Jürgen Klopp admitted relief was his overriding emotion at the end of a game that could prove crucial in the title race, with Liverpool only just holding on for the points in the face of spirited Crystal Palace resistance.
“A game like this can go in all directions,” the Liverpool manager said. “We dominated the first half but went in 1-0 down. When Sadio Mané scored the fourth goal in stoppage time I looked at my watch and though: ‘OK that should be enough.’ But football always teaches you the game is never over until it is finished.
“They came back with another goal and then Rafa Camacho wins the game in pretty much the last second [with his tackle on Wilfried Zaha]. I don’t want to think about what might have happened if he had not won that ball. Zaha had a really good game, he gave us a lot of problems. There are different ways to win games and today we had to dig in with all we had.”
Liverpool finished with 10 men after James Milner picked up two yellows for fouls on Zaha, though even Roy Hodgson sympathised with the caution that saw the stand-in full-back dismissed.
“I felt a bit sorry for James – Wilf was just too quick for him,” the Palace manager said. “I thought we played well in both halves, our defensive organisation in the first was excellent and to find yourself 2-1 down after two deflections was unfortunate.
“Getting back to 2-2 after that was commendable, but then the cruelty of football showed itself at its most wicked when Julian Speroni’s mistake put Liverpool undeservedly back in the lead. A goalkeeper coming back after not having played for a year and a bit, there aren’t many better club servants at any clubs in the world.”
Hodgson feels Liverpool are in a good place, though warned his old club that there is still a long way to go. “Maybe a game like today where they might have been expected to cruise to victory will remind them that there are very few games in this league where teams allow you to cruise to victory,” he said.
Klopp knows that already. “Nobody should be surprised by the character of the boys,” he said. “They are ready to fight for it all. In the first half when we were 1-0 down I am pretty sure a lot of people would have thought this might be the day when lose it but it was not like that.
“We stayed positive and changed a few things, we needed to get more men in the box and of course we had Mo Salah.”
The Egyptian’s brace took him to 50 Premier League goals in 72 games, an exceptional scoring rate for a player who has not always been used as an out and out striker. “I heard the names of the players who have done it quicker,” Klopp said. “Alan Shearer, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Andy Cole are all top strikers. Maybe Mo would have scored even more if I had not kept using him on the right wing.”