MK Dons 0 Liverpool 2: Jurgen Klopp’s kids show Reds strength in depth but old guard James Milner scores to ease them into Carabao Cup fourth round
PETER MOORE is the Liverpool chief executive who claimed Liverpool are “back on their perch”. And an MK Dons keeper with the same surname delivered a howler to ensure the European champions avoided being knocked out of the Carabao Cup for a third successive year. Dons number two keeper Stuart Moore delivered a Loris Karius-style […]
PETER MOORE is the Liverpool chief executive who claimed Liverpool are “back on their perch”.
And an MK Dons keeper with the same surname delivered a howler to ensure the European champions avoided being knocked out of the Carabao Cup for a third successive year.
Dons number two keeper Stuart Moore delivered a Loris Karius-style shocker to hand James Milner the crucial opener before half-time with 17-year-old defender Ki-Jana Hoever getting the second on his first Liverpool start.
It was certainly a satisfactory night for boss Jurgen Klopp who fielded a young team and handed three full debuts – and two as subs.
Earlier, Anfield chief Moore delivered a dig at Manchester United with his comments in response to Alex Ferguson, who in 2002, said: “My greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their f**king perch.”
Moore, who also praised Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group, said: “We are back on our perch, as we famously say.
“What they’ve done over the past what is now nine years is nothing short, for me, of miraculous.
“We lived through some dark times, of a difficult ownership period, the fans stood up against those owners and said this is not what we want for the way that Liverpool Football Club should be run.
“Fenway Sports Group have sat back and invested patiently and built a long-term strategy for success, have rebuilt a major part of the stadium so we can drive revenues, have eventually got Jurgen Klopp, have invested in the backbone of the squad. I would argue we have the most exciting forward line in football.”
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It was no surprise that Klopp made 11 changes from the side which won 2-1 at Chelsea and filled the side with four teenagers. Yet the biggest surprise was that Klopp left his major stars all at home and named an even younger substitute’s bench – not that it mattered in the end,.
There was a Liverpool debut for Rhian Brewster, owner of a Champions League winners’ medal after being on the bench in Madrid, while there was also a first start for 20-year-old keeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
And at 16 years and 174 days, Harvey Elliott was youngest ever player to start a competitive match and he hit the woodwork twice.
But one of the team’s older heads and Liverpool’s best player, Milner, looked embarrassed after his shot was juggled the ball over the line by Moore.
Dons, in front of their biggest ever crowd of 28521, improved in the second half.
But Milner then crossed for Hoever to score with an impressive, powerful header, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain hit the post and subs Herbie Kane and Sepp Van Den Berg were handed their Reds debuts.
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Boss Klopp said: “I’m really happy to go through, and that’s cool and the boys felt adult football. It was a very physical situation for offensive players especially, they can show how they are.”
As for Milner, Klopp added: “This man is on fire.”
Dons boss Paul Tisdale said: “I am not saying we deserved to win but we deserved a goal.”
