The Reds battled through treacherous conditions of Storm Ciaran to earn a 2-1 victory against the Cherries on the south coast. Cody Gakpo gave the visitors the lead in the 31st minute but that was cancelled out by Justin Kluivert on 61 minutes. However, Darwin Nunez came off the bench to score stunning match-winner with 20 minutes remaining.
Klopp made nine changes to his starting line-up that defeated Nottingham Forest 3-1 last weekend. Quansah, 20, was handed a seventh senior appearance as he continues to enjoy a breakthrough season. The England youth international’s performance caught Klopp’s eye along with goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, who was tested by the adverse weather.
The Liverpool manager said: “It’s a top, top, top cup game. It’s all about winning, it’s all about getting through. There were good things today, I don’t have to speak about the circumstances [because] you saw it yourselves. It was really difficult for both teams.
“First half we could have scored more goals, we didn’t. Second half obviously we realised it would have been a good idea to have scored more goals [in the first half] because the wind changed the game again in the second half. We scored our second goal, a wonderful goal and then we fought extremely hard, we had good moments but it is all about attitude in these moments. Both teams wanted it, everybody can expect that from the home team, but I saw my team as well – how hard we really wanted it and I am really happy about that. It was a top cup game in strange, strange circumstances.
“That’s the other thing which was obvious: that he was really good. In these circumstances, wow. So many difficult balls to judge, to estimate, where is it coming down? He did really well. On the ball, Caoimhin [Kelleher] thought give him the ball quite a lot and let’s see what he can do. He did really well there. Yes, top game, absolutely.”
