Stoke 0 - Liverpool 1: Ibe secures tight lead as trio limp off with hamstring problems

JURGEN KLOPP spoke too soon.

 

Jordon Ibe scored the only goal at the Britannia Stadium

 

Having described Stoke City’s transformation under Mark Hughes as “maybe the biggest change in football,” so Liverpool proceeded to challenge that notion.

They were inspired whereas at West Ham four days earlier they had been insipid, a shimmering win sealed by Jordon Ibe’s first-half goal also defying a sense of adversity.

Klopp had described ‘hamstring’ as his least favourite word of 2015 and to see Philippe Coutinho and Dejan Lovren depart before the interval to join a long list of casualties, suggests it remains the bane of his managerial life in 2016.

 

The ability to shrug off those setbacks, coupled with Stoke’s inadequacies as they fluffed their lines, means the advantage lies with Liverpool ahead of the Capital One semi-final return leg at Anfield at the end of the month.

Liverpool will rue they did not make more of their chances to effectively seal a 12th appearance in the final of the competition, but after such an impressive effort Klopp would doubtless look at the positives.

Given the supposed ferocity of Klopp’s post-match tongue-lashing after the defeat by West Ham, it would have been no surprise had his words still been ringing in his players’ ears. Indeed, Liverpool started as if they were.

There was more urgency in the opening skirmishes than had been witnessed throughout that game in London as they filled the right spaces, pickpocketed passes intended for red and white stripes and broke forward at will.

Adam Lallana saw a 20-yard shot beaten away following some slick interplay in the eighth minute and Ryan Shawcross needed to produce a well-timed tackle to thwart Coutinho after he had been freed by Joe Allen’s raking pass.

That it was to be the Brazilian’s last contribution before limping off – pawing at the back of his left leg as he did so – has been symptomatic of Klopp’s luck since his arrival.

To compound the issue, Lovren joined the walking wounded soon after injuring a hamstring when sliding in to tackle Xherdan Shaqiri, before Kolo Toure also pulled up late on.

They now have 11 players out – they have had 25 injuries, not including illness, since Klopp took over – so it is little wonder they struggle for consistency. 

Yet against that improbable backdrop the visitors continued in the ascendancy, their rhythm barely fractured. Stoke’s night was summed up when Bojan produced an air shot after Shaqiri’s clever corner had found him unmarked.

Liverpool’s reward came  in the 37th minute. Substitute James Milner’s ball down the right freed Lallana and, whether Allen miscued or produced a touch of a genius, the cross was helped to the supporting Ibe.

He took a touch and then battered a left-foot shot beyond Jack Butland to leave Klopp punching the air.

In contrast, Hughes, who stood arms folded in the pouring rain in his technical area, looked incandescent. Liverpool – sharp in the tackle and slick of movement with Christian Benteke on the substitutes’ bench – were everything Stoke were not and two minutes after the breakthrough they could have doubled their advantage.

Firmino pounced out of the shadows to dispossess Glenn Whelan only to overrun the chance and the covering Shawcross cleared.

The failure to take such chances has been a recurring theme and, with Glen Johnson bringing a fine save from Simon Mignolet after a corner had been cleared to him in stoppage time, it was a reminder of the tie remained in the balance.

For all the plaudits Stoke, or Stoke-alona as they have been rechristened, have received it was telling that Hughes brought on Jon Walters for Geoff Cameron at half-time to try wrestle back the initiative.

His arrival ratcheted the atmosphere up an notch and the sense built that Liverpool’s make-shift centre-back pairing of Toure and Lucas would face a barrage.

Yet the triumvirate of Bojan, Shaqiri and Marko Arnautovic remained well-policed and it was only when substitute Joselu hit a deflected effort that Mignolet was forced to tip over the cross. Liverpool remained dangerous on the break. 

Firmino fired wastefully over the top to the annoyance of Milner and dragged another chance wide before the impressive Allen was denied a penalty after Whelan fouled him. Klopp’s players heeded his warning not to test his patience again. Given their home form at Anfield, a test of nerve awaits. 

Stoke (4-3-3): Butland; Johnson, Shawcross, Wollscheid, Pieters; Cameron (Walters 45), Whelan, Afellay; Shaqiri, Bojan (Joselu 69), Arnautovic. NEXT UP: Doncaster Rovers (a), Sat FAC.

Liverpool (4-3-3): Mignolet, Clyne, Toure, Lovren (Milner 34), Moreno; Can, Lucas, Allen (Benteke 79); Lallana, Firmino, Coutinho (Ibe 18). Goal: Ibe 37. Booked: Mignolet. Goal: Ibe 37. NEXT UP: Exeter (a), Fri FAC.

Referee: A Taylor (Greater Manchester).