Liverpool defender content with a point at St. Mary’s

In the end, Liverpool boasted 65% of the possession throughout the match, but only managed a single shot on target all game in a fixture that was worryingly reminiscent of some of their results under former boss Brendan Rodgers. But Klopp was relaxed about the outcome. They had clearly approached the game with a plan of containment rather than adventure.

“We dominated the game, really”.

Reds defender Joel Matip was at the forefront of praise directed at Liverpool yesterday but the centre-back has turned the attention towards his partner Dejan Lovren.

Firmino missed the best chance to take the three points for the Reds, who remain top by the virtue of goals scored – but Klopp was pleased with the display of his side following on from the worldwide fixture window. After going ahead through an early Charlie Austin penalty, they then failed to put Mike Phelan’s side to the sword as they missed a hatful of chances.

Claude Puel took action midway through the second half, throwing on Shane Long to put Sofiane Boufal out of his misery after a hard first Premier League start and swapping Austin for Jay Rodriguez.

Southampton were hanging on, and it was very clear Klopp was not happy to settle for a point when he sent on Daniel Sturridge for Can 12 minutes from time.

Many felt it was a statement of intent for the club to reach top spot for the first time since May 2014, when they were pipped to a long-awaited title by City. “My feeling was we had 70%, no problem”, the Liverpool manager said. “Everybody wants to win”.

“We got the ball back and I couldn’t see another Southampton player”.

“That is what we have to work on, it is our job to”.

“It’s almost the same for all teams but for players from South America it’s a little bit more because they have long flights”.

“It was a pretty good performance, I think, I can’t remember them having too many chances”. It isn’t a game where you have 20 chances, we had four or five. The answer to that question is simple; if you don’t take your chances at this level then more often than not you will be punished.

Liverpool might have got more clear-cut openings but for the defensive work of Dutch defender Virgil Van Dijk.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he wanted to punch himself when he missed out on signing Sadio Mane for Borussia Dortmund.

“I’ll listen to them, they say Klopp trains them three times a day in pre-season, absolutely wonderful”.

“I’m not happy, not over the moon, but I’m not frustrated”, Klopp said after Liverpool’s three-game winning streak in the league ended.