Liverpool in their own league

The numbers speak for themselves: 42 games unbeaten in a row, 102 points from the last 100 games. With a lead of 22 points, the Reds can hardly take their first football championship in 30 years. Trainer Jürgen Klopp still sees room for improvement.

Liverpool (AP) - The fans in Anfield sang loudly and dream more than ever of the first football championship in 30 years. Your Liverpool FC is hurrying away from the competition in the Premier League, delighting fans and the media.

But there is even more if you can hear coach Jürgen Klopp talking. "We are nowhere near perfect," said the coach after a 4-0 (0-0) home win over Southampton FC. "The thing is: we don't care that we're not perfect, we just want to use our skills as best we can."

That was enough to distance the defending champion and second-placed Manchester City to 22 points at least for the time being - the biggest lead that a team in the first English football league had ever had. "We weren't about a 22-point lead," said Klopp, "we wanted to have 73 points at the end of the day."

Against the resuscitated Southampton FC, this was not a go-ahead. Klopp admitted that even the first slip of the season would have been possible. "Banana peel may not be the right word because Southampton is too good to be a banana peel," he said, "but it looked like it could happen today."

Southampton coach, former RB Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhüttl, was therefore not too disappointed with his team's clear defeat. "Everyone who was at the game today saw a very brave Saints team," said Hasenhüttl, who now has a full beard, "and I would like to see how this game would have gone if we had scored the first goal."

For a good half time, the Saints demanded everything from the Reds. "If the best team in the world doesn't know what to do for 50 minutes and doesn't have a chance, it gives you a massive boost," said Hasenhüttl, who was relegated in December with Southampton, but is now in midfield ,

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (47th minute) initiated the Liverpool victory with his goal. Jordan Henderson (60.) and Mohamed Salah (71./90.) Made everything clear for the hosts in Anfield. "The strange thing about this game is that it wasn't even too high," said Klopp, "it's just strange that Southampton could have won that too."

After the home success, the trainer and his team said goodbye to a two-week winter break that Klopp urgently needed. Liverpool's U23 will appear in the FA Cup replay on Wednesday against third division Shrewsbury Town.

Klopp statements

Hasenhüttl statements

Match Report Liverpool v Southampton