Klopp Praises Firmino in "Deserved" Win Over Manchester City

A major talking point way back in June when the fixture lists were released was Liverpool's difficult start away from Anfield, with the Reds visiting Arsenal, Manchester United, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, and Manchester City in six of their first seven away matches in the league. Under Brendan Rodgers they won once, drew three times, and lost to United, but under Jürgen Klopp's tenure the team has earned impressive back to back away wins over Chelsea and now Manchester City.

"It's very satisfying," said Klopp after the match. "If it was the best (performance of the season), I'm not sure. But I don't compare games. It was very good. Not perfect, because we can defend better. But when you win 4-1 against Man City it is very good. It was deserved."

"We can do better than tonight, but if we start to believe in our own strengths, we can surprise ourselves. If you have quality, and we have quality, then you have to believe you can do it better."

Naturally there were a few individual errors and performances that could see improvement, but on a night when so much went right it's hard to feel too put out about the holes in Liverpool's game on Saturday. Amongst those for whom so much went right was Roberto Firmino, who had his best game so far in red.

"This is not a night to talk about one player," Klopp said before heaping praise on one player. "(Firmino's performance) was not bad, of course! I know about his quality. He has trained without interruption, which is very important. We tried to bring as many players as possible that have trained over the last 12 or 13 days. Everybody could see that Roberto could have used one more chance maybe, but he played a good match!"

On a night when he could have had at least a hat trick if not for the wonder hands of Joe Hart, it's clear Liverpool both have themselves a mighty talent on their hands and that Klopp is correct in saying that Liverpool have quality. Some may still be hoping for reinforcements in January, but the performances Klopp is beginning to coax out of his core group of players should put a smile on any fan's face.