THE NOTEBOOK: Adam Wharton has justified his transfer fee

Anfield is famed for its atmosphere but the last two match days, for some reason, have been a reminder of difficult days in the past.

Complacency and quietness reigned on Thursday against Atalanta, which is remarkable considering that game was a European quarter-final.

Here everything felt tetchy and twitchy from early on, missed chances and squandered passes being greeted by impatient growls.

Jurgen Klopp was the catalyst for transforming the feeling inside this stadium but you wonder whether the ambivalence that was prevalent is a glimpse into the future.

Adam Wharton's January move from Blackburn to Crystal Palace was held up as a sign of how inflated the transfer market has become. A fee rising to £22million for a 20-year-old was seen as being excessive but credit to this young man for how he has handled things.

This, arguably, was the biggest game he has played in but he was superb, dealing with the intensity and aggression with ease. He’s got a lot of developing to do but he is going the right way and as a young English player, his progress must be followed.

Liverpool had a fantastic opportunity to equalise in the first half, when a free-kick was awarded on the edge of the 18-yard box, dead centre.

Alexis Mac Allister had the shot but it was charged down brilliantly by a raft of bodies. So delighted with the commitment from his players, Oliver Glasner jumped up and down in his technical area, punching and hollering like a goal had been scored.

What is it about Crystal Palace for Liverpool? If ever a side deserved the tag ‘bogey team’ it is them: Reds of a certain vintage still wince about the 1990 FA cup semi-final defeat at Villa Park, while more recently there was ‘Crystanbul’ – an infamous 3-3 draw at Selhurst Park in