PHEEEEEP!
The Ref's whistle shrieked immediately, arm pointing toward the penalty spot without hesitation.
"PENALTY! LIVERPOOL GET A PENALTY!" The commentator's voice jumped an octave.
The away end exploded. Meanwhile, Stoke's remaining fans sat in deathly silence. Some shook their heads slowly, murmuring: It's over. Completely over.
Whelan rushed the referee, waving his arms: no foul, no foul.
The referee shook his head. Television replays from multiple angles removed any doubt. The slow-motion footage showed Whelan's leg extending after losing balance, studs catching Julien's ankle, it was a clear trip.
Julien picked himself up, placed the ball on the spot. Twelve yards from goal. Sørensen was shifting weight left and right on his line.
Julien's run-up was slow, controlled. His right foot connected cleanly, driving low and hard toward the bottom left corner. Sørensen dove correctly but the shot was too powerful, too precise.
The ball nestled in the corner before his fingertips could reach it.
0–4.
When the net rippled, something changed in the atmosphere at Britannia Stadium. The place felt frozen as if time had paused to acknowledge the magnitude of the beating being administered.
All remaining Stoke fans had to confront an unavoidable truth and let it sink into their bones: this match was over.
Yes, football contained impossible possibilities. Yes, miracles occasionally happened. But the rational corner of every fan's mind said the same thing: It's finished. The humiliation is just extending now.
One middle-aged fan near the halfway line stood up, pulled on his coat and headed for the exits without looking back.
Julien faced the away end, arms spread wide. His teammates' shouts, the supporters' roar, hundreds of phone cameras flashing like scattered stars, all merged into one overwhelming sensory experience.
Once again, he was the brightest thing on the pitch.
After going 4–0 up, Klopp made his substitutions—Julien and Gerrard both were withdrawn to ovations from the travelling supporters.
But even removing Liverpool's two most influential players didn't signal defensive retreat.
"ATTACK! KEEP ATTACKING!" Klopp roared from the touchline, gesturing forward emphatically. His tactical dictionary had never contained the phrase "see it out."
Even with massive leads, especially with massive leads—he wanted opponents terrorized under sustained pressure.
Post-substitution Liverpool showed no drop in intensity. Coutinho replaced Julien seamlessly—different style but equal threat. Suárez continued roaming centrally, his movement dragging defenders out of position. Sterling suddenly had even more space to run into.
Stoke had hoped desperately that Liverpool might ease off, show some mercy, at least slow down. Instead they got sharper combinations, quicker transitions, fresher legs running at tired defenders and the exhausted backline came apart again.
The commentary captured the absurdity: "Klopp's approach is genuinely remarkable and merciless! Four-nil up away from home and still going full tilt. This is Liverpool's identity under him right now—destroy opponents with relentless pressure, give them no breathing room, no psychological recovery."
The acceleration produced results fast.
In the 71st minute, Coutinho received wide left, two defenders were closing, seemingly out of options. His feet performed magic—multiple subtle shifts until an angle appeared where none had existed.
The low cross went between two defenders' legs, arriving perfectly at the back post where Sterling met it with one touch, first-time, right foot, far corner. The ball grazed the inside of the post and settled in the net.
0–5
On the touchline, Klopp stood with arms crossed, a satisfied smile at his face but not quite breaking into full celebration. Because this was expected. This was the standard. This was Liverpool functioning as designed.
But even in comprehensive victory, cracks appeared.
Conceding in a torrent seemed to lift a weight off Stoke. They loosened up, and tried something more direct.
In the 78th minute, Flanagan fouled clumsily at the penalty area edge, giving Stoke a dangerous free kick. Ireland—having endured 75 minutes of being repeatedly bypassed stepped up with something to prove. His delivery curled beautifully over the wall, dipping violently toward the top corner. Mignolet dove desperately but couldn't reach it.
1–5.
Britannia Stadium's remaining fans produced their first genuine cheer of the second half. A few rose to their feet and clapped in a small consolation for a stubborn, battered team.
Klopp frowned, making sharp gestures to his players: Wake up! Concentrate!
But the defensive lapse came again almost immediately.
In the 89th minute when match was almost over—Glen Johnson received in Liverpool's defensive third.
It was a simple situation: play a short pass to Lucas, recycle possession, run down the clock. But Johnson, legs heavy after 80-plus minutes, underhit the pass badly. Too soft. Too slow.
Walters pounced on the loose ball, drove forward, and suddenly had a clear run on goal. He pushed his shot calmly past Mignolet's dive.
2–5.
Johnson pounded the turf with his fist. Mignolet picked himself up and waved it off.
The clean sheet bonus was already gone anyway.
The late goals drew a post-match comment from the analysts: "These two concessions—ultimately meaningless to the result—do expose lingering defensive vulnerabilities. Poor set-piece marking. A costly back-pass error compounded by fatigue. Against better opposition, these lapses will be punished more severely. Fortunately, tonight they don't affect the outcome. Liverpool march into the League Cup semi-finals with an emphatic, professional victory."
But what genuinely worried Klopp—what creased his forehead and tightened his jaw wasn't the conceded goals. It was what had happened just before Stoke's second.
Skrtel, attempting a desperate last-ditch tackle to cover Johnson's mistake, had flown into a sliding challenge at full stretch and missed the ball entirely. And in the process, felt something tear in his hamstring.
'Fuck. Exactly what we don't need.'
Klopp's brow stayed furrowed. The back line was already tattered. This made it worse.
The medical team rushed on, conducted a quick assessment, and confirmed what everyone feared.
Skrtel came off. The ball was played back in. A handful of passes later, the referee blew for full time.
Final score: Stoke City 2–5 Liverpool.
Liverpool were through to the League Cup semi-finals.
It should have been an absolutely satisfying night. But for Klopp, Skrtel's injury casted a shadow over it.
At the post-match press conference, Klopp spoke honestly.
"Tonight the team showed excellent attacking attitude throughout. Intensity, quality, professionalism—all there. This performance absolutely deserved victory and our place in the semi-finals."
He paused turning to something more serious: "But we must face certain realities. Consecutive high-intensity matches represent a huge test of players' physical and mental fitness. Tonight, in the second half—especially after the substitutions—running distances dropped, concentration wavered, mistakes crept in. That's the direct price of fixture congestion."
A reporter asked about Skrtel's injury.
Klopp's jaw tightened: "We're not yet certain how serious Martin's injury is. The medical team will conduct thorough examination. But realistically, he definitely cannot play in our next match against Cardiff City. More imprtantly—we face Manchester City on Boxing Day. Given typical hamstring recovery times, Martin will almost certainly miss that too. Possibly several weeks."
"How does this affect your defensive plans?" A journalist asked about the impact on his already stretched defense.
Klopp gave a small, helpless shrug.
"Martin is an important part of our backline. His injury puts significant pressure on an already stretched defense. We'd already planned to strengthen our defense in the January window—that was non-negotiable regardless. Now it must be accelerated. We need reinforcements faster than anticipated.
Under this level of fixture congestion, injuries become inevitable. But losing a key player in a key position brings huge challenges."
After all media obligations were fulfilled, Liverpool's squad boarded the team bus for the journey home.
Britannia Stadium had long since emptied—just security staff and cleaners were remaining. Night lay thick across Stoke-on-Trent.
When players first boarded, there had been sporadic conversation: "Great goal, Julien." "That pass from Steven before he came off..." "Five-two away, can't complain..."
But these exchanges lasted maybe ten minutes before dying out completely, replaced by something heavier. Heavy breathing from cardiovascular systems still recovering.
Then, gradually, snoring of multiple players simultaneously entering deep sleep. The entire bus contained only two sounds: the diesel engine's steady rumble and the rising-and-falling chorus of sleeping men.
Occasionally a player shifted in unconscious discomfort—leg cramping, neck stiff, body seeking better alignment. Occasionally someone mumbled something inexplicable, fragments of dreams. Then silence returned deeper than before.
No one scrolled through phones. No one discussed the match or replayed key moments. No one celebrated the scoreline. Even Sturridge—usually the squad's most talkative member, always ready with banter or music or energy had his cap pulled low over his face, his body was completely motionless. Everyone was simply gone and shut down. Their systems were in recovery mode.
Klopp sat in the front row, and for once he didn't huddle with his coaching staff over tactics.
He slowly turned his head, letting his gaze move across the rows of sleeping players. In the dim interior lighting he could see the exhaustion etched into their faces—mouths were hanging open, heads were lolled at awkward angles, facial muscles were completely slack.
A quiet sigh escaped him. He shook his head.
'In Germany, there would be a winter break right now. Players would get two, maybe three weeks of complete rest. Time to breathe.
But this is England. This is the Premier League.'
There was no winter break and no breather, no pause button.
From tonight—December 18th—they had less than three days before the next Premier League fixture on the 21st. Then Boxing Day away at Manchester City.
The window for recovery was almost nothing.
Even the advantage of competing on a single front barely registered against a schedule like this. With Continuous high-press football and constant travel—even an iron man breaks down.
He thought of the dropped running distances in the second half—every Liverpool player's coverage had fallen noticeably compared to the first 45 minutes. Not because they'd stopped trying or lost motivation.
It was simply because their bodies couldn't maintain that pace for 90 minutes anymore. The tank was empty. The legs refused to respond to the brain's commands with the same explosive power.
He thought of Johnson's underhit pass—the legs were gone just enough for the weight to go wrong. Of Skrtel, throwing himself at a lost cause to cover for a teammate, and tearing a muscle for it.
All of it—every one of these things was the schedule collecting its debt.
And this was after rotating players. Julien and Gerrard had come off at 4–0 specifically to rest them.
Klopp had tried to manage minutes sensibly. But you could only rotate so much. Core players had to play. Crucial matches needed your best eleven. And every match mattered—league position, cup progress, momentum, confidence.
'We need squad depth.'
This thought rose quietly again in Klopp's head.
________________________________________________________
Check out my patreon where you can read more chapters:
patreon.com/LorianFiction
Thanks for your support!