DERBY, England -- Jurgen Klopp was pleased with his side's display in the 3-0 win over Derby County in the third round of the EFL Cup on Tuesday night but insisted that there was still room for improvement.
Liverpool progressed to the last 16 of the competition with ease after Ragnar Klavan pounced from a corner to give the visitors the lead in the 24th minute before Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi added to the lead at the iPro Stadium shortly after the interval.
Speaking at his postmatch news conference, Klopp praised the "professional" performance from his team and believes they can get even better.
"We were better and deserved to win, we created chances," Klopp said. "Could we have done better? Yes, a lot. Is it important tonight? No, because that's what you want to have.
"You need to be 100 percent professional, be really serious and take games like these like they are. They could be difficult but it wasn't difficult because of us. The opponent was ready for each opportunity but we didn't give them [any]. So it was good.
"First half, we could have been a little bit better in the last pass. Second half, we could have been better in the counterattack. That would have changed the result a little bit but we scored the goals, so it's not that I would say 'I would rather score this goal than this goal.' I take them like they are -- 3-0, all good.
"I said already this is a very important tournament for us. Not only for me, it's not because I say it's an important tournament for us.
"For the players, it can be a very important tournament. If it is like this, you have to show it from the first second. Why should I go and make some magic things in a meeting that they think it's an important tournament? It is, so let's go for it."
He added: "How I said, a lot of things were really good but it was not a perfect game, so we want to do a few things and I saw a few of them and some things I didn't see.
"So that's how it is but we are on a good way and tonight it was another professional performance, so all good -- not more, but not less."