Jurgen Klopp spoke about Liverpool’s ability to rotate successfully this season ahead of their FA Cup tie with Southampton and his side proved their quality once again after overcoming the Saints.
Prior to the victory over Russell Martin’s side, Klopp had made 217 changes this season to his starting line up in all competitions with Manchester City recording the second most with 163. As they have ventured across four competitions, rotation has been key and it has been the key to their success.
Starting during the 3-0 victory last night was the likes of Lewis Koumas, Jarell Quansah, Bobby Clark, James McConnell and Conor Bradley, as Liverpool’s young guns took on the Championship high-flyers. It also saw 18-year-old Jayden Danns net his first two goals for the club and Koumas produce a debut goal before Trey Nyoni became the club’s youngest ever player after being subbed on late as the young guns shone again.
Granted, Southampton arrived with a heavily rotated team themselves, but Klopp’s crop of youngsters shined once again, days on from that victory at Wembley. Their successes this season have been the result of a strong depth of players to rely on.
“Actually, our squad is deeper than we thought at the start of the season.” Klopp said in his press conference earlier this week. “We didn’t think we needed to figure out how deep it is, but the situation is like this. I said it plenty of times, without the kids, we wouldn’t be here.”
The EFL Cup final victory over Chelsea also saw Klopp utilise his academy as no less than five youngsters were on the pitch as the final whistle blew. Going forward, the FA Cup and Europa League will see opportunities for Klopp to give them more game time, despite the fact that the competitions will become increasingly difficult.
