Jurgen Klopp was left with no doubt that his decision to make five changes and rotate his side at Fulham was the right call, as he cannot wait for players to break down first.
The reaction to Liverpool’s team news ahead of their 3-1 win at Fulham had plenty of pessimism, despite recent performances showing change was needed.
Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister all started from the bench and came on in the second half, all after the Reds had sealed the three points.
With a taxing week ahead, including Wednesday’s Merseyside derby and another trip to London to face West Ham, Klopp had no doubts over his team selection.
In his post-match press conference, Klopp explained: “I’m really happy with today, we made these changes because we were 100 percent convinced we had to, it was not a gamble. We play on Wednesday and then Saturday.
“On Saturday, we are already in London again, which is crazy enough, that’s how it is.
“We needed to make these changes before players give me the obvious sign, ‘sorry, I’m done’.”
There were no immediate injury concerns from the victory, thankfully, and with five games remaining the squad is in a position the Reds have not found themselves in too often this season.
Klopp assessed: “The squad situation, at the moment (*knocks on wood*), hopefully, it stays like that, it is as good as it has been this season.
“If you saw our bench today, it was real quality and experience.
“I loved all the kids who played for us, did an incredible job, and we wouldn’t be where we are without them, but it’s cool, for once, to have all the big guns as well.
“Now we have to stay gritty, stay on it. Let’s see what we can do.”
One down, five cup finals to go.
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