Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers expressed his wish for something less eventful than last month’s drama against Middlesbrough.
What he got was quite the opposite. Though there was no penalty shootout this time, the spectacle was no less enthralling as Liverpool managed to extricate themselves from a bleak position against 10-man Swansea, turning a deficit of 1-0 into a 2-1 win in injury time.
And this was thanks to controversial striker Mario Balotelli. For once, he came up when it mattered, finding himself in the right place at the right time to convert a searching Fabio Borini cross, seven minutes after coming on as a substitute.
Balotelli was only on the field 16 minutes that that didn’t hinder him from playing a key role in the game, even managing to get involved in a jostling match with Jonjo Shelvey after Dejan Lovren had scored the winning goal.
‘That is Mario,’ said Rodgers’ assistant Colin Pascoe. ‘He is working hard and he got his just rewards. He nearly missed the game because he felt his knee in the warm up, so it was a good thing we had him. But I never thought we were out of it. I thought we were unfortunate to be 1-0 down.’
Monk, unsurprisingly, did not agree. Once they overcame a sluggish start, Swansea, inspired by Shelvey’s drive, determination and use of the ball, impressed in the second half and should have taken advantage of Liverpool’s frailties when Emnes put them in front.
‘I am disappointed at the end,’ said Monk. ‘Hopefully (referee Keith Stroud) will rescind the red card. These decisions are happening, we have to take it on the chin. The players are upset with the decision, upset with the goal but we should have taken that into extra time.
‘We should be clever enough to deal with that. We didn’t deserve that. I’m not talking rubbish, I’m talking sense. I was emotional at Stoke, I’m emotional again but it is not getting me anywhere. I watched it about 30 times before I came into talk to you. I hope he will rescind that.’