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Roberto has a Firmino footing

When you're a big-money signing that, in truth, very few of your new supporters have seen play, you want to hit the ground running on your arrival.

Roberto Firmino, though, hasn't been afforded that luxury.

A latecomer to pre-season due to his Copa America commitments, Firmino was just finding his feet before being sidelined by a back injury.

Then he saw the manager who brought him to the club get the boot.

Fortunately, though, the new boss was somebody who was well acquainted with Firmino from his time in the Bundesliga with Hoffenheim.

Jurgen Klopp wasted no time in talking up the Brazilian. And, after encouraging cameos against both Rubin Kazan and particularly Southampton, Firmino continued his improvement here on only his fifth start for the club.

Playing in a central role in support of lone striker Divock Origi, Firmino was given some freedom and revelled in it, his pass to Teixeira unlocking the Bournemouth defence for Liverpool's winner.

His ability to quickly link defence with attack fits neatly into Klopp's ethos of quick transitions, and he certainly puts in a shift, his pressurising almost leading to a second-half goal.

And, with an impudent nutmeg of Matt Ritchie, he's clearly still Brazilian at heart and deserved the standing ovation on his late substitution.

A Premier League start beckons on Sunday.

IN PICS: Match action of Liverpool 1-0 Bournemouth

Joao's about that?

The landscape at Liverpool was a lot different the last time Joao Teixeira pulled on a first-team shirt.

It was back in February 2014 when the Portuguese was thrown on for the closing moments for his debut as the Reds, having just thrashed Arsenal 5-1, earned a dramatic 3-2 win at Fulham to reignite hopes of a title challenge.

While Liverpool lumbered and laboured last season, Teixeira continued his development with a season on loan in the Championship with Brighton until breaking his leg in April.

He's been at Anfield ever since. And at 22, this will almost certainly be the last season for Teixieira to prove he has a long-term future at the club.

It means nights like this need to be grasped, the prodigiously-talented Portuguese given a first Reds start in an admittedly second-string side.

He needed only 17 minutes to make an impact, his impudent backheel cleared off the line for Nathaniel Clyne to net the Reds' opener. The fans loved it.

Teixeira is still a rough diamond – one wayward pass almost sent Bournemouth clear – but his time in the lower leagues has given him an appetite for work.

He almost capped his performance with a goal, only for goalkeeper Adam Federici to beat out his late free-kick.

We'll surely be seeing more of the midfielder in future weeks – not least if the Reds maintain their Capital One Cup progress.

Picking up good Ibe-rations

Remember when this was going to be Jordon Ibe's season?

The campaign where he would build on his promise of earlier in the year and render the sale of Raheem Sterling a mere inconvenience?

Everything was going swimmingly during a promising pre-season.

Then the real stuff started – and Ibe started to sink fast.

While confidence had never previously been an issue, self-belief soon drained from the 19-year-old, who found it difficult to adjust to being a marked man.

His last start had come in the 1-1 Europa League draw with Sion at the beginning of the month, an evening when he once again flattered to deceive.

This, though, was much better, Ibe under orders to take on his full-back, stretch the defence and add width and pace to Liverpool's play.

It didn't always work – the winger still makes some daft decisions – but he refused to allow his head to go down.

Much has been made of Ibe's wait for a goal for Liverpool – now 28 games and counting – but Sterling, the player to which he is inevitably compared, only netted once in his first 31 outings for the club.

Keep this form up and he'll have opportunity to end that drought sooner rather than later.

IN PICS: Klopp's first Liverpool win

Allen key or no go, Joe?

If there's one player intrinsically linked to the Brendan Rodgers era, it's Joe Allen.

Being dubbed the 'Welsh Xavi' by your boss tends to do that to a player.

But as much as he coiffures his hair and grows his beard – becoming a doppelganger for Simpsons character Hank Scorpio in the process (look it up) – he cannot escape that association.

At least Allen, like his team-mates, has had the slate wiped clean following the arrival of Klopp.

And the midfielder can't say he hasn't been given the opportunity to impress, appearing in three of the German's four games in charge with this his second start.

Yet after receiving a big hug on the touchline from Klopp at White Hart Lane, he was given the hook by his new boss at half-time against Rubin Kazan.

Allen is doing his utmost to impress, as evidenced by bookings now in successive games.

There is, however, a fierce competition for places in central midfield, not least when Jordan Henderson returns from injury.

More than three years into his Anfield career, it's clear Allen will never win over sections of the Reds support.

He doesn't have to. There's only one man he needs to persuade, and that's Klopp. And the clock is ticking.

Klopp fails to break record - is unfussed

Ladies and gentlemen, we have lift off. The Klopp era has begun.

The final whistle was met with a blast over the Anfield PA system of Daft Punk's hit 'Get Lucky' but there was nothing fortunate about this victory.

And by earning the new boss his first win at the fourth attempt, Liverpool also avoided notching a curious landmark in the club's history.

Had the Reds been taken to a penalty shoot-out, it would have been their sixth successive draw – a run they have only 'achieved' once in their history in Bob Paisley's first season in charge in 1974-75.

Instead, they have now moved only three games away from a Wembley cup final, this the first time in more than 10 years Liverpool had kept a clean sheet at home in the League Cup.

With full debutants Cameron Brannagan and Connor Randall joining fellow youngsters Teixeira, Ibe and Divock Origi in the starting line-up, the Reds played without fear and with a freedom that had been lacking somewhat during the past fortnight.

It was exactly what Klopp had wanted. And the result was exactly what he needed.