CARROLL WRINGER
Klopp: Keep up chants if Darwin has that answer
LIVERPOOL boss Jurgen Klopp cautioned against baiting Darwin Nunez after he popped up with the late matchwinner.
Nottingham Forest fans chided the striker with the chant: ‘You’re just a s**t Andy Carroll,’ when he made his way off the bench on the hour. But those words were rammed back down their throats in spectacular fashion.
It was his sixth goal in his last eight outings, his 19th overall in a campaign that may yet be regarded as a breakthrough season.
Klopp said: “A late goal is always super-decisive and for him, super-deserved.
“But before people start singing the song more often, that’s the best way to calm it down immediately.
“They can sing it if Darwin responds like he did here. I understood it. I think he understood it. It’s the best answer.”
If this season’s title race is going to the wire, perhaps Liverpool need a new phrase to displace that so beloved by Manchester United when Alex Ferguson was in his pomp. You know the one: Fergie Time.
That uncanny knack of scoring late, decisive – normally winning – goals when it mattered. How about, ‘Klopp O’Clock’?
No? Ah well, the one unmistakable influence over this campaign has been that ability to find the net late on. Think about victories over Newcastle, Wolves, Fulham and Crystal Palace.
Forest were added to that list as Nunez supplied a glorious glancing decider with 98:36 on the clock.
It came on the back of Virgil van Dijk’s dramatic winner against Chelsea in the
Carabao Cup Final. Building that kind of reputation only helps any club.
It drains rivals. And it puts the kind of apprehension into opponents that means they can never switch off, even if legs and brains are low on energy.
Klopp himself came out afterwards saluting the commitment of his players, saying that he didn’t expect four victories in 11 days.
Van Dijk added: “We’ve definitely been tested. Physically, mentally. It has been a very good six days.
“It couldn’t have gone much better. We did everything we could and we got everything we could.”
It will almost feel like a holiday for Klopp & Co. Liverpool aren’t in action against until Thursday against Sparta Prague.
By that time the sense of injustice that swept around the City Ground at the final whistle may have died down.
And it might be wise by those in officialdom who assign referees to matches to leave Paul Tierney’s name away from any game involving Nottingham Forest for the rest of this season.
The howls of protest were long and loud afterwards after the man in black dropped a clanger over a dropped ball. It may seem like nothing, giving possession to the wrong side.
But Forest were on the attack with little more than 90 seconds left.
Tierney’s mistake gave Liverpool the chance to profit when they might not have done so. Forest were wronged.