Jurgen Klopp has called for the Anfield crowd to give unconditional backing to the young Liverpool team that he is likely to be forced to field against Southampton.
With an injury list that currently comprises up to 13 first-team players, and the exertions of an extra-time Wembley win over Chelsea in the legs of most of his squad, the German will be required to shuffle his pack on Wednesday evening.
That could mean minutes for even more youngsters, with the likes of Trey Nyoni and Lewis Koumas potentially in line to follow fellow academy products Jayden Danns, Bobby Clark and James McConnell into the senior side.
And Klopp is keen for Liverpool supporters to give his kids every chance of thriving following that step up by celebrating their successes and ignoring any errors.
He said: “It’s possible a few of them have to start, that is clear, and if they do, they will do the job and we all have to help them with celebrating the right things and not moaning about the wrong things.
“Please don’t do ‘Oh’. That’s horrible: 60,000 people [going] ‘Oh’. I can tell you there were only 12,000 people when I played and I felt if from here (pointing to his head) to my toes and it’s not cool.
“Besides that, it is a good moment. It’s actually a very bad moment because of so many injuries but what we could do so far – which is why I loved the Luton game so much and why I loved the game on Sunday so much – is just ignore who we are missing.
“We just ignored it as much as we can and just thought how can we set up a team who is still difficult to play and that’s what we will do again.
“What an atmosphere can do we realised quite a few times but it would be really helpful if we could create something special on Wednesday night. I know I ask that quite a lot.
“It’s a tricky time but but somehow anyway pretty positive and we would like to keep doing that but we need our people for that, there is no other chance.
“There is only one advantage we can have tomorrow night and that is Anfield.”
