Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp impressed by Southampton direction

Lewis Koumas and Jayden Danns, 18, scored for the Reds to secure an FA Cup quarter-final trip to Manchester United.

Sekou Mara netted within the first minute but was flagged offside, before he and Kamaldeen Sulemana missed further chances.

Elimination from the FA Cup means Saints can focus 100 per cent of their attention on achieving promotion back to the Premier League.

Russell Martin’s side are five points behind second place Leeds United with 12 games left - however, they must still visit each of the top three. 

Asked by the Daily Echo for his verdict on Saints, Klopp said: “I know a little bit about the situation in the Championship table - it is really tight.

Jurgen Klopp and Saints manager Russell Martin (Image: PA)

“You can see Southampton’s direction is absolutely right. The way that Russell wants them to play is obvious.

"There are some risks that come with the style. You have to get used to it more and more. It is not for me to decide if they get promoted or not.

"They may stay in the Championship and get another year to work on it," the German continued. 

“That could allow them to win more games in the Premier League because they might be a bit more settled.

“We should have our moments and they have more moments than we expect. All of it was obviously incredibly important.

“It was against a Southampton team we would have had problems with anyway.

"But in our situation we tried to give as much information as possible to them and we had to improve during the game.

“The first 15 minutes we were all over the place; we tried to press but the timing was horrendous and Southampton used that.

“From my point of view the future looks really positive. But I would not call myself an expert having watched their last three games.”