Jurgen Klopp has given his backing to Takumi Minamino following his brilliant showing in Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Norwich City on Tuesday.
Liverpool have been on a roll early in the 2021/22 season. Yet to lose a single game, the Reds have only failed to win once, which was a 1-1 draw against fellow Premier League title contenders Chelsea last month.
In fact, Liverpool currently have an identical record to the Blues in the Premier League, who are on top of the table only because of the alphabetical order of their club name at the moment. The Merseyside giants, meanwhile, were most recently in fine touch in the Carabao Cup.
Liverpool beat Norwich City 3-0 at Carrow Road to book their place in the fourth round, with several fringe players and youngsters making an impression. One of these aforementioned players was Takumi Minamino, who ended up being the standout performer for Liverpool.
The Japanese international produced two superb finishes to inspire the Reds to a relatively straightforward victory. And in the aftermath of such a performance, Jurgen Klopp has heaped praise on the Minamino, with the Liverpool boss giving his backing to the 26-year-old.
As quoted by Transfer Market Web, Klopp said, “I am not sure if it was frustrating. A footballer wants to play, that’s clear, and it didn’t happen too often. He was with the national team and he got injured there, came back and was not fit immediately and became fit since he is back. It is now not that he did not play for 16 weeks or whatever, it was the time after the injury.”
“Other players need time as well to get back on track after an injury, but Taki is in a good moment, trained really well and deserved these two goals. The first one, really good awareness, quick in mind, finished the situation off. The second one I didn’t really see 100 per cent but the acceleration in the box in the short, small space was really good.”
“He was in pre-season really good, then he started, then he got injured and now the rest of the season starts. Nobody needs to worry, Taki will be fine. We wanted Minamino as a footballer in midfield because Taki looked really strong today.”
“We didn’t use these half-spaces enough so we put him there. We wanted Oxlade then with a little bit more freedom on the left wing. That was the reason, just so that he can connect the game. Taki is a smart player and he can play different positions, that was the reason.”
Only time will tell if Minamino can turn things around after making a fine first impression in his maiden outing of the season. After blowing hot and cold on loan at Southampton, the onus is firmly on the 26-year-old to show that he can offer something to Liverpool in a season wherein backup attacking options will be crucial when Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane are unavailable in January.
