Ragnar Klavan impressed by 'mature' Liverpool
Ragnar Klavan has hailed the maturity shown by his Liverpool teammates in responding to an early setback in emphatic fashion as they ran out 4-1 winners against Stoke City.
The Reds trailed after just 12 minutes at Anfield as Jonathan Walters powered home a header from Erik Pieters' left-wing cross.
But that blow only seemed to bring Jürgen Klopp's team to life, and they were ahead by half-time thanks to Adam Lallana and Roberto Firmino.
A Giannelli Imbula own goal and a further strike from Daniel Sturridge added deserved gloss to the scoreline in the second period - and provided reward for the home team's unshakeable belief, according to Klavan.
"It was nice to see the whole team adapted to the game," the defender told Liverpoolfc.com.
"In the beginning, it wasn't really the best start but slowly we came into the game and adapted to the situation Stoke offered us.
"It was nice to see our team is really mature."
LFCTV GO: Watch Ragnar discuss Stoke win
Potters boss Mark Hughes' approach to yesterday's contest was clear from his teamsheet, with physical strike pairing Walters and Peter Crouch preferred to diminutive duo Bojan Krkic and Xherdan Shaqiri.
And Klavan, who again acquitted himself well alongside Dejan Lovren at the heart of the Reds' backline, admits he is still adapting to the direct tactics deployed regularly in England.
"They played with high pressure, a lot of long balls, a lot of strong bodies in front," the Estonia international added.
"For me, I'm still getting used to the Premier League style of play.
"It's a little bit different than I'm used to but you have to get used to it."
Klavan also paid tribute to teammate Sturridge, whose goal from the substitutes' bench effectively sealed the points for the hosts.
"He's an amazing player and the quality in his left leg is something special," he continued.
"He's always a threat to everybody and in training it's really difficult to play against him because you never know what he's going to do - in a good way.
"That's Daniel. He's really important to us and even if he comes from the bench you can see he's bringing something extra. That's really good."