Wijnaldum is Ready to Handle the Pressure

The midfielder believes he and his teammates can handle the last half dozen games of the title race.

Another day, another ludicrously stressful, last minute victory for Liverpool on their quest to secure their first league title in almost 30 years. The Reds fought tooth and nail against Spurs at Anfield on Sunday, and it was only a fluke own goal that allowed them to walk away the victors on the day.

But three points is three points, no matter how they get them, and as it stands, Liverpool are on the top of the Premier League table once again, albeit with one less game to play than City.

Fans might be losing their minds — and the reaction in the ground and on social media and in my living room at the full time whistle confirms that — but midfield maestro Gini Wijnaldum claims that the players are prepared to deal with the pressure.

“We will see. I hope so. What I feel in the team is that everyone is quite comfortable with the situation we’re in,” he said. “We always have to wait until when [we have to show] we can handle the pressure – until now it’s going well so we have to keep it like that.”

But ask Wijnaldum how much he cares that he and his teammates could only overcome Spurs with a little luck, and he’ll tell you that it’s the least of his concerns.

“At times, you really need it. Every team during the season needs luck, especially if you play for things,” he emphasized.

“There were also moments in the season where we didn’t have the luck we’ve had now and that cost us points. It’s good to be on the other side, where the luck is, and win this game. After their goal, I thought we started to play football again and do better; they still had chances because we were searching for 2-1.

“They had counter-attacks where they had really good chances but those things happen when you play to score a goal, especially the way we were playing the spaces were really big and they have quality players to use that. We were lucky that they didn’t score a goal and, in the end, we scored.”

There’s still a half dozen games for the boys to play from now until the end of the season — and that’s not counting the Champions League quarter-final against Porto coming up next week.

Luck is good every once in a while, but playing well is much more effective way to win games. With the team almost completely returned to full fitness, hopefully we’ll see a few more 4-0 blow outs and a few less heart-attack inducing nailbiters.

Though let’s be honest: I’d willingly give up every one of my nails and maybe even a few good years off of my life if it meant seeing Jordan Henderson lift that trophy for Liverpool in May.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com