A late goal was not ideal, but the Reds manager believes the slip at the end of the match should not take away from the rest of a thorough win
Jurgen Klopp has said his Liverpool side does not have to be as exciting as “Disneyland” at every moment, while hailing a strong performance in a 3-1 win over Arsenal.
“It was a brilliant game from my side so early in the season,” Klopp told Sky Sports. “It was outstanding. It was a performance full of power, energy, greed and passion, which I think you need to have against a team like Arsenal.
"We were a bit surprised by their system. We couldn’t know that they would play a diamond, but we switched things around and coped very well.
“The last 10 minutes I saw the possession – 53 to 47 or something like that – but over 80 minutes it must have been completely different. For 80 minutes we were completely in charge of the game.
“We are not Disneyland, we do not need to excite everyone in every second.”
Klopp was especially pleased with his team’s adaptation against Arsenal’s diamond formation, which he admitted they had not seen in the Gunners matches they had studied in preparation.
“We watched seven or eight games of Arsenal and there was no diamond but we adapted well,” Klopp told BBC Sport. “We showed aggression and passion. In defending moments we were a bit too greedy, a bit too aggressive all going for the ball instead of spreading the options.
"We are still really early in the season and throwing such energy on the pitch is exceptional. The work rate of the whole team was exceptional. Tactical discipline was exceptional apart from maybe 10-15 minutes.”
Liverpool will look to make it four wins in four games next week when they travel to Turf Moor to face Burnley.