ReactionHarvey Elliott: We showed fight and desire - now let's build on it
Harvey Elliott wants Liverpool to build on the ‘great fight and desire’ they showed to bounce back and beat AFC Ajax 2-1 at Anfield.
The Reds responded to last week’s defeat at Napoli with an impressive collective performance in their second Champions League Group A fixture on Tuesday night.
Joel Matip’s superb 89th-minute header secured a deserved three points after Mohamed Salah’s goal had been equalised by Mohammed Kudus.
Post-match, Liverpoolfc.com spoke to Elliott to get his thoughts on the display and what Jürgen Klopp’s squad must do now ahead of their next game against Brighton & Hove Albion on October 1.
Read our interview with the No.19 below.
Highlights: Liverpool 2-1 Ajax
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On whether Tuesday’s display felt like a proper Liverpool performance…
Yeah. I think we were at it from the get-go, right from the start of the game, and obviously we got the winning goal at the end thanks to a Joel Matip set-piece so yeah, it’s always nice to come away with the win and I think it’s a big improvement from last week. I think the boys showed great fight and desire to turn things around and put on a show tonight and put in a performance we all know we can put in week in and week out. So I’m very proud of the boys and very thankful for the fans for backing us throughout the whole game and giving us the support we need. I’m just very thankful we came away with the win.
On it being particularly satisfying to find a way to win late on after last week’s display and Ajax grabbing an equaliser on the night…
Yeah, definitely. I think this team shows a lot of fight and desire, even last week when we were three or four goals down we always wanted to come back and keep fighting to try to get as many goals as we can. Today we got the winning goal so it’s just credit to everyone for keeping fighting, keeping battling – and the coaching team and everyone involved in the stadium. We’re all a team here and happily we came away with the win, which is the most important thing.
On whether sticking together and holding open but fair discussions has been key since the Napoli game…
Definitely. We win, lose or draw together, we’re all a team here, we’re like a family so nobody is single-handedly found out and blamed. It’s all of our faults and no-one else’s, so we just have to stick together and make sure we put on a performance like we did today. Yeah, sticking together is the most important thing so just very happy that all the team did that today and put on a show for everyone. The credit and rewards came our way.
On the importance of using the time before the international break to continue working and seeking to improve further…
Yeah definitely, and I think it is time to rest and recover. It’s a busy period that we’ve had and although we wanted to play we can use these days coming up as a recovery day and to make sure that we are ready to go after the internationals and yeah, turn it around basically because we have had a little period of the season we didn’t really want to happen and a little dip in form. But now we’re all ready to go and hopefully we can use this international break and use these next couple of days coming up to keep ourselves fresh, to recover and make sure we are ready to go and firing for the resumption of the season after the internationals.
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