Klopp relieved at Liverpool's response to criticism

LIVERPOOL : Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp praised his team for riding out recent criticism of their dip in form to register a comfortable win over Rangers in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Last year's Champions League and English Premier League runners-up have had a faltering start to the season, losing their opening game in Europe to Napoli and sitting a relatively lowly ninth in the domestic competition.

But they brushed aside their Scottish opponents at Anfield with a 2-0 victory that would have been a bigger margin had it not been for Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor's heroics.

"I liked the game a lot. We got three points. That's the important thing," Klopp said, looking happy but more subdued than usual after a European win that left Liverpool second in Group A on six points after three games.

"I can't wait for the moment when I can read newspapers again. But the criticism is completely fine. We are not over the moon about our situation," he said of the reaction to Liverpool's latest leaky performance in a 3-3 draw at home to Brighton at the weekend.

"I saw tonight a team fully committed, that's what I like a lot. It was exactly what we needed tonight. A new formation, we had to change things. We had plenty of chances, imagine if we had taken more of them. Really good game. Very important.

"We expected a reaction. Everyone expected a reaction. We really want to turn this into a positive and for that we need consistency. For that, you need top-class defending and we had that tonight. It worked out pretty well."

'WONDERFUL GOAL'

Right back Trent Alexander-Arnold has been particularly under fire of late for Liverpool, criticised for leaving gaps in defence as he marauds forward.

Yet he got it all right on Tuesday,