Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he was "not overly happy" with the Anfield atmosphere in the Reds' 5-1 EFL Cup drubbing of West Ham United on Wednesday.
With a semi-final place at stake, a strong Liverpool XI ruthlessly swept aside a second-string West Ham outfit, who fell 1-0 down in the 28th minute by virtue of a vicious Dominik Szoboszlai strike.
Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo put the game out of sight for the Reds before Jarrod Bowen pulled one back for the Irons, whose fleeting comeback hopes were dashed when Mohamed Salah got in on the act and Jones completed his brace in the final 10 minutes.
Wednesday's rout was the perfect response to Sunday's underwhelming 0-0 draw with Manchester United, where the Reds set a new unwanted record of firing 34 shots without scoring in a single Premier League game.
Klopp's side will now butt heads with Fulham for the right to battle for glory against either Chelsea or Middlesbrough, but attention now turns to Saturday's crucial Premier League battle with leaders Arsenal, and the Liverpool boss bemoaned the lack of Anfield atmosphere ahead of the top-of-the-table showdown.
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"I thought it in the first half a little bit when the boys played really exceptional, I was not overly happy, I have to say it now, with the atmosphere behind me," Klopp told the media in his post-game press conference.
"I asked people, 'What do you want?' So, we changed a lot of things, we dominate West Ham like crazy, we missed chances. If I would be in the stand, I would be on my toes, 1,000 per cent. I don't know if the Man United game was that bad that we have to say, 'Oh sorry that we didn't smash them.' We need Anfield on Saturday."
The Anfield crowd was stunned into silence during last year's Merseyside meeting with Arsenal, who stormed into a 2-0 first-half lead courtesy of Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus before a fracas between Granit Xhaka and Trent Alexander-Arnold riled up the Reds' fanbase.
The galvanised hosts subsequently cut the deficit in half before the break through Salah, before Roberto Firmino's 87th-minute header snatched a point from the jaws of defeat for Liverpool, who squandered a few chances to take maximum spoils in the dying embers.
In addition, Arteta and Klopp engaged in a heated touchline spat at Anfield in the 2021-22 season, where Liverpool won 4-0 in front of a fervent atmosphere, but the Reds coach wants to see the home crowd "on their toes" regardless of whether he squares up to his opposite number again.
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"Without Anfield, I would say... they didn't play this week. Just to make sure – I know, sorry – they didn't play. They prepared for this game and [those] who know a little bit about them, they will be prepared. So, we need Anfield on their toes from the first second – without me having an argument with the opposition coach, whatever," Klopp added.
"We need you from the first second. If you really want, if it's too much football in December, I don't know, sorry, we have to play it as well. But if you are not in the right shape, give your ticket to somebody else.
"No, the negativity was around us and the stadium not. Just not the excitement I felt about the performance. I thought it's a performance you really can enjoy.
"So many good performances, so many good individual performances, so many challenges to celebrate, stuff like this. But we were only 1-0 up and had a game where we had a lot of shots and didn't score. But if it's warming up for Saturday, I'm happy."
Klopp could recover Ryan Gravenberch from muscular fatigue in time for the visit of the league leaders, but Diogo Jota, Alexis Mac Allister, Stefan Bajcetic, Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip, Ben Doak and Andrew Robertson are all expected to miss the contest.
Ben Knapton
