Jürgen Klopp enthused about Liverpool's first-half performance as they put five past Hull City for a comprehensive Premier League victory on Saturday, but admitted he was disappointed that the performance level of his side dropped in the second-half.

The Reds recorded their fourth successive triumph in all competitions with a ruthless performance that saw Adam Lallana, James Milner and Sadio Mane all find the net to make it 3-0 at half-time at Anfield.

David Meyler threatened to make a game of it after firing in from a corner-kick, but Philippe Coutinho got a deserved goal to restore a three-goal lead less than a minute later.

Milner sealed a brace with his second penalty of the afternoon after Daniel Sturridge was tripped in the box just 90 seconds after coming off the bench, ensuring Liverpool's tally of 24 goals is their highest-ever at this stage of a season.

Even still, Klopp wasn't fully satisfied with the performance of his side - although they somewhat put to bed what he called the "rumour" that his side cannot break down defensive-minded teams.

Our best ever counter-pressing game, hails Reds boss

The German insisted to his post-match press conference that the first-half performance of his team "was brilliant" and "was how football should be if you can do this."

He declared that even inside the "first few minutes", the Tigers showed how strong they could be "in [the] counter-attack" in which he said they were "really good", "really strong" and "difficult to defend."

Klopp even admitted that "the speed and power of Hull in these situations" came as "a little bit of a surprise" despite their pre-match analysis, but he insisted that "nothing happened" and his side then "played football."

"The most impressive thing today was the counter-pressing," he lauded of his team's performance, labelling it "the best game of counter-pressing" that Liverpool have played "until now."

Klopp suggested that their counter-pressing was "very important" particularly with their "big number of possession" because "winning the ball back in these moments" meant it was, and is, "really difficult for the opponent to increase confidence."

He added that he was "really pleased" with the "performance first-half" and said that while the second-half was "still good" despite being "not [as] exciting", his team were "maybe not at 100 per-cent of concentration."

But he was reluctant to be too critical of his side, talking about "a kind of respect" for Hull because they "did a really good job", not "in the situations where they conceded goals but around [them]."

Klopp praised Mike Phelan's men for the way in which they "stood in the game" and "were not over-aggressive" or didn't try to "kick us out of the game."

Instead, he was pleased that the visitors' coaching staff and their manager "tried to find solutions" and said that they "had a solution even with 10 men" in the secondd-half which he could "appreciate" as he said that, for both teams, it is "only one game and one result" despite being "a good game" from Liverpool's perspective.

Klopp: We could have done better in the second-half

Klopp suggested that in his managerial career, and the "four or five hundred games" he has overseen, he has never "won 5-1 in this kind of way."

The Reds boss declared that while the 90 minutes was "all good" and he didn't "want to criticise", he thought that Liverpool "could have done better in the second-half."

"It was good, even in the second-half, but not as good as it could have been," he continued, saying that while he was "really happy" and "really thankful for the first-half", he felt that "a little bit better would have been nice" after half-time.

Klopp insisted that Liverpool still "have a lot of things to improve" and said that if they "are brilliant" then they must learn "to be brilliant for 95 minutes" rather than being "brilliant first-half" and "still good, but not brilliant anymore" in the second-half.

The manager will undoubtedly have been disappointed with the avoidable manner of the goal which Liverpool conceded, meaning they are yet to keep a clean sheet in the league after six games.

Klopp "really pleased" with the movement and passing of his side

But, asked about the Reds' response and in particular the brilliance of Philippe Coutinho's quickfire response to make it 4-1, Klopp said that the Brazilian "scores all his goals like this."

He joked that he would "like to take the credit for his shooting ability" but acknowledged that he's "not responsible", though spoke about the goals they scored coming from the way they "created the spaces."

Klopp said that in the moments of their goals, Liverpool applied "the perfect finish for the situation" and also commended his side for playing "really patient football" with "a lot of movements" and "a lot of good, good passing" which he was "really pleased" with.

In addition to Coutinho, who shone to add two assists to his goal, left-back James Milner continued his fine run of recent form and capped his performance with two composed penalties to make it 2-0 and then 5-1.

Klopp told journalists that they "can now talk about Milly" because "he was not a left full-back last season" but also asked: "Or we could say the same about Clyney - did anybody see Clyney that often in and around the opponent's box? It's a very important position for us. A very, very important position for us."

He also revealed that "one of the best players in training" in "the last few weeks" has been the out-of-favour Alberto Moreno, who according to the manager, has taken being relegated to second-choice "brilliantly" and is in "a really good moment."

"I don't want to have too much pressure because I want the players all confident, but that's the knd of pressure we need to make on all positions," Klopp added.

He believes that his players "have to perform" in each and every training session due to the competition for places in the squad, as he admitted that Milner "played really well."

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Charlie Malam
Digital Sports Writer at the Daily Express. First-class Staffordshire University Sports Journalism graduate. Formerly VAVEL UK's Liverpool FC editor and Deputy Editor-in-Chief. Contributor since June 2014.