Klopp: Stoke win was even better than I expected

The manager made seven alterations to his line-up for the Barclays Premier League clash and the Reds delivered a strong attacking performance to secure the points.

Alberto Moreno and Daniel Sturridge struck in the first half – with Bojan registering a response in between – before Divock Origi came off the bench to net a double after the break.

It made for a satisfied Klopp at his post-match press conference, and here is a summary of what the German had to say to reporters inside the stadium…

On handing first league starts to Sheyi Ojo and Kevin Stewart and their performances…

I was really happy for them that we could give them the opportunity today. Both deserved it. A lot more players from the young lads deserved it, like Pedro Chirivella and Cameron Brannagan. They’re all in a really good way, and a few more, so that’s cool. Kevin had two difficult moments, the first two passes didn’t reach the targets and so of course he will get nervous, but he came easily back into the game with heart and smart challenges. He showed really good positioning. And the same for Ojo. It’s more important than if he would have played a perfect game today and set a level and everybody would be waiting for him to jump over this. He is a good boy, he has a way to go, no problem. After three, four moments on the right wing, to do what he did on the left [for Sturridge’s goal] with the dribbling and the cross was really brilliant and then Daniel finished perfectly. Quick in mind is what we said before the game we had to be today, that’s why we changed the line-up. Quick in mind, fresh legs – that’s what we needed today.

I would say Alberto [Moreno] had his strongest performance since I’ve been here. The goal gave him confidence, but he was concentrated, good in defence, very good in our build-up and changed positions, played in the half-space and so that was good. To be honest, the whole game was good against a really difficult side to play. For the second time, they changed their style of play against us. When we played the semi-final at Stoke, the first half they played football. We had a few good pressing moments and in the second half they changed it. Then when they came here, it was a long-ball festival. Today with the wind and Peter Crouch, it was really difficult, but the big experience of Kolo [Toure] and Martin [Skrtel] ruled it in the end. They had big passion and good positioning in their defending. What we did with the ball in our build-up was really good for a side that had never played together before – it was brilliant, to be honest. Daniel Sturridge was always available for us, Roberto Firmino after a long break was so hard-working, it was clear that after 60 minutes we had to take him [off]. In the end, each player today played a really good football game.

On Divock Origi…

You see what confidence does. I think Divock said himself, when he came here everything was different for him. He is still a very young player and coming here, he knows everybody’s expectations are very high because he is a highly-rated striker. He had a lot of little injuries. When I came here he was not fit and afterwards he had one or two small things. Now the most important thing for him is to stay fit. In the last injury, he used it for a little bit of body strength, as everyone can see. Now he has to wear another shirt and another kit! You saw his first goal, a set-piece, quick in mind, a short corner and then what a cross and what a header. The second goal is only possible with confidence. He really wanted to shoot – it was not a cross or something, he really wanted to shoot. Even on the bench, it was a surprise – a nice goal!

On reports Origi has gained five kilograms of muscle through training…

I’m not sure if it was five kilos, but it was a little bit more. If he’d done the same training, nothing would happen – you need to be a talent and he is that, obviously. He is in a good way. He sees it the same way – he is on his way, he is at the start and now we have to work together. It’s normal that you speak about Divock Origi after a game like this, but today I want to speak about Daniel Sturridge because he worked really hard and got a brilliant goal. He was throughout the whole game, but especially in the first half he was so important. He kept Ojo in the game when he spoke to him on the pitch and told him ‘come on, stay positive’ and things like this. He was defending really smartly. He doesn’t have to defend like Lucas Leiva or someone like this, he has to defend smart by closing space, pushing them to one side and things like this – and that’s what he did. There were a lot more good moments and I am really, really happy with his performance today.

On having more options to choose from in the squad…

When I came here six months ago, you always spoke about players who were not available. When [Sturridge] was two days in training, you asked me if he could play at the weekend. Usually I would laugh for 10 minutes about this question. But I couldn’t because we didn’t have enough players, so I actually had to think about if he started – whoever it was. Now we have more players to think about. You saw that it was not too easy for Stoke to defend the formation; Daniel was very flexible together with Roberto in the centre, Ojo on the right wing very offensive like a striker and left half of the space open for Alberto to go and join in the half-space. That’s because we tried to find the best system for these players. We played without Phil Coutinho, who is in brilliant shape. We played without Adam Lallana, who is in brilliant shape – he only played for 30 minutes. We could really show something like consistency because now we have the players. When they play and have no rhythm – Kolo and Martin obviously can’t have rhythm, Kevin Stewart can’t have rhythm after his injury, the same for Lucas Leiva, that’s not possible – but when you are something like fit you can play football. Today was to see this is very important and they did really well. I’m not surprised but I thought we would have more problems; I was sure it was a formation we could win with but not like this, to be honest. So that was really good.

On Joe Allen…

He was brilliant, there is no other word. We only took him off because we need him. Joe is not at 100 per cent fitness but it’s not possible because he always had injuries. So that’s not possible. We couldn’t train often enough with him; he was always on the bench because we needed him. Now hopefully he stays healthy and fit. Then we have another really good option.

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