Joel Matip celebrates scoring their side's second goal of the game during the Premier League match at St Mary's Stadium, Southampton. Picture date: Tuesday May 17, 2022. ( PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo)

“You should see them in training” – Milner praises “incredible” Liverpool squad

James Milner described his Liverpool teammates as “incredible” after their 2-1 win away to Southampton, as a much-changed team shone at St Mary’s.

The Reds had to win against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side on Tuesday evening, in order to essentially take the Premier League title race to the final day.

It looked like it was going to be a long night when Nathan Redmond curled the hosts in front, only for Liverpool’s remarkable mentality to come to the fore yet again.

The rarely-used Takumi Minamino fired home a clinical finish to level the scores before half-time, then Joel Matip headed home the winner after the break.

Jurgen Klopp made nine changes after the FA Cup final, with the likes of Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott starting, but still the Reds controlled the game – showing the quality of this squad.

Speaking to Sky Sports post-match, Milner lauded this once-in-a-generation Liverpool side’s efforts this season, with a quadruple still possible with two games remaining.

“The guys are incredible,” Milner praised.

“The guys who maybe haven’t played as much; but you should see them train every single day, it’s incredible the level they put in.

“You can see when they need to step up, they have. It’s a special group of players and a special football club. We fight to the end, keep going, all we can do is take it as far as we can.

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - Tuesday, May 17, 2022: Liverpool's Joel Matip (R) celebrates with team-mate Ibrahima Konaté after scoring the second goal during the FA Premier League match between Southampton FC and Liverpool FC at St Mary's Stadium. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

“It says a lot. It shows how ready everyone is, it shows how ready they are mentally, even when they’re probably not playing as many minutes as they would like.

“The intensity and desire in training every day to be able to come and play the way we play is special.

“That starts right from the top with the manager and the attitude of the players.

At 1-0 down, you could be forgiven for thinking Liverpool’s title hopes may finally be ending, considering the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane were unavailable.

Klopp and his players simply never know when they are beaten, however, and Man City will be feeling that they just cannot rid themselves of Liverpool.

The league leaders are still clearly the overriding favourites to clinch glory at home to Aston Villa on Sunday, but football has a funny way of delivering a narrative.

Asked for his thoughts on the final day, Milner said: “Try to win our game. That’s all we can do, try to win our game.

“That’s all we’ve been trying to do since we sort of had a reset in January when we were so far behind them and we went for it again and had a mental reset. Since then, we’ve really pushed.

“They’re an incredible team to go up against and whatever happens this season, I think we’ve done ourselves proud.

“You’re coming up against a top team like Man City so all we can do is try to win our games and try to keep the pressure on them right until the end.”

Over to you, Stevie…