Adam: Celebrations told you everything
Adam Lallana insists the outpouring of emotion which greeted full-time at Anfield on Tuesday night summed up how much Liverpool's dramatic win over Tottenham Hotspur meant to all concerned.
Phil Dowd's whistle brought a whirlwind 90 minutes of football to an end and ensured that Mario Balotelli's late intervention, stepping off the bench to make it 3-2 to the Reds, was to be decisive.
As expected, Mauricio Pochettino's side, fresh from a spirited victory against Arsenal in the North London derby at the weekend, proved tough opposition, pressing and harrying Liverpool from the first whistle.
When the Reds edged in front in the match, Spurs always seemed to conjure a response and while Brendan Rodgers' charges were impressive on the night, their visitors never seemed to be far behind.
Lazar Markovic opened the scoring, Harry Kane replied. Steven Gerrard swiped home another penalty, but Spurs drew level through Moussa Dembele - and with seven minutes left on the clock, the scores remained locked at 2-2.
Jordon Ibe, impressive once again, released Lallana between two players and he struck a first-time pass into fellow substitute Balotelli, who notched his first league goal for the club to spark wild scenes of joy inside the stadium.
"It was a massive win," Lallana told Liverpoolfc.com. "I think you could tell by the reaction at the final whistle how big a result and three points it was.
"It puts us in a good position now to carry on and to push for the remaining games of the season and hopefully climb up into the top-four positions.
"It does enormous things for your confidence. Tottenham are a different team to the one that we played on the third day of the season. I watched the game against Arsenal and they definitely deserved to win that.
"They are playing with high pressure and it was an end-to-end game tonight. For the neutral it was probably great to watch and fortunately for us, we came up in the last 15 minutes with good character and got the goal.
"Having the right mentality is massive, especially when you've got all these games and you play for a big club like Liverpool."
Lallana came on in place of Markovic with the game edging towards stalemate and within four minutes he had carved Spurs' defence open with a decisive run into the penalty area followed by an instinctive pass for Balotelli's winner.
The England international, who missed the weekend's Merseyside derby draw with Everton, admits he was champing at the bit to get out on the field and have an impact - particularly against his former boss, Pochettino.
"I was eager to get on the pitch," he admitted. "Playing against your old manager is always nice. Tottenham have had a remarkable season and they are in the final of the Capital One Cup.
"I've worked with Mauricio and he's a top, top manager and he's got the players playing really well.
"It was nice for us to get the three points tonight. It puts us in a great position - one point behind them and hopefully we can kick on."
Balotelli meanwhile came on in place of Daniel Sturridge, who had earlier been handed his first start for the club since the reverse of this fixture, against Tottenham at White Hart Lane in late August.
The Italian, who has struck twice for the Reds in Champions League and Capital One Cup competition, arrived in the right place at the right time and was left with the simplest of finishes thanks to Lallana's precise pass.
"He needs to keep working hard, because when he works hard, and comes on like that, the fans warm to him and people react to him," Lallana said of his teammate. "He can score goals. He needs to keep working hard and I'm sure the goals will keep coming."