Striker Origi believes hard work now paying off at Liverpool

Liverpool striker Divock Origi believes his persistence and hard work is starting to pay off after finally getting off the mark for the club.

The 20-year-old scored the Reds’ first hat-trick since Luis Suarez in March 2014 as Southampton were swept aside 6-1 on their way to setting up a Capital One Cup semi-final encounter against Stoke.

With the return to fitness of Christian Benteke and Daniel Sturridge, Origi has fallen further down the pecking order — at one point he was the team’s only fit striker — and prior to Wednesday night had played just four minutes in the last month.

That competition is helping the youngster, who knows he still has plenty to learn from his more experienced team-mates.

“I’ve worked so hard to be here and I’m glad I could show my qualities,” he said. “We were very confident in our finishing and it ended well. We all want to fight for Liverpool and fight for the team.

“We have a strong team and everyone has confidence, the young guys that came in, the experienced guys, and we just have to continue like this.”

Origi benefited from a pep-talk from Jurgen Klopp before the game but despite the Belgian showing glimpses of why Liverpool paid Lille £10m (€13.8m) two summers ago the manager has cautioned against too much expectation.

“He has to be patient and to work. He’s still young and he has to learn,” said the German.

Liverpool have won seven of their last eight matches and Klopp’s effect in revitalising the same group of players who appeared to have stagnated under predecessor Brendan Rodgers has generated some serious momentum.

While Klopp is enjoying his time at Liverpool, the same could hardly be said for Newcastle head coach Steve McClaren.

McClaren though has neither sought nor received assurances about his future as Newcastle’s head coach despite the club’s season threatening to spiral out of control.

The Magpies head into Sunday’s clash with Liverpool knowing the chorus of disapproval on Tyneside will reach full volume if they cannot halt an alarming slide at St James’ Park.

But asked if he had looked for guarantees from his employers in the wake of last week’s 5-1 humbling at Crystal Palace, which saw Newcastle slip back into the relegation zone, McClaren said: “I wouldn’t ask for that and I wouldn’t expect to receive that.

“I think that’s demonstrated by what we do during the week and what we do on a Saturday or Sunday and that’s why it’s important.”

That said, McClaren is fully aware that he will live or die by his results and at the moment, they are simply not good enough.

His reign currently extends to just 16 games, two of them in the Capital one Cup, but only three — two of them in the league — have resulted in victory, and that has prompted bookmakers’ to install the 54-year-old as favourite to be the next top-flight boss to lose his job.

McClaren said: “It’s football, so you never know. You go into every job knowing the impatience of football, and you need results. We know what the situation is.”