We can think of three or four reasons as to why Liverpool were able to come back from being a goal down to beat Stoke City 2-1 on Saturday.
Two of them are Brazilians, one is a twenty minute cameo from a certain England striker and another is a Belgian shot-stopper. The latter is seemingly Joel Matip’s choice.
Whilst discussing how the game changed following the introduction of Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho, the defender told Liverpoolfc.com: “When you have players come on like that, it helps every team. We started to play better football and also Simon [Mignolet] made some great saves, amazing, and that was the reason why we won.”
“It feels great even though it wasn’t our best game. After being 1-0 down it’s always good to come back and win this game.”
“They didn’t have many chances [in the first half], maybe shots from outside the box and things like this, but they controlled the game and we were not at our best. But in the second half everybody wanted to improve and did his best, and we are happy with the result.”
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The fact it was by no means Liverpool at their best is what makes the win all the more pleasing. It was proof that, even amidst the team’s current injury crisis, Klopp has the players at his disposal capable of grinding out results and coming up with one or two decisive moments of quality.
Coutinho and Firmino earned the headlines for their goals yet Simon Mignolet was just as important at the other end of the field. Daniel Sturridge also changed the game just two minutes after coming on in the second half, initiating the attack that led to Coutinho’s equaliser with a perfectly weighted through ball for Firmino to run onto.
Four individuals transformed what would have been one of the most gutting results of the season into arguably one of the most satisfying.