Liverpool vs Watford: Jürgen Klopp tells players to forget Premier League title talk after latest Anfield rout

Liverpool 6 Watford 1: Manager urges his free-scoring side to 'stay cool' after they go top of the table with another devastating attacking display

The Reds were in irresistible form once again (Getty Images)

Liverpool may have just moved to the top of the table with their biggest Premier League victory since Rafael Benitez’s reign, but Jürgen Klopp cut a calm figure after Sunday’s 6-1 rout of Watford, stressing the need to “stay cool”.

The Liverpool manager claimed his players had not even discussed the opportunity to replace Chelsea at the summit, which arose after Arsenal’s home draw with Tottenham Hotspur in the day’s early game, and he went on to warn there was still room for improvement from his team, despite them sitting top of the table with 26 points from their opening 11 matches.

Klopp said: “If someone thinks being one point ahead after 11 matches is a big sign for the rest of the season, I can’t help this person. We’ll stay calm, nothing has happened. We didn’t speak one word before the game, we knew Arsenal had drawn against Tottenham but there was not one word about the possibility of us being top of the table. The only thing you can do is to work and stay concentrated. A lot of things can happen in the next few weeks and months.

“You have to stay cool, play your best football. That is the only thing you can do. When I came here I asked for time and for patience and for belief. Now everybody is asking for guarantees. There are no guarantees. The only thing we have is a pretty good football team.”

Klopp insisted there was no pressure on a Liverpool side playing the best football seen at Anfield since Brendan Rodgers’ team finished runners-up to Manchester City in the 2013/14 season. Then it was a two-horse title race whereas Klopp was quick to point out the number of teams around Liverpool, with Chelsea one point behind and Manchester City and Arsenal just two adrift.

“There is no pressure after 11 matches, absolutely no pressure,” said Klopp. “We saw Chelsea playing yesterday, quite impressive. We saw Man City playing Barcelona, quite impressive. Man Utd, never write them off. Tottenham are a good side. I’m not sure if I forgot anybody but there are a lot of really good teams around.

Klopp celebrates with his players (Getty Images)

Watford manager Walter Mazzarri was less circumspect as he described Liverpool as the best side that his team have faced this season. “Right now they are the team who’ve impressed me the most,” said the Italian. “If they continue this way for me they are the leading candidate to win the Premier League.

“In my opinion, you can lose to a team like Liverpool at their home but you cannot lose this way – tactically and psychologically we have to work to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” added Mazzarri, who said injured goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes would have tests on his right knee in the coming days.

It was Gomes’s replacement, Costel Pantilimon, who conceded four of the goals on an unhappy afternoon for Watford’s goalkeeper but if Liverpool are full of goals – 30 from 11 league games – Klopp warned that “you have to have a little bit more” as he pointed to the need for his players to improve defensively.

The German cited the way his team allowed Watford a spell of pressure which brought Daryl Janmaat’s goal, ensuring they still just have the one clean sheet this term.

“They have to [do better]. That is not that we have to score more goals, of course, I am really happy we didn’t score more but different moments. You saw we lost a little bit of concentration but keeping the ball then is the best defending and we gave it away too easily.”