Klopp’s Kids march on in the FA Cup
Liverpool 3 Southampton 0, 28th February 2024.
LIVERPOOL 3 (Koumas 44, Danns 73 and 88)
SOUTHAMPTON 0
Following the Lord Mayor’s Show and still frankly unbelievable League Cup triumph at Wembley on Sunday came the very real threat of a FA Cup footballing banana skin in the shape of the “Saints” from Southampton and for 40 minutes, Jürgen Klopp’s ragtag collection of senior players playing out of position and teenagers barely old enough to drive themselves to Anfield were in real danger of tumbling out of the English’s game most prestigious knock-out competition. Under the stewardship of Russell Martin, a defender I greatly admired watching during his playing days for Norwich City, the team from the south coast currently sit in the play-off positions in the EFL Championship and whilst automatic promotion back to the promised land of the Premier League may be out of their reach, maybe, they stand a real chance of returning to England’s pun intended premier football league come May of this year. They showed exactly why in a first half of football that brought effusive praise from TV co-commentator Ally McCoist who couldn’t hide his admiration when exclaiming “They’re knocking it about aren’t they?”, a compliment aimed at the stylish, inventive and whip quick football that saw Southampton score a disallowed goal after just 29 seconds, Kamaldeen Sulemana hit the outside of a post on 5 minutes and the first of a hat-trick of chances for the Ghanaian midfielder, with French striker Sékou Mara also enjoying a double of goal scoring chances as he forced fine saves from Reds goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher on 6 and 10 minutes before Joe Rothwell was inches wide with a curling effort on 18 minutes.
Southampton deserved to be in front at half-time and very handsomely so, but the Reds first of two teenage goalscorers this evening had other ideas.
"Chasing the Impossible and a Sword of Damocles" - Available via Amazon
Lewis Koumas, son of Wrexham born Liverpool fan and ex Wales international of some distinction Jason Koumas and Jayden Danns, son of Liverpool born ex-professional Neil Danns, have a combined age of just 36 years, a grand total of just 3 appearances for the senior team and Koumas, a goal on his debut for the starting XI. Danns was exceptional in his substitute appearance at Wembley on Sunday and unlucky not to score as the game entered the first period of extra-time. This evening he bagged the “Man of the Match” award for his 2 goals in 15 second half substitute minutes, the first a beautiful “dink” lob over advancing Saints goalkeeper Joe Lumley and the second a poachers goal from a rebound, and he simply couldn’t hide his delight in the after-match TV interview as he excitedly exclaimed “To score at the Kop End, it’s unreal. It doesn’t feel real to me. It feels like I’m in a movie”. Koumas’ goal on 44 minutes was a priceless one, the Reds only shot on target in a first half they’d been largely outplayed by their south coast visitors, and hopefully a beautiful portent for the future of his direct and attacking style of play.
Good on yer kids!
Talking of which, this evening’s real stand out performance came from yet another teenager with a legendary ex-professional for a footballing father in the shape of 19 year old Bobby Clark. Son of Newcastle United and Fulham stalwart Lee Clark, Bobby did the ugly midfield work of chasing and harrying the Southampton midfield into pressurised mistakes and never stopped running in helping his team at both ends of the pitch.
Good on yer kid!
So it’s Manchester United and a trip to their “Theatre of Dreams” (stop laughing!) in just over two weeks time for a place in the Semi-Finals of the FA Cup. Prior to this the Reds have a daunting trip to the “Tricky Trees” of Nottingham Forest, a two-legged affair with Sparta Prague in the Europa League and the small matter of the visit of Club World Champions Manchester City, a season defining period if ever there was one.
In the here and now, Jürgen Klopp’s threadbare squad of midfielders playing up front, a central defender who’s played most of the season at emergency left back and who was fantastic this evening as a water carrying defensive midfielder, and a bunch of eagerly enthusiastic kids and “boys” have done it again. I have no idea how. I fear there’s a huge destabilising defeat on the horizon (as surely there must) but I’m bursting with pride for the team of my Red heart and the incredible legacy the German with the most magnificent of beards will be leaving the club he adores when he departs in the summer.
A final word from The Boss
“To win the game against a Southampton team who we would have had problems with anyway, but in our specific situation it was absolutely clear… we tried to give as much information, but not too much because of the characteristics of the team, of the line-up, to them”.
“We had to improve during the game. The first 15 minutes, I don’t know exactly, we were all over the place. We tried to press because the boys know I want them to press, just the timing was horrendous. Southampton used that, Southampton had momentum, Southampton had big chances, Caomih had to make saves, but step by step we found a way into the game. High-press got better, midfield press not that early — for the midfield press I think we needed the half-time more, a little bit of luck and good defending in the last line. That’s fine. Then obviously the goal we scored was nearly in the perfect moment”.
“So, an 18-year-old boy playing on the left-wing against a senior player in a team with not a lot of patterns, let me say it like that, is tricky. But staying in the game for these moments just shows he is a real striker because the goal is exceptional, the step in and then he shoots before the goalie can really settle and stuff like this. A really good finish. We could adjust at half-time and then second half, the midfield press was much better, that helped, and we had now the momentum rather than Southampton. We won a lot of high balls and scored wonderful goals. The play was special, where we won the balls was special, everything was then special. Then obviously something like that, as impossible as it seems, can happen”.
Thanks for reading. My three most recently published match reports from this season can be found below or alternatively, there are well over 180 articles past and present within my archives and library here:
"Klopp's Kids humble the "Billion Pound Bottle Jobs"
"Jürgen's threadbare Reds unpick the Hatters"
"Reds 5 points clear after stroll in West London"