Jurgen Klopp ordered his players to turn the nightmare of Wembley into a meaningless footnote to the season and they did do by sticking the boot into his best mate.
Brothers is how Kop boss Klopp described his relationship with Huddersfield counterpart and countryman David Wagner.
Brothers who have no problem stepping on each other’s Lego, he might have added.
Liverpool bounced back from the 4-1 thrashing by Tottenham last week by handing out a pounding of their own. Second half goals from Daniel Sturridge, Roberto Firmino and Georginio Wijnaldum switched the smile back on the face of their manager.
Klopp had demanded a response “to make the Tottenham memory a single disappointment”. This was, eventually, a decent first step.
He admitted: “We didn’t have the best week as you can imagine. I take it seriously, Tottenham was the worst game and you cannot ignore it, you have to work with it.
“Huddersfield were rather defensive. We had too many players behind the ball. In the first half we were a bit stiff, not fluent.
“The first goal we forced the situation. The second one felt like Christmas and all the other nice things.
“It’s a big relief, the pressure was there, I could hear it. The people didn’t like the first half too much, maybe people don’t remember the first half now.”
Klopp used his programme notes to apologise for the debacle against Tottenham and called on his players to ‘’run like devils”. And finally, he had this message for the supporters: “I ask that you stand with us - the team - and do what you do better than anyone else, give us the backing that puts the extra yard in our sprint and spring in our jumps.”
No-one can accuse Klopp of lacking passion. But this is a chicken and egg situation. The players needed something to make them ignite and so did the supporters.
Throw in a Huddersfield side who barely ventured forward and the wait turned to be needlessly extended and a tad nervy.
A glance at the scoreline tells the second-half story, glossing over the slog of the first which saw decent saves from Jonas Lossl to keep Huddersfield in it.
The best of those was to deny Mohamed Salah from the spot just before half-time. Referee Kevin Friend was possibly the only person at Anfield to spot Tommy Smith tugging on Robert Firmino’s shirt.
Smith, who had an utterly miserable afternoon, looked stunned. To be fair even Liverpool’s players seemed bemused. Salah then messed up and it was back to square one.
To the relief of the home fans, the second half was a different story once Sturridge had changed the dynamic with a goal.
Poor Smith’s attempt at a headed clearance simply directed Alberto Moreno’s punt towards the Liverpool striker.
All the puff went out of Huddersfield, no sign of a Plan B. Suddenly it was all about strutting red shirts. Salah, Firmino, Sturridge…zip, zip zip.
Inevitably Liverpool made it two with a thumping Firmino header from Milner’s corner before Wijnaldum got in on the act.
There could have been more. Give the likes of Firmino and Sturridge space and they will flourish. Milner’s contribution should be recognised here too. Where others go missing, he looks for the ball. Where there is dirty work, he turns up with his mop.
Had Jordan Henderson’s long-distance lob fallen a couple of feet shorter, Milner might even have scored.
Huddersfield boss Wagner admitted: “I would say at the end this is a fair result. Until the first goal we neutralised their offensive power. I haven’t seen Anfield as quiet and then we conceded the first goal.
“They were very fluid and created a lot of opportunities. We did not create one scoring chance.”
He did not leave completely empty handed – Klopp gave him a smacker on the cheek. Oh brother.
