TERRACE TALK: Liverpool - One we got away with after Special J’s ego trip

“Only Hull” turned into “only Swansea” – but only just.  

I spoke last week about us making the odd defensive stumble, like Donald Trump makes the odd gaffe.

All week it’s felt like chickens coming home to roost. Klopp had his ego stroked by Sky TV. It seemed like he was explaining how it had all been done.

What had ‘all’ been done, exactly? It’s a few wins, some of them impressive for sure but can we just have a few moments of calm? Just once?

There was the disclaimer about there still being a long way to go but that felt obligatory, like the death warning on fags, but really all it lacked was Barry Manilow singing “Looks like we made it” in the background.

For someone like me who sees booby traps everywhere, it was itchy and uncomfortable.

Then Joel Matip spoke about bringing back the fear factor and you thought; please don’t.

Half-time in South Wales felt like there should’ve been a communal outbreak of Simon & Garfunkel; “hello Darkness, my old friend”. God, it was awful.

Swansea were home but not quite dry. They’d missed a few sitters too and it had all the cold, clammy trepidation of Burnley about it.

The one saving grace was that it was only 1-0 and there was an underlying sense it wouldn’t be that bad again.

And it wasn’t. Even then the real snap in Liverpool’s play wasn’t there before the equaliser, hinting at a fair-weather mentality rather than something which wins titles.

Swansea absolutely wilted, physically and mentally. It still needed a clumsy penalty gift to get the job done with enough time left to generously offer them a complete sitter and a late point.

Karius has benefited from the ‘anybody but Mignolet’ clarion call for a while. It was a bit daunting to see what he was actually like.

I don’t know what we do to goalkeepers but they deteriorate once they’ve here a while and the German hasn’t planted his introductory flag too high.

It’s the sign of a good side to not play well and still win. Everyone says so, I’ve never understood it. More likely that you got away with it this time but sort yourself out fast or it’ll happen again, only worse.

What about the good stuff? Once we decided to take it seriously and ramp up the work-rate it was too much for Swansea.

They sank like a stone once they conceded. They’d been fiery as hell in the first half and it just switched off, like those fake flames on a gas fire.

Sturridge had a weird afternoon. Slow and rusty, presumably he didn’t expect to get on. A Liverpool player getting injured? Who could have predicted that?

He got booed presumably because of the goal he scored for England against Wales, which made me dislike them even more.

Imagine being like that; “when that Icelandic lad whose name I can’t remember comes to Anfield he’s gonna get it big time”. Pathetic.

Daniel wasn’t great but I felt sorry for him because at least twice he had an open goal to tap into but simply didn’t get the pass.

Talk about pictures painting a thousand words; Sturridge’s face could have written a dozen books and still had enough left over for a play.

The buzzing industry of Firmino now seems more to Klopp’s liking and the Brazilian got the equaliser and won the penalty.

Two weeks now of fretting about international players coming back unharmed. After this start it’ll be even more important everyone returns in one piece.

Saturday was important too because it gave us three points while hopefully keeping a lid on the triumphalism that threatened to gain credence last week.

Here's a little extra sport. BallTalk TV look at Liverpool's chances of success this season.