Sipke Hulshoff has pointed to the precise moment when he felt that Liverpool’s pursuit towards the Premier League title ‘couldn’t go wrong anymore’.
The Reds went into their game against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday needing only a draw to be crowned champions and, despite falling behind to an early Dominic Solanke header, they equalised within four minutes and never looked back thereafter as they romped to a 5-1 victory at Anfield.
What could’ve been an anxious afternoon in L4 turned into a carnival from half-time onwards, by which stage the home side were 3-1 to the good, and Arne Slot’s assistant was confident that the title party wouldn’t be postponed once parity had been restored by Luis Diaz.
Such was the level of comfort that Liverpool’s head coach was even seen smiling over Harvey Elliott’s stoppage-time baiting of Richarlison!
Hulshoff reflects on title-clinching victory
Hulshoff was reflecting on the title-clinching result in an interview with Dutch outlet Leeuwarder Courant, and while he was scorned by Spurs taking the lead, his displeasure didn’t last for too long.
The 50-year-old described Solanke’s goal as ‘a very unpleasant moment, although it only lasted 10 seconds’ and knew that Liverpool wouldn’t be stopped once our number 7 levelled the score just four minutes later.
The Reds’ assistant boss said: “After we scored the equaliser quite quickly, I had the feeling that it couldn’t go wrong anymore.”
Liverpool no strangers to overturning early deficits
There was no sense of panic at Anfield when Spurs broke the deadlock, and with good reason – Liverpool have only lost twice in the Premier League all season, despite conceding first in 11 top-flight games (and trailing in two others that we came back to either win or draw).
It helped that Diaz equalised so quickly, and that only one point was needed to clinch the title rather than three – had the Reds still been behind in the second half, a feeling of tension could’ve been palpable, even with the team’s formidable powers of recovery.
It’s obviously easier to speak after the fact, but for Hulshoff to admit that he felt it ‘couldn’t go wrong’ for LFC as soon as they drew level attest to the confidence that he had in the players to finish the job that afternoon, which they duly did in style.