Jurgen Klopp was pleased with the performances of Fabio Carvalho and Harvey Elliott for Liverpool last night.
Both players featured for the full 90 minutes of the Reds 7-1 demolition of Rangers. And from the boss’ comments via liverpoolfc.com after the game, it’s clear that the two Liverpool youngsters impressed Klopp.
“How the boys adapted to it, to the positions, to the line-up, the reaction of the boys on the pitch. I thought everybody who started tonight played really well. I cannot think of one player who didn’t have a good game; the two kids of the right and left wing, really good, Fabio and Harvey,” said the 55-year-old.
“And then when you can change like we changed tonight, if you can do that, the boys come on and are ready to contribute and things like this can happen. It’s a freak result and we all know that and we don’t make more of it than we should, but obviously it is the best we could have asked for and that is why I am pretty pleased.”
Elliott capped off his encouraging display with a well-taken goal, while Carvalho buzzed about with plenty of industry.
Carvalho finds his feet at Ibrox
It was an interesting looking line-up from Klopp last night, with Carvalho and Elliott on either wing of a 4-4-2.
At first, the formation looked like it wasn’t really working. With the skillsets of Carvalho, Elliott and Roberto Firmino all being fairly similar, they were getting in each other’s way too much.
All three wanted to play more centrally. As a result, Darwin Nunez wasn’t left with enough space to operate in and couldn’t make any sort of impact.
Ironically, it was almost the polar opposite of Liverpool’s forward line struggles this season. More often than not, the Reds attackers have suffered from seemingly being too far apart.
But after finding their feet, Elliott and Carvalho started to make a difference. Carvalho in particular should be given a special mention.
The 20-year-old was largely to blame for Rangers opening goal. He lost the ball too cheaply in a dangerous area, which the home side duly scored from.
In the intense Ibrox atmosphere, Carvalho could have wilted. Instead, he kept plugging away and eventually got his rewards. In the midst of all the goals, it shouldn’t be forgotten that Liverpool had to pick themselves up from that early setback.
It was Carvalho’s directness that led to the corner that got the Reds back into the game. There have been suggestions that Klopp is damaging the Portuguese’s confidence by playing him too often. On the contrary, the youngster appears to relish these big occasions.
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