Sunday 25 September 2016 19:07, UK
Jurgen Klopp hailed a brilliant first-half performance as Liverpool's dismantled 10-man Hull City 5-1 at Anfield.
The Merseysiders claimed a fourth-consecutive win under Klopp for only the third time as goals from Adam Lallana, Sadio Mane and Philippe Coutinho added to a brace of James Milner penalties while the visitors, who had Ahmed Elmohamady sent off for deliberate handball, were put to the sword.
"It was a brilliant performance, especially in the first half where we played the football we had to against Hull," Klopp told Sky Sports.
"We saw in the first few minutes that they started well with their counter-attacks, which was quite impressive. They had quality and were a real footballing side.
"We had to play the game like we did, really patient, never lost direction, were always greedy in front of goal.
"But, when they won the ball, we had to be kind of positive-aggressive in the counter-pressing situations, and that was brilliant. How we won the ball back was really impressive.
"That gave Hull another opportunity to build up a little bit of confidence so in the first half we decided the game.
"The second half was not as exciting but it was serious, professional football and that's all I want to see, so today was all good."
The game resembled a training session at times for Liverpool as their free-flowing game, coupled with their man advantage, put them in firm control of the encounter.
Despite this, Klopp was keen to praise Hull's efforts, adding: "I didn't see a lot of difference between Hull at 11 and 10 men.
"In the second half, we gave them a few spaces but that's normal to lose a little bit of concentration. I know things like this happen so it's not a big issue.
"I couldn't see a big difference between 11 and 10 because they did really well, they fought passionately and that was good to see.
"The game became a little more difficult because we lost our 100 per cent concentration, that's all. Hull were a really good side and concentrated in a very difficult game for them.
"I liked seeing the whole of their management and coaching in the game, nobody was frustrated and they took it for what it was, which just one game.
"It was one game for us and one game for them, we have to take the experience and use it next time be better."
