Jurgen Klopp called Liverpool’s last-minute winner the “perfect response” when asked about Newcastle’s time-wasting at Anfield on Wednesday night.
The visitors, who looked set to secure a deserved point thanks to Alexander Isak’s first-half goal, had frustrated Klopp’s side with a number of incidents of running down the clock in the final 10 minutes of the game, and during the five minutes of added time indicated Nick Pope also called on the physio for treatment on his shoulder.
However, the addition of more than two extra minutes before Fabio Carvalho’s last-gasp winner from a corner was enough to leave the visiting bench incensed, and tensions boiled over as Liverpool’s backroom staff and substitutes celebrated the youngster’s goal.
“When we scored after 90-plus-eight minutes, it’s the perfect response to that, to be honest. I’m really happy about that, but nothing else to say,” he told BT Sport.
“It was the perfect moment to win this game because it was a difficult game, very passionate, aggressive defending. It’s difficult to pick up the rhythm from a game where everything clicked immediately and you find yourself in situations where it isn’t clicking immediately.
“I told the boys at half-time even before we were 1-0 down, we looked a bit desperate already, we didn’t play the extra pass. When we did that, we were really dangerous, so we had to force ourselves to keep calm a little bit more and to keep going.
Carvalho, who turned 20 on Tuesday, scored his second goal in five days to earn Liverpool only a second win from their opening five games, despite playing only 84 minutes to date for the club he joined from Fulham this summer.
“He’s a fantastic boy,” added Klopp. “We changed pretty much everything, we went very offensive orientated but he can also play there. If a boy is as good as he is then he needs the moment.
“It’s a massive result, which we will remember it for years and years. We had a 3-2 win at Newcastle once where Divock Origi scored late. I’m not 100 per cent sure they all believed until the end – but from now on we have to as we showed again it is possible.”
What’s next?
Liverpool travel to Everton for the Merseyside derby on Saturday at 12.30pm, before Newcastle host Crystal Palace on Saturday at 3pm.