Jurgen Klopp had plenty of praise for one of his players after the Carabao Cup win against Fulham on Wednesday night.
Liverpool came from a goal down to win 2-1 at Anfield and edge closer to securing a Carabao Cup final place.
Fulham took a surprise lead through Willian’s first half goal but Liverpool responded with strikes from Curtis Jones and Curtis Jones to take them within touching distance of reaching the final at Wembley.
With Trent Alexander-Arnold ruled out for an extended period with injury, Klopp was forced to call upon Conor Bradley, who started in the right back position.
Bradley had come on in the 2-0 FA Cup win against Arsenal just a few days before and looked composed on Wednesday, leading to widespread praise for the 20-year-old.
Klopp was also one of those who singled him out and believes he will go on to have a successful career.
He said: “I’m not sure he’ll make it home, probably he will fall asleep in the dressing room.
"Exceptional. What a boy. Fantastic character, real talent, top potential – and he’s in the right team because everybody loves him and respects him and wants him to succeed, it’s really nice.
“It was super hard, super tough.
"He was involved in the goal we conceded, falling over the ball or whatever, but as a team it was obvious that we caused ourselves some problems against a really compact defending from Fulham, we played a lot around and got stuck on the wing, no fluidity there and we had to change that and play more in the half-spaces.”
Assessing the team performance as a whole, he added: “The first half, we had a lot of possession without a lot of outcomes.
"We played too much around the formation and for us now it’s a time that we have to adapt slightly because we are used to a couple of things and some of them were not there today. It’s not a problem, you’ve just got to adapt to it.
“We saw in the first half what’s wrong, it’s just difficult to change it, to talk to the players, to get information out there. Half-time was really crucial again today, to tell them where to play and stuff like this, because we didn’t play bad, we just didn’t play good.”
Read more:
Less than 10% of people can name the team that Sevilla beat in 2015! Before you settle down for another evening watching everyone’s second-favourite continental competition—the UEFA Europa League—it’s the perfect time to look back at those special clubs who’ve either conquered the continent to claim a second-tier European crown of their own, or those […]
Another big teaser! Our SportsJOE Pub Quiz is back for another week. This one covers the GAA, Grand National, the Masters and Champions League. Good luck!
Some huge clashes! Your go-to guide for live sport on TV in Ireland is back. The Premier League sees a league-defining clash between Man City and Arsenal, while Chelsea host Manchester United. The world’s greatest competition (Munster Senior Hurling Championship) is back as well, with Tipp v Cork a highlight. Football Friday April 17th Saturday […]