What Klopp called his Liverpool side's performance in Sheffield United win

Jurgen Klopp offers his reaction to his Liverpool side's 2-0 Premier League win at Sheffield United

What Jurgen Klopp called his Liverpool side's performance in Sheffield United win

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Jurgen Klopp highlighted the maturity of his Liverpool team's performance in their 2-0 win over Sheffield United - revealing his admiration for the way the players quietened the Bramall Lane crowd.

Virgil van Dijk scored the opener in the first half before Dominik Szoboszlai put the game to bed in second-half stoppage time but the Reds were far from their best against the rock-bottom Blades.

The home ends were in buoyant mood following the return of former manager Chris Wilder and Klopp was pleased with how his players avoided falling into the trap of playing a game that was influenced by the noise of the supporters.

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The win leaves Liverpool two points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal ahead of Saturday lunchtime's visit to Crystal Palace. That is a match that offers the Reds the chance to go top before the Gunners travel to Aston Villa, who beat Manchester City 1-0 at Villa Park on Wednesday night.

"Let me say it like this: I am really pleased with the result and I am really pleased with a lot of aspects of the game," Klopp said. "I would call it a mature performance besides a few moments when we gave the ball away in areas where we should not do it. That was when the crowd got excited.

"Besides that if you didn't see the game, you could have heard it because we calmed an atmosphere down that was really ready to go and that was super important. And besides that I don't want to be overly critical, I know we can play better football but this time of the year you play and hopefully win and play again. That is it.

"It would be extremely cool if we could have scored the second goal and that was possible. I think Mo (Mohamed Salah) nearly scored from a corner and it was an incredible save, I have no clue how he kept that out. In other moments we could have played better, that would have been great."

Klopp added: "Besides that we just tried to create without opening up too much. We were flexible and I liked a lot but we didn't create the clear-cut chance and it is sometimes like that.

"We have to use our set-pieces, defend theirs, throw-ins, they are exceptional, wow and really difficult to defend. We gave the ball away for the counter-attack and the set-pieces; these were the tricky moments. But there are no games without tricky moments. We didn't put it to bed early and that is our fault but when you win 2-0 it is all fine."

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