Post-matchLiverpool 4-0 Arsenal: Jürgen Klopp's reaction

A header by Sadio Mane put the Reds in front in the closing stages of a first half during which they gradually stepped up their control of Saturday evening’s contest.

And Klopp’s team were irresistible after the break, with Diogo Jota’s goal being added to by a quickfire double from Mohamed Salah and Takumi Minamino as Liverpool moved up to second place in the Premier League.

Read on for a full transcript of Klopp’s post-match press conference…

On whether the result and performance was the perfect response to the defeat at West Ham United…

So we had to show a reaction, that’s clear. The only problem that we had was that we were not together most of the time [during the international break]… the boys grew in the game today, which is very important in football – you cannot only play well if you start pretty much with three or four chances in five minutes – and played then good football. We were in control in the beginning but we just were not used to the way Arsenal played today. The boys did really well.

We scored the 1-0 and what I didn’t like about the first half – and the first half was fine, we had a lot of good moments, we could have done better in some but there was still a lot of good moments – but I didn’t like that the best phase of Arsenal was after we scored the 1-0. So you can see these moments, being under pressure slightly, being relieved that we had now scored the one goal, but it’s still not right. So we had to change that and we changed and I think after half-time we had a really impressive phase and controlled the game again. It was a mix of a very mature performance and a very exciting [performance], with very, very exciting moments: very exciting goals, great counter-press, great high-press, it was really good. And then finishing the situations off and it’s an impressive result, no doubt about that.

On his touchline disagreement with Mikel Arteta in the first half…

It’s actually not a really big deal but now I told all the others [journalists] so I have to tell you as well. So the situation is that it was a completely clean situation, so nothing happened. Two players jumped in the air, nobody touched the other, at least not like a foul, and the bench of Arsenal is going for whatever and I just asked: ‘What do you want for that? What do you want?’ There is no contact really and it looks like everybody wanted a yellow card. I am really sick of these situations that everybody tries to go for Sadio in these moments. He’s a physical player, obviously, but he doesn’t make harsh fouls. But you might remember last year against Real Madrid he was completely taken out of the game without doing anything by getting a yellow card. Against Atletico we had to take him off because of that and it is just not right. That’s what I said in that situation.

On whether that incident fired up the crowd and improved the atmosphere in Liverpool’s favour…

It was not the plan but if it helped then it’s OK. But it still will not happen all the time because you said I am very emotional on the sideline but it actually doesn’t happen very often anymore that I have any kind of arguments with anybody on the sideline. But it was, how I said, a controlled game, but not the most exciting one and maybe the crowd needed a little help so they defended from that moment on first me, and then pushed the team again, that’s absolutely fine. But it will not happen all the time.

On Minamino’s goal…

You can’t imagine how happy I am with Taki, he is in an incredible moment and he was actually our solution for pretty much four positions to change, I think, because that’s how the squad looked. It was like he could have played first five positions – he could have played both eight positions and then all three up front. He is in a really good moment, you see that, he played for Japan in the international games and now he is here and very important for us. Everybody was so happy for him that he scored the goal. The way he played today reflects really good how he trains in the moment. He will have games, there is no doubt about that.

On the fitness of the squad…

No international break until March, I heard that so often – but in January there is a tournament in Africa and I think South America is playing games as well, if I am 100 per cent right. So yes, the situation is not easy and today obviously Diogo went off and he got a proper knock on his knee – they went knee to knee, I think. Now we have to see how quickly that develops in the right direction and hopefully it is nothing serious, that would be very important. Midfield, Ox didn’t play 20 games in a row, Fab came back from internationals and before the internationals he was injured, he played there, and Thiago cannot have rhythm because he did not play a lot of games because he was inured as well.

So, how the boys played today, how they formed together into a really compact formation was absolutely exceptional. I will never take these kind of things for granted, I told the boys that after the game. It doesn’t help us a lot for the next four or five weeks, but it helps us for tonight and that’s the only thing we could do today. Now we have to have a look at who is able to go again, who we have to rest or whatever and then we will see. In the moment when somebody tells me these are the names you can make a choice [from] then I will do that, but we will fight, we will fight with all we have. Some players have a little chance to come back for Wednesday, I think – that would be great. After that, step by step hopefully they can come back and then we have more players available, which is absolutely helpful when you play every three days.