Andy Robertson has urged Liverpool to “attack the Christmas period,” with hope that no further injuries arise after “one of our best performances in a while” at Man City.
The Reds surprised City early on as Jurgen Klopp fielded a 4-2-3-1 formation that, with Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota all lining up, looked closer to a 4-2-4 in attack.
But having failed to capitalise bar Salah’s 13th-minute penalty – with Firmino and Jota both fluffing chances in the first half – the champions were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw aided by Kevin De Bruyne’s penalty miss.
Given the quality of both sides, however, it is widely considered a fair result, which Robertson agreed with as he spoke to LFCTV after the game.
The left-back, who is Liverpool’s most-used player so far this season, praised his team-mates for “steadying the ship” after a series of injuries and grinding out results, with a view to kicking on after the international break:
“I think everyone, when we started getting some injuries and lost a couple players to COVID and stuff, expected the wheels to fall off.
“They’ve not, we’ve managed to steady the ship a little bit and pick up some great results, especially in Europe.
“In the Premier League we’ve maybe not been at our best at times, but we’ve picked up results, and that’s why we’re near the top of the league.
“So long may that continue, long may we continue building in confidence, building in performances.
“I think that was one of our best performances in a while, and hopefully we come back from internationals full of confidence and we can really kick on.
“Because we’re a good team, we have lads coming back from injuries hopefully, and we’ll only get stronger for that.
“Long may that continue, hopefully we don’t lose anyone during internationals.
“We know we’ve got really important games – mine, the biggest for my country for a long, long time – but I hope we all come back fit and healthy and we really go on and attack this Christmas period.
“It’s going to be hectic, but we’ve done pretty well in it in previous seasons, and that’s what we need this season.”
It was a tough game for Jota on an individual level, with the Portuguese struggling to build on his hat-trick performance in midweek, and taking to Instagram after the game he stressed the Reds “could have done better”:
But the consensus among the squad’s leadership group was that they would “take the point,” with Robertson, Jordan Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum and James Milner all in agreement:
While Liverpool could have hoped for more from the Etihad, a point away to their biggest title rivals is far from a disappointing result, particularly as they remain five ahead of City.
Now the majority of Klopp’s squad depart for international duty, with fingers crossed for no more injuries or COVID-19 cases, as table-toppers Leicester are next up at Anfield.
Fan Comments