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Jurgen Klopp has told his Liverpool players to "stay angry with the rest of the world" as they look to maintain their push for glory.

The Reds find themselves third in the Premier League and on the brink of the quarter-finals of the Champions League having plundered 103 goals already this season.

Klopp says the laughter in the home dressing room underlines the spirit and camaraderie which is driving Liverpool on. But he has warned his squad they can't afford go "soft" and must retain their hunger over the coming weeks.

"You have a good moment, you have to keep it going - that's the most difficult thing to do," Klopp said.

"When the sun is shining, you’re having a good run and you have all this press work to do, LFC TV and stuff like that. They are all so positive then we start doing the funny things and all that stuff so you get completely soft.

"I said today in the meeting if this would be the first day of the season and we would know as much as we do now about each other that would be a perfect world. It was not like this but we won games.

"Now we know so much about each other, now we like each other, now we have better times with each other in private and on the football pitch. Now we need to stay angry with the rest of the world, we need to stay aggressive. That’s the thing.

(Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

"At the beginning of the season you don’t have a lot of laughter in the dressing room. Now when we eat it’s like ‘come on, please, settle’. They are fantastic boys, they all like each other, a few jokes.... Keep this going without getting soft."

Saturday's emphatic 4-1 win over West Ham at Anfield followed impressive triumphs on their travels at Southampton and Porto. Klopp believes competition for places is helping to keep standards high.

"You lose a little bit if you win all the time. We didn’t win all the time but two, three or four weeks in a row and then it is hard to win the fifth one as well, to stay on track and do it," he said.

"That’s why it is fantastic that we have different options. Not on each position but on a lot of positions. They push each other. That helps us the most.

"Even though they like each other, that keeps them on fire. They all want to play. You saw Mo Salah, three minutes before the end of the match and he sees his number (go up on the board) *slumps*.

(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

"Dejan Lovren on the bench, he didn’t ask but could I explain it? No. It was a little bit about tiredness but he could have played really.

"Ragnar Klavan not in the squad, he didn’t ask, could I explain it? No. Ingsy (Danny Ings) ill. Dom Solanke last week was not in the squad. Reasons? No. That is the situation you want as a manager but it is quite difficult.

"In this moment when they are all fit, and it should stay like this because we need them all, then there is not a lot to explain, it's just to accept and then to play your best football."

Klopp revealed that captain Jordan Henderson was rested against West Ham as a precaution after missing a couple of sessions recently.

"Hendo has a little issue, really not a lot and Emre (Can) has nine yellow cards," he said.

(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

"If he got a yellow card then Hendo plays the next two games. I tried to deal with it a little bit. Hendo is in outstanding shape as well. He had a few days off in the break, he couldn’t train constantly because of different things but it is all good. He should usually play."

In the build up to Saturday's game Klopp insisted he was "never satisfied" but after witnessing such a dominant display against the Hammers he admits he couldn't have asked for much more.

"After the final whistle I was happy. I decided for myself that I stay happy for the night and then tomorrow I start thinking about Newcastle," he added.

"When you see what the boys did then you have to respect it. It was difficult and still good, that makes it so special. The football we played in the moments we didn’t score was outstanding.

(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

"On the training pitch I loved the last 10 days (since Porto) because we could prepare for this game, we could do different systems that we need for the next few games as well.

"The result is most important but a performance like that after the Porto game.... You told me that we struggle around European games but we won before and we won after.

"A week to prepare for Newcastle and then Porto and Man United in the same week. We have to keep going. We all know if we lose to Newcastle we stand here and talk and it is a little bit different."