Defender Kelly was chucked somewhat into the deep end on his return from injury, slotting into the Cherries team at left-back against one of the world’s best wingers. Discussing the win over Liverpool,
Lloyd Kelly said: “I think I knew it was going to be a tough game, of course, being out for several weeks, but going into the game it was the same mentality of if I perform to the best, I’m sure everyone else did, we’d be able to come away with a result. I think we stuck to what the gaffer wanted, from the start of the game till the end. I think we stuck to that, and produced a top performance. We always knew that the game was going to start fast, and they put us under pressure. We just needed to settle it, as soon as we’d done that, everyone felt a lot more comfortable and we were able to play through our shape and cause them problems.”
Asked about facing Salah,
Lloyd Kelly continued: “He’s always tough. He’s a top, top player. You know he has quality on the transition, he’s proved that numerous times this season. I knew that I had to be on my game, and be alert to those situations, and I think I’ve done that.”
Salah’s quiet afternoon was compounded by a miss from the penalty spot, a rarity from the Egyptian.
Lloyd Kelly said: “There’s always a possibility (he’ll miss). It’s one of those things, you never know what it is going to happen. You just need to react to it, and luckily it went wide.”
