Jurgen Klopp has admitted he wasn’t sure what to expect from Liverpool against Everton before they proved their worth with a 2-0 win.
Kostas Tsimikas started at left-back in the absence of the injured Andy Robertson while Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch were all handed Merseyside derby debuts from the start against the Blues.
Again handed a 12.30pm post-international break kick-off, Liverpool were made to work for all three points by their local rivals, despite Ashley Young being sent off for a second bookable offence in the first half, as a late Mohamed Salah brace sealed all three points.
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And while Reds boss Klopp would have liked his side to be more clinical in the final third, and conceded they took a little too long to adapt to Everton's change of set-up following the red card, he was pleased to see them come through the first Merseyside derby of the season unscathed with all three points.
“A good afternoon, a difficult game. Even before the first whistle, it always is,” he told reporters. “I didn’t know 100 percent how we would be ready for that.
“When we had the finishing before and the warming up, Dom (Szoboszlai) told me he had actually never played a derby before. 'What do you mean?' ‘Well, Salzburg doesn’t have a derby. Leipzig doesn’t have a derby. Hungary maybe has a derby but the countries who would be a derby, we haven’t played since I played international football'. 'Okay, good. No problem, you always give 100 percent so you are ready for the game'.
“So you don’t
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