LIVERPOOL SHOWED once again that they are “mentality monsters” against Aston Villa, but Jordan Henderson is looking for the Reds to shake that tag and make life easier for themselves.
Jurgen Klopp’s side staged another stirring comeback at Villa Park on Saturday, with two goals in the final few minutes from Andy Robertson and Sadio Mane seeing the Reds to a dramatic 2-1 win.
Thrilling fightbacks have become something of a theme for the Anfield outfit in recent times, with last season’s Champions League triumph made possible by a stunning semi-final victory over Barcelona.
Henderson admits that Liverpool have learned to “never give up”, but the club captain on Merseyside admits the need to dig deep on a regular basis means that there are issues for the Premier League title hopefuls to address.
He told the club’s matchday programme for the European clash with Genk on Tuesday: “The numbers back up that ‘Never Give Up’ is more than just a slogan on a T-shirt for us — we’ve taken more points from losing positions than any other Premier League team in this moment. Of course that’s a positive, but it’s important we look at the other side of that stat as well.
Part of being ‘mentality monsters’ is that you challenge yourselves and always look at where you can be better. As a team, do we like the fact that our mindset is ‘keep going and never submit’? Yes, of course. But I would also like to think we’d look at those numbers and set ourselves the task of not putting ourselves in the position in the first place.
“Comebacks make for great television, but it’s on us as a squad to address the issue of falling behind in games. We want to be a side that dominates teams and takes total control of a game. We’ve proved time and time again we can do that, but clearly at the moment we haven’t been doing enough to make sure we are in a dominant position on the scoreboard for longer periods.
“There are many reasons you can find yourselves behind in a game and some of them are beyond your control. The opposition might be on fire and have a player who scores an absolute ‘worldie’. You can also get bad luck, by which I mean a bounce of a ball or a poor decision.
“But the truth is, the majority of the time a team goes behind is because they haven’t done the right things in that moment. And we as a team will look to address that.
There isn’t a member of our squad who isn’t determined to improve every single day. Part of improvement is being able to identify the correct areas to work on and find a way to address it. That’s one of the most impressive things about this group of players: there is always a desire to improve and a desire to do better, even with the smallest of details.
“It’s nice to get the praise for the comebacks, but we’ll be far more satisfied when we get to the point that the comeback isn’t necessary.”
Liverpool will be hoping to ease their way into the next international break, but a continental clash with Genk is set to be followed by a crucial domestic encounter with Manchester City on Sunday which could have a big say in the 2019-20 Premier League title race.
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I don’t think it’s good television at all!! Supporting this team especially over the last 18 months or so, is not doing my coronary health any favours at all. Still a win is a win and as Henderson says, time to not be putting themselves in that position
@my name: 18 months ??? Bandwagon supporter
@Scott Stonebridge: read it again scotty, slowly this time
@my name: haha …… gone fishing….
@Scott Stonebridge: good one. Anymore ?
@my name: I’m definitely not going to die of a heart attack.
With the stronger defense, I would like to see a return of the expansive football. Especially against the weaker teams.
@Logan Shepherd: I agree logan. But until that actually happens, this edge of the seat football is taking a toil. I’m not as young as I was pal
@my name: Tons but I wouldn’t want to make it personal now
@Scott Stonebridge: sound man
The Liverpool team of the 80’s won many points and /or games in the last five minutes .Its the sign of a great team . There’s nothing to worry about .
Hes right. It’s great but it wont always get them over the line. They have shown great resilience this year since the start if the season but I cant help but feel they need to annihilate a few teams in the league to get them going. The margin for error is so small now with the quality of city. So these close games becoming tonregular will inevitably end up in costly draws. Only a few draws cost us last year. Man they they are good to watch doh.
@Seaniecp: Yup. Pinball for Pinheads!
That 10 point lead(game more played but still 10!) lost last year still in their heads methinks.
@HerbMancini: top of the premier league. Top of their champions league table too. Yes definitely in their head