Klopp pleased with Liverpool comeback against Luton

Jurgen Klopp enjoyed a superb performance as hosts Liverpool came from behind to beat Luton Town to consolidate their position at the top of the table. The Liverpool boss praised Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Ryan Gravenberch and Caoimhin Kelleher for their stellar performance on Wednesday. The Reds made a successful comeback when they hosted Luton in match 26 of the 2023/24 EPL at Anfield on Wednesday (21 Feb 2024)  and the Hosts won by 4-1.

The table toppers fell behind after Chiedozie Ogbene put the visitors ahead in the 12th minute. Virgil van Dijk equalised in the 56th minute with Cody Gakpo putting the Reds ahead less than two minutes later. Luis Diaz extended Liverpool's lead before Harvey Elliott completed the scoring by adding a goal in the 90th minute. With this result, the Reds have 60 points after 26 matches, four points above Manchester City and five points above Arsenal. After the match, the 56-year-old head coach looked delighted as he saluted all the fans in the stadium and heaped praise on his team, with four players in particular catching his attention.

"He [Luis Diaz] scored a goal, Cody Gakpo with an extraordinary game and Ryan Gravenberch too. They were all extraordinary," said the veteran manager. Caoimhin Kelleher had to fight against eight to nine players to get the ball from a dead-ball situation. Then the players show up and do an amazing job, it's cool how the culture educates the next generation."

Liverpool's win over the Visitors was an important result in the EPL title race and the atmosphere will mean the team will have to rely on it throughout the match. "Tonight was one of those nights where it's hard to stop talking. I'm thrilled,” said the Klopp. "We had to ignore that we were 1-0 down and use our good stuff and step up on the counter-attack, the second half was swift, it was amazing. "If you don't limit yourself with bad thoughts, you can fly high. And that's what those players did."

A long list of injuries has seen Klopp turn to some of his youth team players in recent weeks and the same thing happened against Luton. Bobby Clark, Jayden Danns and James McConnell all came off the bench and Klopp was impressed with that. "The players are ready and I wouldn't do it if they weren't," he said. “I wouldn't put Bobby [Clark] in if he wasn't ready, it looked like the Hatters were finished so we trust them [the young players] with what they do.”