Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool: Jürgen Klopp's reaction
Jürgen Klopp revelled in a 'big' result after Liverpool extended their 100 per cent winning start to the Premier League season to six games with a hard-earned 2-1 victory at Chelsea on Sunday.
First-half goals from Trent Alexander-Arnold and Roberto Firmino put the Reds two goals to the good at the interval.
Chelsea - earlier denied an equaliser by VAR - fought back strongly in the second period, however, and halved the deficit with a little under 20 minutes left to play through N'Golo Kante.
Klopp's team then successfully withstood late pressure from the hosts to claim a sixth successive Premier League win at the start of 2019-20 and 15th overall in the top flight - a result that restores their five-point cushion at the top of the table.
Click here for the latest on Sadio Mane's fitness after the No.10 was substituted in the second half, and read on for a summary of the boss' post-match press conference from Stamford Bridge...
On the result and the performance of his team….
Very good in moments, in a lot of moments I would say, in periods. Chelsea had their moments, of course, because they are just a good team. Two wonderful goals, a lot of brilliant pressing situations where we won the ball in the perfect space but then we didn't use the ball and that situation well enough; we could have had much [more] chances in these situations. After half-time, two big chances, could have been three and four, but we didn't score so it was clear the game was still open and when Kante scored his wonderful goal then it was clear 'game on, let's go for it'. Chelsea did that, we had to defend it and that's a job to do. It is a difficult place to come, it is a while ago we won here, so it feels big, to be honest. It's a big one.
On the character of his team…
I think I shouldn't be surprised anymore about the character of my team, to be honest. We don't tell [ourselves] every day, 'Oh my God, your character is brilliant, your character is outstanding, you have the best character of all of the characters!' It is not like this. We expect it from ourselves that we fight for everything. We have a big job to do in a really difficult league. Everybody thinks we should be first or second - but we have to play the football for it. We don't think about these things, we just have to play to try to win football games. That's what we did. Yes, without character life is difficult, but football is impossible. I was not in doubt about that. The boys did really well, they fought really hard and yes, all good. I don't think there is any other way to win here. As I said, it was a big one, really.
On the challenge of competing with Manchester City at the top of the table…
We knew that before the game. I said it before, I really think they are the best team in the world. What can I say? I don't want to put pressure on Pep [Guardiola], how could I? They are brilliant in moments. We are not bad as well. But this kind of football, not a lot of teams play in the kind [of way] they play. We play our football, we try to win football games and if the other team is better then we try to be at least uncomfortable for them to play against. In the end, you need to get the points, that's what we try. There is no competition really in tactical things or whatever, it is about points. I still don't see it that in the end it is only two teams [fighting for the title]. I still don't see that. In the moment, we don't have to think about it. It is matchday six, we talk about the championship with 32 games to go - that's a bit early I would say.
On the importance at winning away to one of the 'top six'…
As important as always. I have no idea how the season will be, where we will win and where we will maybe lose. We don't know that. We have to be ready every day, every matchday and that's what the boys were. We didn't play a bad game during the week, so we tried to work with that in the right way. We were fine with the game, not with the result, but I really thought it was the next step for us in how we played in an away Champions League game against a quality side like Napoli. But anyway, today was a different game against a really exciting team. N'Golo Kante, I am not sure he played any league games but against us he is always playing! He is always fit for Liverpool; hopefully he can stay fit now because he is a really good player. Mason Mount was a surprise obviously with the situation [against Valencia] and how he twisted his ankle and then being on the pitch today, it was really a surprise. In the end, we reacted well, adapted well to the different situations and I think we were deserved winners today.
Watch: Chelsea 1-2 Liverpool in 90 seconds
On whether the set-pieces that led to the goals had been worked on at Melwood…
It is of course from the training ground. The Robbo one is from the training ground, the Trent one I really think the boys have the best view on the pitch. It is their job to see the best opportunity to score. It was a direct free-kick, so we could have shot with that, but this little move changed the whole angle, changed the view and made it pretty impossible for Kepa to make a save. It was a brilliant goal, yes. I have said it before and it is no problem to say it [again]: Pete Krawietz and the analysts do a really brilliant job around set-pieces, but especially corner kicks and stuff like that. But direct free-kicks is the boys' job, we cannot show them how to shoot that ball. You have to do it very often and then you will be good at it. I loved the corners in the second half as well when we probably should have scored twice, that would have been great. It was not a set-piece game, we were really in the game and played a lot of good stuff and in the end you have to score. That's what we did, all good.