Jurgen Klopp singles out ‘exceptional’ Liverpool star who everybody at the club loves after Fulham win
Jurgen Klopp was full of praise for one of his Liverpool players after his side’s clash against Fulham.
On Wednesday night, Liverpool welcomed Fulham to Anfield for the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.
The visitors stunned the Reds after Willian scored to make it 1-0 in the 19th minute.
However, Klopp’s men moved up the gears in the second half as goals from Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo in the space of three minutes turned the game on its head.
Liverpool will now take a 2-1 advantage into the second leg at Craven Cottage.
After the match, Klopp heaped praise on youngster Conor Bradley, who started at right-back after the injury to Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Bradley came on during Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Arsenal in the FA Cup last week and impressed many with his cameo.
When asked if the 20-year-old will sleep well, Klopp said: “He will. I’m not sure he’ll make it home, probably he will fall asleep in the dressing room. Exceptional. What a boy. Fantastic character, real talent, top potential – and he’s in the right team because everybody loves him and respects him and wants him to succeed, it’s really nice.
“So yes, that was a really great game, with all the difficulties you have in football. It was super hard, super tough. He was involved in the goal we conceded, falling over the ball or whatever, but as a team it was obvious that we caused ourselves some problems against a really compact defending from Fulham, we played a lot around and got stuck on the wing, no fluidity there and we had to change that and play more in the half-spaces.”
Speaking about his team’s overall performance, the German added: “The first half, we had a lot of possession without a lot of outcomes. We played too much around the formation and for us now it’s a time that we have to adapt slightly because we are used to a couple of things and some of them were not there today. It’s not a problem, you’ve just got to adapt to it.
“We saw in the first half what’s wrong, it’s just difficult to change it, to talk to the players, to get information out there. Half-time was really crucial again today, to tell them where to play and stuff like this, because we didn’t play bad, we just didn’t play good.”
Liverpool will be back in action on 21 January when they travel to the Vitality Stadium to take on Bournemouth in the Premier League.
Topics: Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool, Fulham, Carabao Cup, Football
Liverpool broke pre-match tradition ahead of Carabao Cup tie against Fulham
Featured Image Credit: @TheRedmenTV/Sky Sports
Liverpool broke pre-match tradition ahead of their Carabao Cup tie against Fulham, angering fans in the process.
Liverpool came from behind to beat Fulham 2-1 at Anfield on Wednesday.
Willian opened the scoring in the 19th minute as the visitors pounced on an error by Virgil van Dijk, who was later booked for fouling Andreas Pereira.
Curtis Jones’ deflected, long-range strike in the 68th minute levelled proceedings.
Three minutes later, Darwin Nunez picked out Cody Gakpo who flicked home from close range to make it 2-1.
Ahead of the game, Liverpool played the iconic darts music before blaring out ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
‘Chase the Sun’ was played before the club’s famous anthem ahead of kick-off.
The song has become a hit among Ally Pally spectators and was played at the recent World Darts Championship.
But the decision to play the Planet Funk track at Anfield didn’t go down well with Liverpool fans inside the ground and on social media.
One X user wrote: “You can throw that darts music straight in the bin. Never want to hear that in the ground again.”
A second tweeted: “Imagine playing the darts music at Anfield.”
A third added: “Playing the fucking darts music at Anfield.”
Liverpool resume their Premier League campaign on Saturday when they travel to Bournemouth.
They then head to Craven Cottage to face Fulham in the second leg.
Topics: Liverpool, Fan Reactions, Football
Why VAR won’t be used in Liverpool vs Fulham as Carabao Cup decision made
Featured Image Credit: Getty
It has been confirmed that VAR will not be in operation for this week’s Carabao Cup semi-finals between Liverpool and Fulham as well as Middlesborough vs Chelsea.
The decision comes as VAR continues to make headlines for all the wrong reasons, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Joao Gomes’ red cards in the FA Cup causing outrage on social media.
However, not all FA Cup games have used VAR this weekend, most notably Sunderland vs Newcastle where fans praised the lack of intervention which allowed a physical high-intensity derby.
There has been no use of VAR in the Carabao Cup up to this stage, and that will continue until the final on the 25th of February.
The semi-final decision was based on the fact Middlesborough would not be able to use VAR at their stadium due to their current Championship status.
The use of VAR in the return leg at Stamford Bridge would create a significant lack of consistency within the tie.
Interestingly the decision carries over to Liverpool and Fulham despite both clubs having the option for VAR at their stadiums.
An EFL statement read: “Given the system is not installed at one of the participating semi-finalist Clubs and to maintain fairness and consistency, VAR technology will not be used in the Carabao Cup semi-final stage this season.
“This is in line with previous rounds of this season’s competition when at some grounds, but not all, VAR has been available,” the statement added.
An EFL spokesperson shed more light on the decision: “The FA took a different approach, but we felt this was the way to go.
“If it couldn’t be used in one of the games it won’t be used in any of the four semi-final legs.
“It was decided it was fairer to not use it in any of the four semi-final games as a result.”
Topics: Carabao Cup, Chelsea, Fulham, Liverpool, VAR, Football
Jurgen Klopp has found Trent Alexander-Arnold successor that could save Liverpool millions
A Conor Bradley compilation from Liverpool suggests he is the perfect Trent Alexander-Arnold understudy.
On Sunday Arsenal were punished for missing a host of missed chances as a Jakub Kiwior own goal and Luis Diaz strike sent Liverpool into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 2-0 win.
The victory means Liverpool are still in with a chance of winning four competitions this season.
And one of the brightest performances for the Reds that day was Northern Ireland international Bradley, who came on to replace Harvey Elliott with just 15 minutes remaining on the clock.
Despite his limited minutes, his slick performance quickly caught the eye of pundit Alan Shearer, who praised the youngster’s “impressive” cameo on the BBC.
The Newcastle legend said: “Well done Conor Bradley. Staying alive and alert. I know they conceded a corner, but he had to do that.
“Doing well, isn’t he?! He has looked impressive when he has come on.”
Liverpool fans were also quick to heap praise on the 20-year-old, with a compilation of Bradley’s cameo being shared across X, the social media platform formally known as Twitter.
Bradley subsequently shared a post on Instagram celebrating the victory and received accolades from several of his teammates.
Captain for the day Alexander-Arnold summed up Bradley’s performance in one apt word: “Impact.”
Meanwhile, Virgil van Dijk sent two clapping emojis in response to the display.
“What a player,” said Liverpool keeper Caoimhin Kelleher, while Bobby Clark, who also came off the bench said: “Class brother.”
Bradley joined Liverpool in 2019 from boyhood club Dungannon Swifts and two years later, he made his Liverpool debut, following a successful loan spell at Bolton.
The full-back, who signed a new long-term contract with the club at the end of 2023, has now made seven competitive appearances for Klopp’s side and looks the perfect understudy for Alexander-Arnold.
Topics: Jurgen Klopp, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool, FA Cup, Arsenal
Liverpool fans are convinced Kylian Mbappe wants transfer as Jurgen Klopp interview resurfaces
Liverpool fans are convinced Kylian Mbappe wants to move to Anfield after an old interview resurfaced online.
Liverpool produced a stunning campaign to win the Premier League title in the 2019/20 season.
Jurgen Klopp’s side enjoyed an incredible winning streak as they had won 18 league games in a row before their defeat at Vicarage Road against Watford.
The run had Mbappe in awe as he hailed their ‘machine’ like approach, praising the German boss’ style of play.
Speaking back in January 2020, he gleefully said: “What Liverpool do in this moment is amazing. They’re like a machine, they’ve found a rhythm and are like ‘we play again, we play again’.
“They’ve lost zero games. When you watch you think everything’s easy but that’s not easy. The guys are focused, they play games every three days, and they win, they win, they win.
“Now the problem is that everybody watches Liverpool, and everybody watches what we can do against them, so now they have to show they are strong again but it’s a very good team with a very good manager.”
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