Jurgen Klopp labelled Liverpool’s 4-1 win at city rivals Everton as their best performance at Goodison Park in recent years after the Reds earned Merseyside bragging rights.
Jordan Henderson opened the scoring before assisting Mohamed Salah’s opener as he became the first Liverpool captain since 2005 to lay on an assist and get on the scoresheet in a Premier League game at Everton’s ground.
Salah, who has been directly involved in at least one goal in each of his last 12 top-flight fixtures, then added a second as he became the first Red to register a brace away in the Merseyside derby since September 2008.
Diogo Jota struck in the second half to cap off another productive outing, with Demarai Gray’s first-half strike that initially halved the deficit proving irrelevant in a fruitless performance by Rafael Benitez’s Everton on Wednesday.
Klopp, who lost his last Premier League game 2-0 against Everton, praised Liverpool’s display as he revelled in the away performance.
“It was a really good game from my team, a really mature performance, grown-up performance, much better than in years before, especially at Goodison,” Klopp told Amazon Prime Video post-match.
“We were much too open when we gave away the goal but it can happen when you are superior. We should have been one or two-nil up before we scored the first goal.
“We scored the goals at 2-0 and maybe then we were not that ruthless, we gave them so life back. I am not seeking for perfection, if it would be easy I know everyone could do it. The boys did well.”
The former Borussia Dortmund head coach also indicated Salah, who has now scored 13 times in the league this season to top the charts, was frustrated at not recording a hat-trick in a dominant display.
“He [Salah] was angry after the game!,” he added. “He wanted to score the third one. I don’t take these things for granted.
“His second goal, you have to force these kinds of mistakes. Mo put Coleman under pressure to win that ball and from then on it is a good chance he will score.
“We have momentum but it was by far the best performance since I’ve been at Liverpool at Goodison. Before the game people told me that in derbies form or shape doesn’t count, I see it totally different.”
Liverpool are third in the Premier League standings, two points behind leaders Chelsea after 14 matches.
