3 weeks ago
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Photo by Nikki Dyer - LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo and Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler spoke about the role of the crowd in the Reds’ 2-1 victory.
On Saturday against Brighton, it seems fair to say that Liverpool came out just a little bit flat. After a relatively comfortable win against the same opponents in the League Cup mid-week, the Reds’ first half performance here was rather short of their best—and they were down a goal to show it.
The second half brought that as the players—most notably Trent Alexander-Arnold by way of a shoving match with Pervis Estupiñán that saw Brighton’s Ecuadorian left back happy to return to Liverpool’s Scouser the conflict he was craving—and crowd began to feed off each other’s energy to fuel the comeback.
For a spell, it was Anfield at its best, the home crowd bringing out the kind of atmosphere more generally reserved for Famous European Nights and late season title race run-ins. The players responded to it, as the crowd responded to the players. Two goals and a Liverpool win soon followed.
“I remember my goal against Fulham and after that we scored again,” reflected Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, whose late equalizing goal last December fed a rabid crowd and helped to fuel an even later winner in a mad 4-3 victory. “Today was kind of a similar atmosphere in Anfield.
“They created an amazing atmosphere and I think we feel like we played plus one. Thank you for always supporting us. After we scored, I came in and my job was clear. I just did my job and we’re glad to win. We know that our team needs everyone to contribute because we play a lot of games.”
It was the type of atmosphere people perpetually moan is a thing of the past any time the crowd comes across a little flat in an early-season kickoff against opponents that the broad consensus says the Reds should have the beating of. A reminder that, no, it’s still there when it’s really needed.
Not every match will sound like Barcelona’s come to visit and Liverpool need to overcome a three-goal deficit. There’s no crowd that can or will deliver that energy for 90 minutes every week over ten months. But it’s there—as it was for Endo’s December comeback. Just ask Fabian Hurzeler.
“I’d only experienced the atmosphere on television but now I’ve experienced it for myself,” the Brighton boss noted. “When it’s loud, a great atmosphere, maybe a wild environment—in those moments you need to stay calm. There were solutions but we couldn’t find them in the second half.”
