Jurgen Klopp urges Liverpool stars to use player ‘more’ after he was overlooked by team-mates in LASK win
JURGEN KLOPP has urged Liverpool’s players to use Ben Doak “more often” during games.
The German boss’s side beat LASK 3-1 in their Europa League opener on Thursday night – but Klopp has warned they will not “fly” through the competition.
Doak, 17, delivered a lively performance on Liverpool’s right flank yesterday in what was the Scotsman’s full debut.
He led the charge as soon as LASK took a stunning lead through Florian Flecker – and Doak was inches away from an immediate response.
After the hammer blow of the opener, the teen scampered up the wing and flashed a strike across goal from an acute angle.
And Klopp has said he is keen for his squad to utilise the youngster more often.
He said: “If we would have used Ben Doak a little bit more often, given him the ball, I think he would have got the ball more times on the touchline and passed the ball inside or whatever.”
Doak has made six appearances for Jurgen Klopp’s team – but all from the bench.
He took a prime position on the wing for the tournament favourites in Austria and at times was seen inspiring his team.
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The kid from Dalry moved south from Celtic 18 months ago for around £600,000 but his value has soared as quickly as his development at Anfield.
Klopp is a keen admirer of the youngster and handed him a long-term contract earlier this week as well as his first start.
Darwin Nunez’s penalty pulled Klopp’s side level in the second half.
Then goals from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah sealed a win in Austria.
Klopp continued: “I know how the world is and 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 stage. It will not happen.
“We have to dig into it and that’s what we did. It was a massive learning curve tonight.
“The opponent suffered much less from the pitch than we did, which is a little bit normal because we had the ball more often.
“But besides that we had to get used to it. So we can learn so much.”