Jurgen Klopp declared himself highly satisfied with the display of his team after they racked up an emphatic 4-1 win at Manchester City on Saturday – but remained adamant Liverpool can perform even better.
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An Eliaquim Mangala own goal set Klopp’s side on their way, with Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Martin Skrtel sealing the comprehensive win.
Sergio Aguero marked his return from injury with a superb effort to reduce the deficit, but Martin Skrtel secured three points for the visitors nine minutes from time. “For tonight, it was good, but not ideal because we missed many chances”.
“City couldn’t start like they want but that is important for us”, he added.
“The good news is that we can do better”.
“At half-time I had a little bit of a feeling some of them were feeling surprised we were in the lead here and that is what we have to learn”.
Former Liverpool forward Raheem Sterling was ineffective in his first game against his former side following his acrimonious summer move away from Anfield.
And following the game, Pellegrini admitted that he struggled to see where exactly his side went wrong – continually branding the performance “difficult to understand”.
I will not explain the starting XI, I would pick the same one again but this performance was not normal, we could have conceded three or four more.
In midfield, the absence of Fernandinho, who started the game on the bench, also proved a mistake with Yaya Toure performing badly before being replaced at half-time, but Pellegrini refused to accept the defeat was down to his selection.
“I have never seen this team play so badly”.
Neither Firmino nor Coutinho were selected for Brazil’s World Cup qualifiers last week and have been training at Liverpool’s Melwood training base during the worldwide break.
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“We tried to make another system and press high but it was exactly the same, it was not our night”.
