When Liverpool managed to wrestle back control of proceedings against Inter Milan in midweek, it came from a treble-substitution on the hour-mark.
There Jurgen Klopp threw on Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita and Luis Diaz to turn the game in his side’s favour.
The German was at it again against Norwich City on Saturday, though this time he only needed the two changes. And this time it felt rather different.
Although the Reds had created chances galore against the Canaries, when Milot Rashica opened the scoring, there was an anxious feeling that this could be the day Liverpool’s title dream ended.
But Klopp had other ideas when he introduced Thiago Alcantara and Divock Origi to proceedings.
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When the duo were getting readied, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it would be like-for-like with Diaz and the frustrating Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain the men replaced. Instead, the Reds boldly went for a fourth man upfront with Keita withdrawn alongside the England international.
Within seven minutes the decision had more than paid off and the Reds found themselves ahead thanks to a Sadio Mane overhead kick and well-taken strike from Mohamed Salah.
But it would have taken a brave man to predict such a turnaround when Thiago and Origi first joined proceedings.
While Liverpool’s changes at the San Siro were indisputably needed, any introduction of the Belgian these days, a player likely to leave Anfield on a free transfer when his contract expires in the summer, seems somewhat desperate.
He might be a Champions League hero, boasting a Reds career littered with wonderful, match-winning moments and be completely different to any of the club’s other forwards, but ultimately he is only turned to when things really aren’t going Liverpool’s way or when Klopp has no other choice.
That was certainly the case against Norwich but again the gamble paid off.
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A front three of Salah, Mane and Diaz, on paper, looked explosive. The same as the Reds’ midfield trio of Harvey Elliott, Fabinho and Thiago in midweek. But, like in the San Siro, it didn’t work out that way against the Canaries, with their frontline looking imbalanced with the Senegalese out of position.
Instead, it took Origi’s introduction, for his first appearance since scoring a winner against AC Milan in early-December, to really unleash the trio and send Liverpool on their way to victory.
Becoming the focal point of the Reds’ attack, his arrival allowed Mane to operate in his favoured left-flank role and granted Diaz a free-role in behind him, while making sure to occupy centre-backs Grant Hanley and Ben Gibson in the process.
After Mane had equalised within minutes of Origi’s arrival, it was the Belgian’s deceptive run across goal that save Salah the space to score Liverpool’s second.
And with Diaz operating central, the Colombian was free to run onto a Jordan Henderson’s through-ball to score the third and his first for the club.
A look at the final score without seeing the game, seeing Mane, Salah and Diaz all on the scoresheet, and you’d assume the Reds’ game-plan had paid off with the ease.
The reality was anything but.
With Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino currently injured, Origi could now well find himself turned to again in the weeks ahead, including next weekend’s League Cup final against Chelsea, with the evidence against Norwich suggesting a Salah-Mane-Diaz triumvirate needs more work on the training ground.
Make no mistake, he is not the long-term answer.
But he remains the modern day unpredictable, game-changing supersub, as David Fairclough famously once was back in the seventies.
When the Reds won the Premier League title in 2019/20, their season was full of late victories and hard-fought comebacks against the odds. Their current campaign has been lacking that somewhat, but Klopp’s changes provided exactly that against Norwich to breathe fresh life into their title-challenge.
A throwback to former glories, as such, perhaps there is one last legendary tale to tell in Origi’s Liverpool career.
