Marco Silva felt “big frustration” as Fulham quickly saw a lead turned around for the second time in successive months at Anfield as Liverpool take a slim advantage to Craven Cottage for the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.
Willian gave the Cottagers the lead in the nineteenth minute of the first leg on Wednesday night but Jurgen Klopp’s side scored two goals in three minutes after the break through Curtis Jones and substitute Cody Gakpo.
Fulham led 3-2 at Anfield in the Premier League in December with three minutes left before goals from Wataru Endo and Trent Alexander-Arnold snatched a 4-3 win for the Reds.
Silva knows it’s all to play for in the second leg.
“It’s still tight”, Silva said. “We lost the first half. We have to go for it in the second half. That’s clear. We were ruthless. The first chance, a really good moment from Willian and we scored.
“It’s a big frustration. We spoke about it beforehand. We know what happens with these types of sides and these types of crowds.
“They scored a bit of a lucky goal, the first one, that changed the game. We then lost a little bit the maturity in that moment. We gave them a lot of space for the second goal.
“We definitely have something to play for. That’s clear. We know what Liverpool are capable of doing. Both teams are without some key players. After a tough game against Chelsea we have all the time to prepare for a tough second leg. We are are going to be at home. We have our ambition to be at Wembley. We are going to fight for what we want.”
Klopp introduced Gakpo and Darwin Nunes in the 56th minute with the hosts trailing 1-0. Fifteen minutes later, Nunes had provided two assists to help give his side the advantage heading to London on January 24.
“It’s not over yet”, Klopp said. “Fulham will not be overly happy tonight but know they are still in. Hopefully we will be better from the start.
“It’s a few days between now and then. With the whole story of the game, I’m obviously happy with it.”
“In the situation we are in with a lot of players not in, in the first half we were not brilliant.”
Nunez missed chances to give Liverpool a bigger lead.
Klopp said: “I’m so happy with the crowd and how they take it and Darwin and how he takes it. You cannot be more unlucky. He plays outstandingly, I have to say it.
“The impact [Nunez and Gakpo] had was brilliant.”
