'How I play is ultimately the Liverpool way' - Koumas

[Getty Images] It didn't take long for Andoni Iraola to decide that Lewis Koumas would be part of his Liverpool squad for the season ahead. "For me, Koumas, the first week I was here I told the club that he was staying for all the season," Iraola said last week. Koumas waited 907 days between his first and second appearance for the Reds - which came on the opening day of the season when he got his first Premier League minutes at Newcastle - and on Wednesday, the Wales international rewarded Iraola's faith in him with a man-of-the-match performance when he started against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup . Iraola described the 20-year-old's energy as "contagious for the rest" of the squad, with Koumas leading the press from the front with his intensity. "When you see the ones up front giving everything you are kind of forced to go behind and use the same intensity levels," said the Liverpool boss. And Koumas, who turns 21 on Saturday, said: "I think how I play is ultimately the Liverpool way. We have always been a club where players have to give absolutely everything on the pitch. We're bringing that back now and the crowd are loving it." Just three days on from a flat, goalless draw against Fulham at Anfield, Iraola named a much-changed side that entertained the crowd with a solid display in the 3-1 win over Spurs . "It [running non-stop] is definitely something the manager is trying to instil, but it's also me through and through. That's why I'm being trusted to go out there and do a job for the team," added Koumas, who made his debut under Jurgen Klopp in 2024. The Welsh forward has spent the past two seasons on loan at Stoke City , Birmingham City and Hull City and insisted that he never doubted that he would return to Anfield. "The past two years have been massive for my development. Going out on loan helped me to become the player I am today. I was able to impress the new manager in pre-season and it's all worked out well," said Koumas, who is the son of former Wales international Jason. "I never showed a weak mentality about how the future would look for me at Liverpool. I always had the drive that I would get here. The reason for going out on loan was to prepare for this moment. It all sort of worked out. "A lot of hunger can be lost in the game with how things go. But for me, coming through the pre-academy and right through the academy, my hunger has always been there. My hunger comes from representing Liverpool Football Club and wanting to give everything for the best club in the world."