Liverpool’s victory over Cardiff in the FA Cup on Sunday may have been expected, but the tie only really came to life when Jurgen [Klopp] made a double substitution just before the hour mark. And what an impact it was.
We looked very rusty in the first half. They defended really well, you’ve got to give them credit. But in general, it was a worthy victory.
It was probably the right score line. They deserved a goal for the way they defended, even though they didn’t attack much.
There were a couple of 50/50 decisions that went our way, which could have been different, but I think they were right decisions.
New lad Luis Diaz came on and showed what he’s got.
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I was in Portugal last week. I’ve got a lot of friends out there who are football fans of Lisbon, Porto and Benfica and everyone was stopping me every five minutes about Diaz.
Every single one of them said he was the best player in Portugal by a mile this season, even though they were all supporters of different teams.
I don’t want to set expectations too high for Liverpool fans but it’s good to hear. People were asking me how did you get him so cheap? But let’s see what happens.
On Sunday we saw some great skill from him in his first match. Don’t get me wrong, there will be harder opposition to come, but it’s nice to get him settled into the pace of the game. The reception that he received was brilliant, which he will appreciate. Everything was really good.
But the one that we are all talking about is young Harvey Elliott.
You’ve got a young lad there who’s been brought up in the right way by his dad as a Liverpudlian. He dreamed about playing for Liverpool one day, got his chance and the manager really rated him.
And then he gets this bad injury when at the time we were looking at it and going “oh no” this could possibly be career-threatening.
Five months later he comes on the pitch and to be honest, he looks like the break’s done him the world of good!
He was brilliant. What an impact. Absolutely magnificent. The crowd were right behind him when he came on - a fantastic ovation - he played brilliantly but on top of that got an excellent goal as well.
He’ll be on such a high because of all the months of doubt that he’s had. You could see what it meant to the players with the way they went to him. And Jurgen too.
The lad’s massively back on track. The people who have helped him get there - mentally as well as physically - need congratulating as well.
I was sitting next to Cally (Ian Callaghan) who was a similar player to Harvey in many ways. He was absolutely delighted, as we all were, to see how he went about it.
He’s come back sharper and physically better and he was good before. It was a great cameo, only half an hour or so.
But just like with Diaz, let’s not get carried away. There’s bigger fish to fry, but it was really positive. Everyone was delighted for him. The ex-players were over the moon for the lad.
I can’t wait to see what he does next and maybe we’ll get to see him again on Thursday against Leicester.
