The German coach was delighted with his side's brilliant reaction at Anfield on Wednesday evening following their Wembley disappointment in the League Cup final
Jurgen Klopp enjoyed the anger Liverpool employed as they outplayed Manchester City from the first minute to the final whistle at Anfield on Wednesday night in an explosive 3-0 win.
Adam Lallana, James Milner and Roberto Firmino were on the scoresheet as the Reds avenged Sunday’s League Cup final shoot-out defeat against Manuel Pellegrini’s men, and dented their Premier League title aspirations in the process.
The hosts were aggressive in and out of possession for the entire encounter as they delivered on the German’s request to “get off the floor and strike back” following their Wembley disappointment.
“I’m very, very pleased and satisfied with all 93 minutes,” Klopp said.
“We spoke after the final about this game and said it was very important that we showed a reaction, that we are disappointed but not so disappointed that it could influence our performance in a negative way.
“The boys did brilliant from the first second. We were very lively, disciplined and angry in a positive football way.
"We were greedy on each ball. The preparation to press was brilliant and the pressing situation itself was brilliant. The counter-pressing too. Then you have to score goals and that’s what we did tonight which makes life easier.
“We had a few moments when we were too risky with our passing and then we had to do more running, but in the second half we played really smart. We played easy, simple, quick and still created chances and scored a fantastic goal for 3-0.”
After the match, Pellegrini had referenced a lack of freshness for his side’s lethargy in the game, but Klopp said Liverpool had a mental edge over their opponents.
“Being tired at this moment of the season is nothing to talk about,” the 48-year-old said.
“If you want, everybody could be. Not Leicester, but all the rest could be tired because of different tournaments and different reasons.
“Of course, Manchester City and my side have had the most matches in the season. But tonight it was more about a mental thing – we lost on Sunday and we had to show a reaction. We started extremely lively in this game, it was clear from the first second it would not be easy for City.
“With their quality, they can always win and always score decisive goals in the right moment, but tonight you could see it would be really difficult.
"They saw it too and they knew in the game, we can go and go and go because we were in a good moment and they were not in a good moment.”
- Goal