Georginio Wijnaldum of Liverpool (r) celebrates the equalising goal during the English Premier League match at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool. Picture date: January 31st, 2017. Pic Simon Bellis/Sportimage via PA Images

Georginio Wijnaldum praises Jurgen Klopp for giving him more licence to attack

Georginio Wijnaldum has lauded Jurgen Klopp for encouraging him to get into the final third more, following his equaliser against Chelsea.

Liverpool drew 1-1 with the league leaders on Tuesday evening, following an entertaining 90 minutes at Anfield.

David Luiz’s inch-perfect free-kick looked to have consigned the Reds to a fourth successive home defeat, but Wijnaldum’s second-half header, and Simon Mignolet‘s penalty save from Diego Costa, earned the hosts a point.

Wijnaldum produced a more adventurous performance after half-time, after largely keeping it simple in the opening 45 minutes.

The Dutchman has credited Klopp for this, claiming the manager told him to play a more attack-minded midfield role.

“At half-time the manager told me I must get into the box more,” Wijnaldum told LiverpoolFC.com.

“Emre [Can] was in the box a few times and he said I wasn’t in the box even one time.

“He said I must get into the box to create a chance—and that’s what I did in the second half. It was an early cross, Millie put it back and I was in the right place to make the header.

“If you look at the overall game, I think we were the better team; they had two good moments, the free-kick and the penalty.

“But you must be happy with a point, because Simon [Mignolet] stopped the penalty.”

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, November 29, 2016: Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum in action against Leeds United during the Football League Cup Quarter-Final match at Anfield. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Looking ahead to the remainder of the season, the 26-year-old says Liverpool must take great heart from their performance, as they look to close the gap at the top.

“It says a lot if you come back against a team like Chelsea,” he added.

“But it says more if you can play games like we did today. We must continue the performance of today and then it will say something.

“We showed it against the big teams, but now we must show it against every team. Then it will say more than only today.

“We must carry on the way we did and we’ll see what happens.”

Goals have come at a premium for Wijnaldum in a Reds shirt, with his Chelsea strike just his third for the club in 28 appearances.

He has found the net against both the Blues and Man City, however, with his big-game mentality shining through.

There is a feeling that the goals will start to flow more regularly this season and beyond, especially when you look at his record for Newcastle and PSV Eindhoven, when he netted 67 times in 192 games.

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