Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted his side struggled at times to contain Fulham attackers Willian and Raul Jimenez last night.
Fulham would have taken a one-goal deficit at kick-off last night, but a couple of spurned chances and another desperately unlucky goal at Anfield slightly taint yesterday’s result.
Speaking to beIN Sports, Jurgen Klopp reflected on his side’s 2-1 win in the Carabao Cup semi-final.
It was clear before kick-off that Marco Silva was heading to Anfield with a plan yesterday.
Harrison Reed was given the nod over Tom Cairney in midfield, while Bobby De Cordova-Reid retained his place in the side over Harry Wilson.
Fulham wanted to keep the tie alive heading back to Craven Cottage, but at half-time, it looked like the Whites might be doing more than that.
Raul Jimenez, Andreas Pereira and Willian combined to give Fulham the lead over Liverpool.
The Brazilian’s quick feet saw him dance past three Reds defenders in the box and slot past Caoimhin Kelleher.
A heavily deflected Curtis Jones strike earned Liverpool an equaliser before Cody Gakpo scored the winner just minutes later.
Liverpool manager Klopp praises Willian and Jimenez
Reflecting on his side’s performance, Klopp said: “In the second half they had proper counterattacks all of a sudden, so we had to adjust there.
“Our last line had to protect higher which is tricky. Jimenez was there, Willian was there, so it’s really tricky.
“But besides that, we did much better obviously.”
In times gone by, Fulham teams crumbled when they were set up to sit back and defend against top teams.
They’ve headed to the Etihad countless times and been torn apart when hoping to soak up pressure.
However, Marco Silva has made this Fulham team much more difficult to break down and Liverpool needed a stroke of fortune to finally beat Bernd Leno.
Jimenez and Willian can cause any team problems and Liverpool found out the hard way that they’ll punish any small mistake.
Unfortunately, every Fulham fan went to bed last night replaying Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s chance in their head.
He shot from a tight angle instead of squaring to Andreas Pereira who was free in the box and could have given Fulham a precious two-goal advantage.