Liverpool lost 2-0 away at Chelsea on Tuesday night.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has told the Metro that he felt his side didn’t get the best out of attacker Takumi Minamino last night.
The Reds travelled down to West London to take on Chelsea in the FA Cup, with a place in the last eight of the competition up for grabs.
Liverpool will have wanted to hit back after the shock 3-0 defeat at Watford on Saturday, but fell to defeat again as Willian put Chelsea in front thanks to an Adrian error.
Ross Barkley smashed home the second after the break, meaning Liverpool have now lost three of their last four games in all competitions – and failed to score in each defeat.
Klopp did decide to rotate some of his side on Tuesday night, and that included giving a start to January signing Minamino in the Liverpool attack.
The 25-year-old mostly played as a false nine, playing in Roberto Firmino’s role whilst allowing Divock Origi and Sadio Mane to tuck in from the flanks.
Minamino couldn’t open his Liverpool account, yet Klopp not only believes that he had a ‘really good game’, but also believes Reds players weren’t noticing his movements and weren’t passing to him often enough, highlighting how Neco Williams failed to pick him out on a number of occasions.
“Takumi (Minamino) had a really good game,” said Klopp. “We could have used him much more often. If Neco (Williams) sees him once or twice he was completely free at the edge [of the box], he shot the cross more or less. If he’d seen him it would have helped,” he added.
This may be down to Liverpool players still learning about Minamino, as this was just his third start for the club since signing from Red Bull Salzburg, and hopefully he can become more influential as time passes.
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