Jürgen Klopp: Liverpool could have won the tie, but Southampton were deserved winners

Jürgen Klopp admitted that Southampton were worthy winners on Wednesday night after Liverpool were denied a chance to contest the EFL Cup final for the second time in as many seasons.

The Reds trailed 1-0 from the first-leg on the South Coast and were expected to make an impassioned attempt to overturn that deficit at Anfield.

But a poor first-half left Liverpool lucky to go into half-time with their hopes of reaching Wembley Stadium still intact, Loris Karius denying Dusan Tadic well while Steven Davis and James Ward-Prowse both spurned good goalscoring opportunities.

And though the hosts upped the tempo after the break, they could not convert their chances - Daniel Sturridge wasting their best while Philippe Coutinho curled wide and Emre Can went close, Fraser Forster reacting superbly to claw his drive off the line after initially spilling the shot.

But late on, moments after Liverpool's claims for a penalty when Divock Origi went down in the box, Southampton countered and Shane Long lashed into the far corner in front of the away end to secure the Saints' place in the final.

Klopp felt that there were positives to take away from Liverpool's performance, but admitted he would much rather be on the winning side after a frustrating evening on Merseyside.

German congratulates deserving Saints

Klopp told journalists in his post-match press conference of the "big disappointment" of the result, and Liverpool's elimination, but expressed his "big congratulations" to Southampton.

He said that they "deserve to go to the final" because they "won both legs" but added: "I think, especially in the game tonight, we could have won [the tie]. That's why I am disappointed."

The German said that his team found it "difficult" in the first-half, insisting that the weather conditions - particularly the wind - were "really strange" and "difficult to handle" because there were moments "when the ball stopped in a moment when nobody knew about it."

He said that made it "difficult for a football-playing side" and also praised Southampton for executing their counter-attacking game plan "really well."

Klopp felt there were "one or two counter-attacks" that Liverpool could have defended better, in that they "should not be in one-on-one situations with [Nathan] Redmond" but said that the rest was a result of "good play of Southampton."

"In the second-half we did it much better," he felt, adding that his team "played football" and "one or two better passes in the right spaces [meant] we created outstanding chances."

He acknowledged that "creating these big chances is really difficult" against a Southampton team that plays so well defensively, but said they "did it" and that they "all know" they "usually score in situations like this."

Klopp continued: "But we didn't, and that's what we have to accept. It doesn't say anything about the performance, only everything about the result. We are out and we have to accept it."

However, he declared that as a coach, it is "very important" to consider the performance and vowed not to "ignore this" although he admitted he is "of course disappointed" because Liverpool "would have deserved to win the game."

He admitted that he has "no idea" whether their performance "would have been enough" to progress to the final, but wished Southampton "all the best" and congratulated them again.

I'dd rather be speaking about the final than the performance, says downbeat Klopp

Klopp was asked to expand on his summary of Liverpool's second-leg performance, in which they improved after a dismal first-half but failed to ask consistent questions of Forster in the Southampton goal.

He responded: "The performance was absolutely okay. We created the chances. Now everybody wants to say, 'but you didn't score' and that's right, absolutely right. But for me as a coach, it's very important the way we choose to create chances and that was absolutely okay."

Klopp explained that he thought the first-half "was not bad" but rather "quite a test" as it was in the weekend's league defeat to Swansea City, adding that Liverpool were "dominant, dominant, dominant but [with] no goal.

He felt his players didn't lose their nerve and "stuck to our usual plan", improving their decision-making and doing "a little bit better in one or two moments" which "immediately" led to "bigger chances."

Klopp insisted that aspect of their performance was "good" but lamented that they "lost both legs" and "are out" because they failed to score, which he noted will be the focus on his team.

He also acknowledged that while the manner of his side's display is "recent important" and he is "fine with this", he would prefer not to be "on the wrong side of the semi-final" and would rather "be speaking about planning the final and not the performance."