Sunday 6 March 2016 13:56, UK
In the wake of Liverpool's League Cup final defeat to Manchester City, Jurgen Klopp made a promise. He said that his team would "strike back", because "only silly idiots stay on the floor".
They were powerful words as usual from the German, but you wondered if his players would be in the right frame of mind to make good on them when they met City again at Anfield three days later.
"It was a massive game, one of the biggest of my career. After 120 minutes I ended up missing a penalty and we lost to one of our biggest rivals," said Adam Lallana, summing up the devastation.
They needed a "moment" was how Lallana put it. Something to inspire them.
Despite scoring one and making two more, Wednesday evening's man of the match admits he wasn't the one who provided it.
The inspiration, the turning point, came less than 30 seconds into the match and was provided by a homegrown hero starting a Premier League match for the first time in 20 months.
Jon Flanagan's old-school steamrollering of his friend and former Kop idol Raheem Sterling changed everything. Lifting a team that seemed to have lost its best chance of rescuing what has been a mediocre season so far and fans whose attention had perhaps turned to what Klopp might do when the transfer market reopens in the summer.
"You heard the crowd react to it. I certainly reacted to it, there's a picture of Hendo reacting to it," says Lallana, whose own fireworks followed soon after.
"It set a vibe, a tone and it spread like wildfire. I don't think there's any doubt it ignited the lads that tackle."
For Flanagan himself, it was nothing personal.
"I didn't do it because it was Raheem. Him and I are still mates," says the defender, whose last Premier League start had been alongside the man who is now a City winger.
"The mentality's the same every game. If the ball's there to be won, you get there and win it.
Growing up all I wanted to do is play for Liverpool and now the days are here and I just want them to continue really
The full-back followed the tackle with a rock-solid performance that saw Sterling subbed at half-time and helped Liverpool keep a clean sheet.
It was all the more impressive because he has started just two cup games this season having missed the whole of last.
"I never thought I would be out for so long," says Flanagan, whose problems began with what seemed a fairly straightforward knee injury back in the summer of 2014.
"The hardest time was after one operation, finding out you've got to have another one and it's going to put you back six to nine months."
"It's hard seeing the lads go out on to the training pitch when you're stuck on your own in the gym, but you have to stay upbeat, you have to stay positive.
"Growing up all I wanted to do is play for Liverpool and now the days are here and I just want them to continue really."
The problem is, it might not. Flanagan is out of contract in the summer, a new one is yet to be agreed. It seems the club want him to prove his fitness.
"I'm just concentrating on my football, leaving that sort of thing to my agent," says the lifelong Red, choosing his words carefully.
"I've got to do my talking on the pitch, there's no point worrying or stressing about it," he says, before confirming that recent encouraging words from his manager, on the subject of a new deal, have been "music to his ears".
"It was great to hear. And I've heard other people [at the club] want it sorted, so hopefully that's positive."
His team-mates certainly want him to stay.
"It's difficult for Flano," says Lallana. "But if there was even a per cent of doubt in anyone's head, they only have to turn to what he did on Wednesday night."
As for the team, Lallana believes they could salvage "something special" from this season.
His target is an unbeaten run which, in this of all campaigns, might even yield a top-four finish.
Flanagan's goals are much more simple.
"The main thing is to stay fit. I'm feeling sharp, I'm in a good place. Hopefully I can get a little run going and cement a place in the side."
It seems certain Flanagan will start this weekend's Super Sunday game at Crystal Palace, where he'll be hoping to inspire his team with another full-blooded performance.
In fact, he hopes to inspire Liverpool for many years to come. If it was down to him, he'd spend the rest of his career doing it.
