Jürgen Klopp described Liverpool’s performance in the 2-1 win at Tottenham as their best so far in a perfect start to the season.
Georginio Wijnaldum and Roberto Firmino struck either side of half-time at Wembley to make it five wins in as many games for last season's Champions League runners-up.
Erik Lamela pounced in second-half injury time to cause a few nervous moments within a late Spurs fightback, but Liverpool dominated throughout and should have finished emphatic winners.
“For me the performance was better than the result. But the result is the most important thing and the result is perfect because winning here is so difficult,” Klopp said.
“You need an outstanding performance to win and that’s what the boys delivered. We could have scored more and we controlled the game.
“It was our best game of the season for sure. We had 85 brilliant minutes, although unfortunately we didn’t finish the game off.
“Tottenham have the quality to strike back and that’s what they did off the corner.
“I’m really happy and proud of the performance. We played the type of football that is really nice for a manager.
“It was a very good performance, maybe our best against Tottenham. But only five per cent less and we would probably have lost.
“Tottenham won’t be happy but because we were so good, it was difficult for them. We deserved to win.”
The only cloud hanging over an otherwise successful afternoon in London was an eye injury sustained by Firmino during a 75th-minute clash with Jan Vertonghen that saw Spurs awarded a free-kick.
“I didn’t see it back. I only saw the situation from 60 yards. I have no clue exactly what happened. It’s something to do with the eye and for sure it’s uncomfortable for him,” Klopp said.
Even after Lamela had scored there was still time for Tottenham to launch one last attack and it was during this sequence that Sadio Mane appeared to hack down Son Heung-min as the South Korean was about to shoot.
"In the end, I think everyone saw it was very clearly a penalty on Son from Mane," Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino said.
“We should be talking in a different way now because if it was given, it’s 2-2 if we score the goal.
“Now we’re talking about character and personality. We need to improve a lot.
“I want to say that Liverpool deserved the victory but if you analyse the game, there are some key moments like the goal that we conceded.
“The first half was even and then we conceded again from a set-piece.
“This type of game shows you that we need to improve if we want to contend for the title.”
