Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has delivered a glowing assessment of his team’s performance in their commanding 3-0 victory over Aston Villa in Sunday’s Premier League game.
The Reds notched their third consecutive win in the top flight, simultaneously achieving their first clean sheet of the new season.
The match got off to an electrifying start when Dominik Szoboszlai, Liverpool’s summer acquisition from RB Leipzig, opened his scoring account with a sensational goal in just the third minute of play. An unfortunate own goal by Aston Villa’s Matty Cash and a precision strike by Mohamed Salah subsequently secured all three points for Klopp’s formidable side.
Klopp’s positive comments reflect Liverpool’s strong start to the season, signaling their ambition to compete at the highest level once again.
“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,” the German said.
“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.
He added: “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.”
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