Jürgen Klopp on Wolves win: 'That was the reaction we needed'

The Reds set up a trip to Brighton & Hove Albion in the fourth round of the competition thanks to Harvey Elliott's sensational first-half strike. 

Elliott netted the only goal of the third-round replay at Molineux with a hit from distance that flew past goalkeeper Jose Sa in the 13th minute. 

Read on for a full transcript of Klopp's post-match press conference...

On whether he got the reaction he wanted from his team...

I think everybody who is with us got that reaction; it was the reaction we needed to show. We were compact, we were together, we had really good challenges, won challenges when we lost the ball and we played really good football in moments. We scored an exceptional goal where Harvey saw something that I think not a lot of people in the stadium would have saw. If I was a goalie, I wouldn’t have expected a shot in that moment. It was a top goal, but apart from that the game was much better, completely different to the last one obviously and I am really happy with that. All the individual performances were good and we were really together wherever we were. We won the ball higher up the pitch, we won it in the midfield and it was good. I said to the boys after the game that’s how it feels when you play well and win. We can't remember it really anymore when that was the case, but tonight it was the case and we are quite happy.

On Stefan Bajcetic's performance...

Good, good for him. Good player, very smart in his movements. Especially the younger you are, the more important it is that you have a good start in the game. He had a few situations where I am not sure he saw there was space or he just hoped there was space when he turned – and there was actually space. He did really well, but what helps really is that he wins these challenges. The last few steps before he has to block the ball, that's really good. Having then Thiago next to him is, I think, pretty helpful – Thiago is talking a lot on the pitch – and Naby was really there tonight, which is obviously very helpful. Both wingers defended well and Cody closed the centre for us, was around Neves and kept the ball for us in possession. [That was] very important, it was really important for the link-up play. Full-backs were really good, the centre-halves were focused and concentrated and Caoimhin when we needed him was there. It was a good game. We know we only got into the next round, but we wanted to go into the next round. For tonight, it is an important sign for us that these kind of things are possible and, I think, for our people at home as well. There is a massive game coming up at the weekend and I think if we would have played another game like the last one, I am not sure what the people would have thought before they arrived at the stadium. Now they have something they can look forward to and we will fight together again.

On facing Brighton again so soon after the Premier League game there...

No problem. We come to Wolves again pretty quickly as well. That's football, no problem. We wanted to go to the next round and we knew already Brighton were the opponent, so no problem.

On whether he is pleased to have a chance to play Brighton again...

I don’t think my job is now to have a big mouth and say, 'Let's see when we come again.' It's not that. I think the idea is when we go there in one-and-a-half weeks is that we try to play better than last time.

On Elliott's performance as a forward...

When he plays well, I like him everywhere, so that’s easy. But both wingers did well. Especially Fabio, I don’t know when he played last time, so he did really well. And Harvey, from that position you need to score goals, that’s clear. For us, we had tonight, if you want, one striker on the pitch and he played slightly deeper in a lot of moments but that's very important. What Harvey had to do today, that's very important. Both wingers had to do that, plus the nine had to do that. We had to defend properly and to defend compact, and whoever is ready to do that is more than welcome to start wherever we will be.

On James Milner's display...

Top. I think the oldest and the youngest were really exceptional. How I said, it's then really important in a game like this that you don’t get carried away, because the boys did well. Yes, we dropped a bit deeper, I didn't like that too much, Wolves came up a little bit. In the moment when you let Neves in the game and it changes everything pretty much and then when Nunes is on the pitch as well then it's like twice as difficult and we did really well. But that we changed, we just had to be serious and sensible, let me say it like this, that we really do that in the right moments because none of the players I took off I wanted to take off – I think we had to but I think we were early enough. 

On Roberto Firmino's future...

I said that before: yes, I want to keep him at the club.

On whether players have ‘played their way' into his thinking for the Chelsea game on Saturday... 

Yeah, yeah. So we have now a couple of days training and it is not now that we… I don’t think it would now be right after one game and say, 'OK, that's the team now for the next eight weeks or whatever', these kind of things. So, let’s have a look. I hope that Darwin is coming back in training tomorrow or Thursday, so he might be then in contention, of course. Kosti got a knock in the back and stuff like this, so let's see how they recover and stuff like this. But, of course, we are not in a casting show but anyway we have now this game and then we have four days to train and then after that I think five or six days to train until the next game. Training is always like this – who shows up in training. I'm not blind but usually we don't train, we play every three days and then we recover, some do a little bit. And on top of that, in the past we won quite a lot of games, so why would you make drastic changes? But anyway, we rotate a lot because the players were available. But, of course, the door is open for everybody. We have to fight. Who is ready to fight has a good chance to play.