important that you maintain that drive and those high levels in training.
On the recent winning run ahead of the World Cup break…
Obviously we’ve been wanting to develop some consistency for a while. We have struggled to find that so far this season, so even though the team was very much different to what the team has been playing in the Premier League, Champions League, it’s still important that we maintain that consistency and thankfully we could do that this evening.