Liverpool can challenge for silverware – Klopp

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said Daniel Sturridge has the club’s full support as he looks to get his season back on track.

The Liverpool striker latched onto Joe Allen’s through ball, slipped Steven Caulker, who was making his first Saints start for two months, and arrowed his left foot shot past Maarten Stekelenburg from a tight angle.

Divock Origi struck a hat-trick and Jordon Ibe was also on the scoresheet in the comprehensive win.

Last week, Klopp seemed to be sending a message to his striker by telling him to identify “what is serious pain and what is only pain”. “I knew about his quality, but not live in a stadium, in an important tournament”.

“I don’t know if he can get back to where he was before the injuries – maybe he will be even better”. Every day, if I tell them all things I know, for sure it would be too much.

“He did not have the ideal pre-season but it was a good decision to play him. It was a good decision”.

Origi added his second Liverpool goal and this one was most definitely his after the confusion of the first.

Boss Ronald Koeman says he was to blame after deciding to change the team’s system at half-time.

“(It was) great play of Liverpool”, he said.

As the above tables show, Klopp’s Liverpool are closer to the summit after 14 games than Rodgers’ side were when they nearly went all the way, with just six points the gap this time around.

Southampton started the second half the brighter side, no doubt following an outing from the hairdryer during the break, as Koeman’s side pressed strongly and pushed the ball into risky wide areas.

“But it’s in January I think and we have to wait a little bit”. There were too many big spaces.

Since his arrival from Dortmund, Klopp has been pestered over the England international’s fitness in press conferences and has come to anticipate the “daily Daniel Sturridge question”. Former midfielder Patrik Berger paid the team the ultimate compliment, comparing them to the reigning Champions League winners.

In progressing to the semi-finals against Stoke, Liverpool avoided the potentially more hard draws against Everton or Manchester City, but Klopp pointed to his team’s recent 4-1 win at City as proof they need not be concerned about facing them, and insisted that Stoke remain a significant challenge.

“Who knows where it will lead?” The move appears to be paying off, as Can is expressing himself and helping lift Liverpool to new heights.