Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Stoke City in an English League Cup semi-final first leg came at a cost on Tuesday, with Philippe Coutinho and Dejan Lovren hurt and manager Juergen Klopp acknowledging he may need new signings.
After Coutinho and Lovren walked off with hamstring injuries, Jordon Ibe converted from close range before halftime after Joe Allen diverted a cross from Adam Lallana into his path.
Fourth-choice defender Kolo Toure was also holding the back of his right leg in the final minutes.
Photo: AP
For Klopp, who went into the match missing first-team players such as Martin Skrtel, Daniel Sturridge and captain Jordan Henderson, two more injuries tarnished the victory.
“It’s a big shadow over the game for us,” Klopp said. “I don’t know how serious, and we have to wait for this. In this situation with no centerbacks fit, I would say [transfers] it’s something we could look at.”
Klopp decided to replace his only fit striker, Christian Benteke, with attacking midfielder Adam Lallana, who comprised a three-man attack alongside Coutinho and Roberto Firmino.
The trio ensured Liverpool began the game at a relentless pace — harrying Stoke’s defense when they had possession and once the ball was won back, they passed it swiftly and intricately, pulling opponents out of position with their movement.
Firmino and Lallana both had shots from range well-saved by Stoke goalkeeper Jack Butland, before Liverpool’s momentum was abruptly halted when Coutinho went down off the ball, clutching his left hamstring.
He was replaced by Ibe, and Liverpool was disjointed further when Lovren stayed down after stretching to make a block and hurting his right leg.
With no central defenders on the substitute’s bench, Klopp brought on midfielder James Milner, and Lucas Leiva partnered Toure in a makeshift central defense.
However, Ibe delivered Liverpool’s breakthrough. Lallana latched on to a neat forward pass down the right by Milner and played the ball into the penalty area. Allen helped the ball on to Ibe, who controlled and poked the ball past Butland.
Stoke replaced defender Geoff Cameron with striker Jonathan Walters at halftime, looking to exploit Liverpool’s backline.
The host was galvanized by Walters’ presence, and some last-ditch blocking from Toure and Lucas denied Stoke in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
The pressure on Liverpool briefly relented as Ibe and Firmino were denied by Butland, but Stoke came back again with the introduction of substitute strikers Joselu and Peter Crouch.
Joselu brought a neat save out of Simon Mignolet when his shot from range was deflected, and Walters dragged a shot wide after forcing an opening in the last minute.
The second leg is at Anfield is on Jan. 26.
Everton were to host Manchester City in the other semi-final yesterday.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their