Liverpool 2-1 Brighton: Jürgen Klopp's reaction

Jürgen Klopp was left 'proud' at the desire his Liverpool players displayed to beat Brighton and Hove Albion 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Virgil van Dijk's two first-half headers put the Reds on their way to victory before a frantic final quarter of an hour at Anfield.

Alisson Becker was given a straight red card for handling outside his area as Lewis Dunk quickly converted the resulting free-kick to pull one back for the visitors.

But Klopp's side held on to secure the three points and will spend Saturday night 11 clear at the top of the Premier League.

Read on below for a full transcript of the manager's post-match press conference...

On his reaction to the result and Liverpool’s performance…

In a lot of moments [it went well], always knowing about the very specific quality of Brighton; they don't care too much about the opponent they play. They were bringing a lot of players between the lines, which is good, but when it happens like it happens with us and we can win the ball in these moments, there was some chances for us as well. We scored two nice goals after set-pieces, really wonderful goals, but the biggest chances we had were from open play. That was really, really good how we played there – we could have, should have have finished it off in that period but we didn't and you have the most tricky result. If you think about a lead in the game, then 1-0 and everybody is clear, completely focused, everything is clear, 3-0, it is not decided but at least a little bolster, but 2-0 is like it is. We had to carry on working hard and at one point, at the end of the half, they had more moments where they could pass the ball between our lines. They had three in the box at one point I think where they didn't finish it off, but I am not sure if it was offside or not. 

Second half it was hard work again and the boys put in another incredible shift in the game. Of course, life became more complicated with the red card and the change we had to make. We had to bring on a frozen goalkeeper pretty much! Everybody sitting here is probably not really warm yet, but imagine you go there in shorts, a really thin shirt and some gloves which are not made for keeping you warm. Some people let the free-kick happen like that and then you look a little bit silly in that moment, but that’s what you have to accept. We kept on fighting and Adrian especially helped us a lot with two really, really good saves and crosses he caught and stuff like this. With his cold feet, he couldn't shoot the ball as far as he wanted! In the end, it kept it a bit interesting but it's only important that we won the game and that’s what we did, so I am really pleased about that. I am very, very happy about the effort the boys put in again, I'm really happy and proud about the desire the boys showed. The red card made it a really special win, to be honest. 

On Liverpool’s start to the season, which has yielded 13 wins and one draw from their opening 14 Premier League matches…

None of these 13 games we won were easy, we didn’t feel that for a second. We don’t think it before a game – I am not sure what you think about what I feel before we go into a game, like half-way [there] or something like this. Unfortunately not, I think we are kind of concerned about different things, we are focused and that’s it – then we play the game. It is not that we feel ourselves as favourites in some games. What we really expect from us is that we fight with all we have for the result and that’s what the boys did again. Result-wise, it is an incredible period for sure, but we don't want to think about the last 14 games – we actually are concerned about the next one, which is on Wednesday against Everton and is a big one. We have to make sure we are prepared for that because it will be another big fight whatever result Everton will get tomorrow [at Leicester]. It will be really important for both teams, so we have to make sure we're ready for that again. We don’t think about the points gap or whatever. People told me tonight already that we are 11 points ahead but Leicester play tomorrow, so it still [could be] eight. That’s how I see it. Not that I don’t think Everton can win there, but Leicester are in an incredible shape. We don’t have to think about these kind of things, we only have to make sure we are ready always – and always for the next game.

On Van Dijk's performance...

Oh come on, do we have to talk about individual players? He scored two goals, that's the story itself. He's good, really good, outstandingly good. But he has to be, he's a very talented boy, so he just has to use that talent and it would be a shame if he doesn't. So yes, incredibly important but if Virg plays the last line alone it would be pretty difficult. I think Dejan Lovren, who maybe doesn't have the headlines like this, but what he's playing since, he has all my respect, to be honest. 

On whether not converting chances is the reason for tense finishes... 

What could be the other? You cannot create better chances than we had in the first half. Then when you don't do it, the opponents are in the game and they get a bit of momentum and you lose a little bit. Would I wish that we still create exactly the same chances and finish it off? Yes, but I'm too long in the business and I know how intense the game is. You have to accept a few things. We would have loved if we would have finished one more, two more more often and it looks much more comfortable, but that's our situation. I don't want to change it, it's like it is. There will be days when we will score from situations like that and will probably not use our set-pieces, that's how it is. But you have to score goals and we did that often enough to win the game and that's good. The rest I'm not concerned about – creating or stuff like this. We have so much space for improvement it's incredible, we know that. But the first job we have to do is to win the game and that happened now a couple of times. But we will not stop working on it. Only between Napoli and this game today we couldn't work on it. We only recovered and played again. Between now and the Everton game, we have one day and maybe a morning on Wednesday for one-and-a-half proper sessions and that's what we try to use and then hopefully we can do something.

• Virgil van Dijk reaction: Brighton goals and digging deep again

Ref:liverpool.com