Use your head like Sadio and subscribe to the Liverpool FC newsletter Sign me up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Jurgen Klopp hailed the contribution of Liverpool’s Stamford Bridge match-winner – and declared “Who doesn’t love Philippe Coutinho?!”

Coutinho’s two goals had helped the Reds to an eye-catching 3-1 victory over Chelsea on Saturday, as Klopp recorded his first Premier League victory in fine style.

The Brazilian playmaker has been criticised in some quarters after a run of low-key performances. Coutinho admitted to the ECHO that he had not been particularly pleased with himself in recent weeks, but Klopp was delighted with the 23-year-old’s return to form.

“Did you see the last three games?” he asked. “Phil is a brilliant player and we don’t have to talk about his qualities.

“I’m not interested in what happened before. I have spoken to him, yes of course. But my job is to help him, not to say what he is not doing good.

“He knows the last three games were not perfect but he needs the games. He needs the experience in games to feel what is good and what is wrong. This is the perfect example. The start was not good. But then we came back.”

Klopp added: “Sometimes you have to work really, really hard to make football look easy. That is what Phil did. It was not a perfect start for him, but he came back and he was cool enough in the right moment, to shoot at the right moment. That is his quality of course.

“But not always is the sun shining. We have to work hard on days when it is raining for the team. Everyone asks me, every day, if I have seen the next step. But when you come in and bring new ideas, new information, everything…my experience is that the quality goes down a little bit.

“You try to play from here (points to chest) but you lose your coolness, your flexibility and your fun for the game. You have to take the new information and develop.

“I love this player. Who doesn’t love Phil Coutinho? I don’t expect all day perfection. I expect you to work and try to get better every day. That is what Phil is doing and what the team is doing. That is how we make the next steps.”

IN PICS: Chelsea 1-3 Liverpool

'I can't believe that here is so impatient!'

Klopp, in contrast to the beaten Jose Mourinho, was in relaxed mood as he conducted his post-match media duties on Saturday.

The German laughed off suggestions that his side could now be considered title or even top-four contenders, even sharing a joke with referee Mark Clattenburg, who was passing by as he was interviewed, about the impatient nature of the English media.

“I can’t believe that here it is so impatient!” he remarked. “Welcome to England,” responded Clattenburg.

“It is much more difficult,” continued Klopp. “I have been here three weeks. I don’t read newspapers but everyone tells me ‘you want to buy this player, this player, this player’.

“But development is to work with the players you have. It’s like if you have a problem with your wife, you don’t want to change every day! You just work and work and get better.

“You don’t think about the summer of 2016. I don’t know what will be there. We have to try and work and get closer and see what we can achieve. We have to improve everything and then we can talk about where we will be in the table but, at this moment, in November, we cannot talk.

“I have my first free day tomorrow since I am in Liverpool and then we start again. We will see what we can do.”

How much do YOU love Philippe Coutinho? Let us know below, or @LivEchoLFC