JURGEN KLOPP DELIVERED an honest assessment of Liverpool’s scoreless draw with Plymouth, admitting the young side’s lack of patience as well as the League Two side’s relentlessness were the key reasons behind the stalemate.
The German named the youngest starting lineup in club history, with an average age of 21 years and 296 days but eventually introduced senior players like Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana when a breakthrough still hadn’t been found.
But speaking afterwards, he refused to criticise his selection.
“With our other line-up it could be possible that the result was still the same”, he said.
“Not likely but possible. It was a good experience for the boys. A game like this is not easy to make exciting. We had a young side so that is difficult. We can do better and, if we do better, then we have a good chance of making the next round.”
Klopp did admit that a lack of composure led to his side getting frustrated early on in what he admitted was a ‘boring’ game.
“We started well, we played football but then we lost patience too early and tried to force it”, he said.
Klopp also touched on Plymouth’s inevitable strategy of occupying a deep defensive line and how it’s tough to break such a system down.
I don’t know how many people live in Plymouth but it felt like the whole of Plymouth was in the 18-yard box.”
“We needed to stay cool and patient. That is the biggest challenge in football when you are playing against a deep-lying defensive side. “I made the decision to make changes and name a young side – that’s life.”
With a replay to come on Wednesday week, Liverpool now face four games in the space of 11 days – something they could do without.
“It is not a result we wished for but it is not frustrating – that is football. They did everything they had to do to deserve a rematch and now we have it…Yippee!”
