Neil Jones highlighted one big positive Liverpool can take from Saturday’s agonising and controversial last-gasp defeat to Tottenham on Saturday.
Joel Matip’s stoppage time own goal compounded the Reds’ pain after the dismissals of Curtis Jones and Diogo Jota and the farcical circumstances which saw Luis Diaz have a legitimate goal ruled out for offside.
The fallout from those contentious moments has rumbled on ever since the final whistle in north London nearly 48 hours ago, but the journalist picked out one thing from the game which has buoyed him.
In his exclusive column with Empire of the Kop, Jones wrote: “At the end of the day, you saw the scenes at the end, you talk about siege mentality, Darwin Nunez, and Trent Alexander-Arnold whipping up the crowd in the corner when he won a throw-in.
“The fans who travelled down know how much Liverpool gave there, Liverpool’s players know how much the fans are behind them at the moment.
“We’ve talked about the officials – but this is the main takeaway for me. This is a team going in the right direction with a group of fans who actually believe in this direction.”
Liverpool fans would’ve been angry about a lot of things from Saturday, but one of them certainly isn’t the performance of the team, which was especially heroic after they were reduced to nine men.
The bright start to the campaign has helped to tighten the bond between the supporters and players, and that has only strengthened further after those on the pitch gave every last drop in their quest to secure a result, which cruelly eluded them at the death.
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The sight of Trent getting the crowd going after winning a throw-in and Nunez defiantly fist-pumping after the final whistle says plenty about the hunger within Jurgen Klopp’s squad to deliver success for the fans who give them their unequivocal backing.
That sense of togetherness between supporters and players should serve Liverpool well as they seek to get back to challenging for major trophies after the disappointment of last season, and as Jones said, there’s a feeling that something’s growing at Anfield.
If the Reds can bounce back from Saturday’s heartache with wins over Union Saint-Gilloise and Brighton prior to the international break, the mood will once again be boisterous going into the derby later this month.