Press conference'Our best for a while' - Jürgen Klopp's verdict on Liverpool 3-0 Aston Villa

The Reds registered a third successive win in the Premier League as a stunning Dominik Szoboszlai strike was followed by a Matty Cash own goal and Mohamed Salah’s close-range finish.

An excellent afternoon’s work was marred only by a hamstring issue for Trent Alexander-Arnold that will require assessment.

Get Klopp’s verdict on the game with our summary from his post-match press conference…

On his satisfaction about Liverpool’s performance with and without the ball…

Absolutely, absolutely. It was a top game, the best for a while, a long time. I don’t know the last time we were that convincing, and we had a few good games obviously now – especially the end of last season and these kinds of things. That was really good. And you’re right, in both departments, offensively like defensively. You cannot do one step less against this Aston Villa team, then you struggle immediately. But the early goal might have helped, I’m not sure, we don’t know how the game would have looked without scoring, but we looked really, really good. The mix in possession between control and direction was close to perfect. That’s how it felt. We could use the formation today properly, everybody wanted the ball or protected or showed or offered. So, it was a top game, cannot say differently. I don’t know when I can say that the next time, but for today it was as good as could be, because the opponent is extremely strong and we didn’t let that happen today. That’s a massive compliment to my boys.

On a first clean sheet of the season and the form of Joe Gomez…

Both centre-halves played an exceptional game. With different jobs, to be honest. Diaby hiding in midfield on a nine-and-a-half, 10 position. So Joey had to step in there. Leaves Joel in a one-v-one with Ollie Watkins. As much as I love Joel, I think we know that Ollie Watkins might be a bit quicker than Joel and he did that really, really well. The boys in front of them knew about that fact so they were really in the situation in the counter-pressing moments. Until the 2-0 it was outstanding, then because of the intensity of the way we played, stuff like this, you could see the front line settled slightly higher. That is human but not helpful in these moments so we didn’t have exactly the same grip. But top performance really.

And Joey – I’m really pleased for him. Against Newcastle, by the way, it was like that already, to be honest, when he came on. It looked really like that. It’s very helpful when you have strong centre-halves, but if you leave them alone then the pitch is too big to defend. Today we were really together, really compact, the commitment was top-class and that’s why we played the way we played.

On the understanding developing between Darwin Nunez and Salah…

That was pretty much from the start like this, the two sprinters, they want to know where the other one is. I’m pretty sure Mo told Darwin before the game as well, if a ball comes high, please deflect it, I’m on my bike. Yeah, today the partnership was really good. I liked the line-up today, to be honest. It’s a bit of a problem in my job that we make line-ups before we know if it will work out – but it worked out pretty well. And yeah, really happy for Darwin as well, the performance was exceptional. And we should not forget because it was an own goal or whatever. There were moments, rightly so, where the whole stadium was like, oh my God, there’s still a chance to get the ball.

I think 60-odd, five whatever, minutes was alright for the three boys. Curtis came back and the other two gave their absolute all. And having then the options on the bench is then helpful as well. Harvey is so close, Diogo and Cody anyway. And then really nice as well, Wataru coming on. I think everybody could see that really we worked hard on it, that he arrives in better moments in the challenges. He was there, he was aggressive, he won balls, he passed the ball. Besides Trent’s hamstring, it was a perfect afternoon. Atmosphere. Weather, my God. Early, [it’s] still quarter to five. I cannot imagine a better Sunday.

On Szoboszlai’s display…

A machine, huh? That’s now all four games. Pretty impressive, absolutely impressive. Tactically smart, absolutely ready for the dirty part of the game – meaning hard work where it’s not the fancy stuff where they are shooting, crossing, running forward, stuff like this. No, he is really closing down opponents. So important how Curt and Dom defended the half-spaces next to Darwin, super-important. And what a goal! I saw it directly from behind. That was the cleanest strike I saw for a long time. And that was his slightly lesser-good foot. That was, again, a top performance.