Jurgen Klopp explains why Darwin Nunez was subbed in Liverpool win and names player who did 'really well'

Jurgen Klopp was encouraged that he could reintroduce a key Liverpool trio back into the fold in their FA Cup victory over Norwich City.

The Reds cruised to a 5-2 triumph in the first game since Klopp announced he'll step down as manager at the end of the season. Curtis Jones and Darwin Nunez were on target for the home side in the first half at Anfield - either side of Ben Gibson's goal for the Canaries - before Diogo Jota added a third early in the second period.

Klopp was afforded the luxury of bringing on Andy Robertson for his first appearance in three months after a shoulder injury, while Dominik Szobozlai was given a cameo following a hamstring issue. Szoboszlai's corner set up fellow substitute Virgil van Dijk's header as Liverpool plundered a fourth before Trent Alexander-Arnold, who had missed the previous three games with a knee injury, was given a run-out.

After Borja Sainz had reduced the arrears for Norwich, Ryan Gravenberch put the gloss on the Reds' win in stoppage-time.

Liverpool's attention now turns back to the Premier League. The Reds lead the title race by five points and host Chelsea at Anfield on Wednesday before travelling to Arsenal four days later. And Klopp is delighted to have some of his prominent players back.

He said: "Very important that we could give them minutes. So, Trent and Dom were not too long out, but I think they would say too long anyway, but Robbo was really out for a long time. Each minute they can get now is really important and today it helps as well to share the intensity again. Darwin we didn’t take off because he played bad or whatever, of course not, it’s just the amount of games we played and will play, and then the same with Joey [Gomez].

"All good, we could share the minutes, that’s the most important thing and we could win the game and that’s it now. In four weeks we play the next FA Cup game and until then we play just Premier League and one final, so let’s do that [and] make sure we are ready for that. That the boys are back is great but we played pretty well without them, to be honest, so it’s not about who is playing, it’s about how we are playing and we have to make sure we are the one team Chelsea doesn’t want to play against and Arsenal doesn’t want to play against. So, let’s see what we can do with the players we have now available."

Klopp handed a full debut to James McConnell against Norwich. The 19-year-old academy product operated in the No.6 role and his perfectly-weighted cross assisted Jones' opener. Klopp was impressed by McConnell's display.

He added: "James probably would consider himself rather as a No.8 but a midfielder probably should do, if you don’t play your whole life as a No.6. But he is a smart footballer. He has the necessary aggression, the vision and all these kind of things that he can play that position as a No.6 and he did it really well today, and on top of that [he is] a good footballer, how you not only saw with the cross for Curtis but in a lot of other moments. It’s really nice."