Jurgen Klopp namechecks five Liverpool players who impressed him in Everton victory

Jurgen Klopp saluted Stefan Bajcetic’s performance in Liverpool’s Merseyside derby victory - but singled out several other of his players’ efforts.

Bajcetic stole the headlines in the Reds’ 2-0 defeat of Everton at Anfield last night. He delivered a mature performance in midfield and his stock continues to rise.

The 18-year-old made a fifth successive start and was awarded man of the match as Liverpool earned their first Premier League win in five games. Mo Salah and Cody Gakpo were on target either side of half-time.

Klopp felt Bajcetic showed excellent nous in a new role in the absence of the injured Thiago Alcantara. And the Reds boss also praised goalscorers Salah and Gakpo, along with Darwin Nunez and captain Jordan Henderson.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Klopp said: “I saw a lot of really good performances. Cody was really strong, I thought Darwin the threat he showed in behind. Mo played a completely different level, his level was really physically strong. Hendo was a one-man pressing machine.

“I understand Stefan showed up tonight. We are really happy with him. He is a top boy, really smart and really calm. We put him in a new position and I don’t think he ever played it before. He was a centre-half, we put him as a [number] six and now he played as a [number] eight. I asked him after: ‘Do you like the position?’ and he said: ‘Oh yes!’ so that’s a nice story.”

Liverpool went into the game against the backdrop of a chastening 3-0 loss at Wolves and hadn’t won in the league this year.

On his feelings at full-time, Klopp told reporters: “Relieved! Yeah, that’s it, that was the main feeling since the final whistle. Happy with the performance. It was necessary that we played tonight the game we wanted to play and not the game Everton wants to play. You cannot avoid that all the time but I think they didn’t have an extremely high number of set-pieces, so with all the aggressiveness you have to show you have to make sure you don’t overdo it because each set-piece is a massive threat and something they want to have, and I thought we did that really well.

“On top of that, we were super-dominant; switched the sides, played the ball, kept them running. But both goals came from counter-attacks, that’s allowed as well obviously. I loved both goals, loved the involvement of everybody who was around there. For both goals we had three options in the box I think when the pass came in. So, a lot of things were different tonight, so it was the best game for a while and that’s why we won it.”