Jürgen Klopp’s exasperation was understandable. A replay against West Ham United ruined plans for a first full week of training since before Christmas and, should Liverpool triumph at Upton Park, the Capital One Cup final will bring February to a close after eight games in 27 days.

January had nine in 29. And there is the small matter of a Merseyside derby to rearrange. Through the congestion, however, have sprung positives, and neither the Liverpool manager’s complaints nor a mundane goalless draw could disguise them at Anfield.

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Cameron Brannagan, Brad Smith, Kevin Stewart and João Carlos Teixeira, aged 19, 21, 22 and 23 respectively, were instrumental in giving Liverpool the edge over Slaven Bilic’s disrupted and subdued team. Composed, mature, precise, their performances reflected well on Liverpool’s academy and are likely to be rewarded with further opportunity in next week’s replay.

Klopp may have more options by then should his injury list reduce and Liverpool add to their ranks on deadline day. The club have not given up on another Teixeira, Alex, despite difficult talks with Shakhtar Donetsk, but their manager’s faith in young talent already at his disposal is being repaid. It would never have been tested without the demanding schedule that has generated such irritation.

Klopp, somewhat reluctantly, said: “If we hadn’t had so many injuries and so many games then we wouldn’t have seen these guys, so that is a positive. We talk about us playing West Ham on a good run, and we’re talking about us missing chances, doing this better and that better, but because we have another game it feels less enjoyable.

“But you need a special situation to see these young boys. I like working with them but I don’t usually have the time in the middle of these fixtures. They all came back from loan, Swindon, Wolves, Coventry, now they are all here – and we can work with them. We have a squad and we have to play the leader of the Premier League on Tuesday, then important games against Villa and Sunderland, so we should not use the young players in situations like this. Against West Ham, if they did anything wrong it’s my responsibility. They all did well and brilliant – that’s their responsibility. You can do it like this in the Cup but you can’t in the Premier League. The Premier League is the main tournament and you have to take everything you can get.”

West Ham had a penalty appeal dismissed by the referee, Martin Atkinson, when the on-loan Liverpool defender Steven Caulker clearly handled inside his own area. Enner Valencia also missed a gilt-edged chance from Aaron Cresswell’s cross in the first half and the same source led to the substitute Michail Antonio hitting the post in the final minute, albeit the delivery was adjudged to have gone out of play.

Makeshift Liverpool were the more cohesive, sharper team and the visitors needed a fine display from the goalkeeper Darren Randolph to preserve their hopes of beating the Anfield club for a third time this season.

The Republic of Ireland international said: “We have had two decent results this season at Anfield. We have had two good performances from the team and I like coming here. It is never easy playing at Anfield and they have a good squad. It was always going to be tough regardless of who was playing and they have a point to prove if they are not getting much game time.”

Man of the match Darren Randolph (West Ham United)