Jordan Henderson has said that Liverpool ‘can learn from’ this afternoon’s 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest.
After a goalless first half, a dramatic second 45 minutes saw the home side twice pegged back by their visitors before Mo Salah ultimately netted the winner at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp’s side dominated possession, with 81% of the ball in the final reckoning (BBC Sport), although they were made to sweat for the result by Steve Cooper’s men.
While Henderson was pleased with the result, he admitted that it’s ‘never easy’ with Liverpool and said there can be lessons to derive from today’s match, particularly in terms of defending opposition throw-ins.
The Reds captain told liverpoolfc.com: “Yeah, we made it difficult, [it’s] never easy with us but we managed to get the job done, which was the most important thing.
“Obviously the long throws were killing us a little bit so that’s something we need to be better at, definitely, especially off the second ball off them. But hopefully we can learn from that and there was no damage done with the three points in the end.”
Henderson is voicing the right attitude, with plenty for Liverpool to work on for upcoming games despite the satisfying result.
The two goals came from lax defending, with Neco Williams having far too much space to make it 1-1 (albeit via a deflection) and the failure to clear a corner enabling Morgan Gibbs-White to pull Forest level for a second time.
The home side had chances to win more comprehensively, with Virgil van Dijk forcing a fine save from Keylor Navas, while Diogo Jota missed a first-half sitter before his second half brace.
However, in a season where Liverpool have made an annoying habit of dropping points to bottom half opposition, a win by any means necessary was the brief today, and they showed sufficient powers of recovery to come out on top.
Remarkably, this is the Reds’ first victory by one goal since beating Wolves in the FA Cup third round replay in January – at least this afternoon we showed a resilience to pull off a hard-fought triumph.