Jurgen Klopp praised his Liverpool players for channelling their anger at losing the Capital One Cup final to produce a “brilliant” performance as they beat Manchester City 3-0.
The German’s side had been beaten by City on penalties at Wembley on Sunday, but got their revenge as Adam Lallana, James Milner and Roberto Firmino struck in a comprehensive win.
And Klopp felt everyone played well as he praised a series of players for their display and the team for their response to disappointment as he urged them to keep the same attitude for the rest of the campaign.
“We spoke about the final, about this game,” he said in a news conference. “It was very important we showed the reaction. We showed we are not disappointed as it could have had a negative influence on the performance tonight. The boys did brilliant. They were very angry in a positive way.
“The pressing situation was brilliant, the counter pressing was good and then we have to score goals and we did.
“We have to stay angry, to strike back in each game. Take whatever you can get. That is the target in the league.”
Lallana, who had not scored in the Premier League all season, struck for the third time in four games and Klopp added: “The first thing you should do if you are not satisfied with your score record is shoot. It was a really good shot.
“In the first half, Adam’s energy level is less and in the second half he was outstanding. There were so many brilliant individual performances. There was no bad player. That is good.”
Jon Flanagan made his first league start since May 2014 and Klopp hailed the full-back while accepting the challenge now is to pick which games he should play.
“Flanno played so sharp and so clever in his first game for 22 months,” he said. “In his first challenge he showed his opponent [former Liverpool player Raheem Sterling] that maybe we were friends but not tonight.
“We have to sit together tomorrow and think about what we can do with Flanno. The Premier League is about playing Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday and we have to think about this.”
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