Brave, strong and experienced ...Hendo and Milner lifted Klopp stars off floor against Saints

Klopp showed his experience. He said afterwards that Milner and Henderson were very aggressive, verbally aggressive, to their own team-mates, and that made the difference.

The pair will readily admit they’re not the most gifted players in the team, but they are still massively important because they are leaders on the pitch and in the dressing room.

They’ll lead the jokes – and I can tell you that Milner is very funny, despite his reputation – and they’ll also sort

stuff out, sort people out. They were massive. Things go against you, you need to stay calm, not panic, not start doing crazy stuff. Believe what you have been doing so well so far will still work, still deliver. That’s what happened when Milner and Henderson came on. I know they get so much stick from the fans at times, but you can’t overstate just how important that calming influence is. It was the perfect answer to that criticism. Liverpool had stayed in the game, but were frantic. The pair of them brought control to the game by getting through to their team-mates to calm down, start playing, start organising, start building. The fans will testify that, at this stage of the season, it’s so nerve-racking and draining. Watching a game like that or Spurs last weekend is an ordeal. Well, it can be like that out on the pitch, too, the stress can be incredible. In those situations, it’s the leaders who communicate what is required, how to focus on the job in hand and not get consumed by the stress of it all. It starts with Klopp – and he seems brilliant at setting the tone. But it needs people on the pitch. Virgil van Dijk does it, no doubt. He was a leader again, the calmest player on the pitch. Dejan Lovren can do it too. He is a good communicator who leads, even when he is not playing at his best. That is vital. But, obviously, Henderson and Milner are the two most senior players and they are the best communicators. Even at schoolboy football level, coaches will drill into you just how important those lines of communication are. There are many different ways of leading. You can do it by example, by order, by direction. Van Dijk leads by example, Milner leads by direction. Henderson combines all. When Klopp said his two experienced midfielders were verbally aggressive, I laughed, but I also nodded in agreement. That is what is required now. The pressure, it’s immense and you need leaders. I’ll bet Liverpool won’t go into many more games without at least one of Henderson or Milner in the starting side.