- Jurgen Klopp thinks it was the right decision to rest Coutinho and Firmino
- Liverpool drew 1-1 with Merseyside rivals Everton at Anfield
- SEE MORE: Watch the one-minute Klopp interview everyone is talking about…
The eyebrows of every Liverpool fan were raised to the sky at 1:15pm yesterday when Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI for the Merseyside Derby was announced.
Despite his hat-trick against Spartak Moscow in midweek, Coutinho was on the bench, as was in-form Roberto Firmino, who’s been in the goalscoring form of his life over recent weeks.
Liverpool battered Everton without our two Brazilians, but somehow succumbed to a 1-1 draw, despite Coutinho and Firmino coming on as subs in an attempt to wrestle back victory.
Klopp has defended his decision to rest two of his best players though, claiming the ones who started instead were fresh and played well.
“I thought before the game, yes. Still yes, even when the result doesn’t show it,” he told ESPN.
“We did it in the last six or seven weeks. We do it like this. I’ve said it here, I’ve said it to the boys already, we can change as much as we want when we win the games, but when we don’t win the games I take the blame. I have no problem with that.
“The boys who came in were fresh and did a brilliant job. They played, they worked hard. We worked hard, it was a derby, we accepted it, we took it as a derby, it’s a fight. You need to be ready for each challenge — and we were ready for each challenge.”
We’re of the opinion that Klopp has the right to pick whoever he wants, but with Chelsea losing, Arsenal drawing and Manchester United losing afterwards, the game was a brilliant opportunity to climb the table.
We’d have much preferred Klopp to go all out against Everton and allow his players a rest against West Brom midweek.