Jurgen Klopp names Liverpool player who was ‘super’ vs West Ham - and who looked ‘really good’

Jurgen Klopp heaped praise on his Liverpool side after they recorded a fifth successive Premier League victory.

The Reds earned a 3-1 win against West Ham United to remain two points behind leaders Manchester City in the table. Mo Salah opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 16th minute but that was cancelled out by Jarrod Bowen’s header three minutes before the break.

Liverpool improved markedly in the second period, with Darwin Nunez’s clever volley restoring the advantage on 60 minutes before substitute Diogo Jota rounded off the triump in the 85th minute.

The Reds are unbeaten in the 2023-24 campaign, with the their only dropped points coming in the 1-1 draw at Chelsea on the opening day. Klopp admitted he was braced for a ‘difficult game’ against a West Ham side who are the Europa Conference League champions but was impressed with plenty of his players’ performances.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Klopp said: “Yeah, it was [as] expected: a difficult, difficult game. There were very good moments in the first half but we were not enough in control to deny them completely, which is anyway super-difficult. But I really thought again we played good in different phases. Lost some balls we shouldn’t have lost, that’s clear, but around [that] we scored our goal – which was a super counter-attack. Especially counter-attacks we had really good ones, and then we were asking a little bit for the equaliser, if you want. When they scored I was not completely surprised, it was not like, ‘How can that happen?’ We should have defended it better, that’s clear. But most important is that you stay in the game and that’s what we did in the second half obviously. We controlled it much better, we gave them a proper challenge, we really caused them some problems and scored super goals.

“Of course, that’s now a really special one the second one. Incredible. Everybody is looking at me when talking about the goal with [wide] eyes but I saw it only once yet. So I can’t wait to see it properly back. Third goal, again a top set-piece, we all know how important they are. On the other side, how well we defended the set-pieces of West Ham; again, everybody should know how good they are at that. Ali with an unbelievable save in a pretty important moment.

“Macca lost the first ball or the second, I don’t know, but then started really playing and was really there. Dom similar, really playing and stayed in the game until late, late, late. Until the end actually. Joel Matip with a super performance against Antonio. It’s a key moment in the game. They chip the ball there and I don’t know how often in the past we suffered when he could control the ball. Today he had it once or twice and immediately the chaos starts. He [Matip] did that really well. Darwin and Lucho after Thursday. Mo, top, top, top – involved in defensive stuff and offensively everybody knows.

“I don’t want to forget anybody. Curtis good, Virg, Robbo. And the most important thing, the boys who came on had again a super-positive impact. Yes, it’s a goal of Diogo but I really thought Cody came on and that looked really, really good. This is the most important thing we can learn besides the three points obviously. That’s the way we have to deal with this situation, we have to use them all. Too many games, Thursday-Sunday is a tricky one, we have to get used to that. And for today, really happy.”