Jurgen Klopp calls 4-1 win against Everton as Liverpool’s best at Goodison Park in his tenure

Jurgen Klopp praised Liverpool players for producing what he described as the “best performance” at Goodison Park in his tenure with the club. The Reds were at their scintillating best, easing past Everton 4-1 in the derby on Wednesday night. The visitors bagged the victory in the 239th Merseyside derby thanks to an incredible double from Mohamed Salah and neat finishes from Jordan Henderson and Diogo Jota. Henderson broke the deadlock in the ninth minute with a well-taken strike from the edge of the box. Then the Egyptian forward doubled the Reds’ advantage. Demarai Gray pulled one back for the home side but it was not enough for them to mount a comeback. Second-half strikes from Salah and Jota secured the win for Klopp’s side.

In the post-match press conference, Klopp said, “It was, for sure, the best performance we’ve shown since I’m at Liverpool at Goodison. We had some good games here, but we were never as good as tonight. We were never as calm as tonight, we were never as convinced as tonight and that’s why we won the game and I am really happy about that.”

‘Performance of all the boys was absolutely outstanding’

When asked to have his say on another impressive display by Salah, Klopp said, “Not only him, but of course him as well. Scoring these two goals, the first one was a pass from Hendo and the next one, he put Coleman under pressure. We saw a similar situation in the Chelsea – [Manchester] United game; even Jorginho, one of the best in the world, under pressure and a high ball is really tricky. He went and put that away, absolutely great. Diogo’s goal, outstanding. The performance of all of the boys was absolutely outstanding. I thought Sadio was in moments unplayable as well, so it was just a good performance.”

Klopp then went on to praise Henderson’s performance and at the same time spoke about the importance of the team being in the right mindset to do well. “Hendo was good but with his skillset you should be good. When you can train, when you can play, when you get rhythm and then you have the quality of Hendo, then you will play good football games. Tonight, I think it was for him as well the best performance at Goodison. Obviously since I’m at Liverpool we had to learn these kind of games,” he added. 

“We had to learn to play at Old Trafford, we had to learn to play at Goodison, and tonight we showed that we made a big step in our development and that’s really good. It doesn’t mean anything for the future but it shows us that this is now our benchmark, that’s what we have to reach now in each game when we play these kind of teams, because emotions are important in football. We are a very emotional football team but, first and foremost, you need the right mood and mindset. Yes, emotion [is] good but not the only important thing.”