Klopp makes Gravenberch claim and tells players to give youngster the ball more
Ryan Gravenberch registered an assist in his first start for Liverpool away at LASK
Jurgen Klopp looks on prior to the UEFA Europa League 2023/24 group stage match between LASK and Liverpool FC on September 21, 2023 (Image: Photo by Harry Langer/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Jurgen Klopp hailed Ryan Gravenberch after the Dutchman made a ‘decisive’ impact on his full Liverpool debut.
A deadline day signing from Bayern Munich, the Netherlands international ultimately struggled for game-time in his solitary season in Bavaria. But that didn’t stop Klopp from handing him a first start in only his second Reds outing away at LASK Linz on Thursday night.
Trailing 1-0 at half-time to the Austrians, it was Gravenberch’s superb run down the right and low cross that turned the game on its head in Liverpool’s favour, with Luis Diaz finishing first-time to give the Reds a 2-1 lead.
And eventually running out 3-1 winners, the 21-year-old was one of a number of younger players Klopp made a point of praising after the final whistle.
“We have some young players who can achieve a lot more, oh yeah,” he told reporters. “I said I know that people expect us to fly through this competition. It will not happen. It will not happen.
“In the group stage it will not happen, in the knockout it will not happen. We have to dig in, dig into it.
“That’s what we did tonight, the opponent suffered much less than us, from the bad pitch than we did. Which is quite normal because we had the ball more often.
“We had to get used to it, so we can learn so much. If we could have used Ben Doak a little more often, give him the ball a little more, then we could have had more times on the touch line and pass the ball inside more often.
“Stefan (Bajcetic_ found a way into the game, after a rather difficult start, but we caused them more problems with the timing of the passes, and Ryan played a super game he was decisive for us.
“Ibou (Konate) could get minutes, Stefan could get minutes, there were so many positives, and I’m cheeky enough to be really happy about that.”
