Ahead of kickoff, a lot of talk was around how well we’d be able to deal with Tony Pulis’ tactics.
Long balls, aerial duels, endless set-pieces – all things we’ve struggled with in similar games in the past. There was also an expectation that they’d go for some bus-parking tactics, much like Mourinho tried with regrettable success on Monday night.
But after a great first 15 minutes we got the breakthrough and when Coutinho doubled the lead with 10 minutes remaining in the first half, we looked home and dry.
Sure, there was a nervy final ten minutes after Gareth McAuley’s somewhat lucky goal, but by-and-large we were comfortable.
And now Sadio Mane has been speaking about what allowed us to deal with Tony Pulis’ plan so effectively.
Have a read of his comments:
“It wasn’t easy because they were very compact but we trained hard for this every day in training. It made it easier because we tried to move between the lines.”
“It was a pass from Emre (Can) to Firmino and because we know each other it’s easy for me to wait for the ball to come and I just put it in,” he added.
“We know each other now, we try to work hard as a team in training and the game becomes more comfortable.” (Echo)
Next up for Liverpool is a home game against Spurs in the League Cup fourth round on Tuesday. We then go to Palace in the league next weekend.