Jurgen Klopp insisted he was pleased with Liverpool's performance in the goalless draw with Southampton on Saturday afternoon despite his side failing to make their dominance count at St. Mary's.
The Reds created numerous opportunities in front of goal on the south coast, having 15 shots in total, but wasted a number of golden chances in the second half that denied them all three points.
The result sees Liverpool stay top of the Premier League on goals scored ahead of Manchester City, although Chelsea can move into first place should they beat Middlesbrough at the Riverside on Sunday.
"Not bad first half, much better second half," Klopp told a news conference afterwards. "It was a really good performance against a difficult-to-play side -- Southampton are one of the best organised teams in the league. I think they adapted their style a little bit to our strength.
"We had enough chances to win the game, especially in the second half. The reaction in the second half was really good; the body language was better. First half, you could see we thought: 'It's really difficult.' We were prepared for a difficult game but then in the game it feels differently, obviously.
"I'm fine with the performance, absolutely. We could have scored and maybe we should have scored -- but that's how football is. And very often in my life, I lost games like these, when we were so much better and had many more chances.
"We didn't because we stayed concentrated and that's very important, maybe the most important thing for us.
"Everybody could see already this season that on a very good day, we are able to score fantastic goals. But today it was much more difficult because of different reasons. Even then, to stay in the game is the best news we can get. I'm not 'happy,' but I'm fine."
Meanwhile, Klopp defended the decision of starting Philippe Coutinho after the forward only returned from international duty with Brazil on Wednesday night before undergoing a scan on a tight hamstring on Thursday.
Liverpool made extensive efforts to bring back Coutinho and teammate Roberto Firmino back from Brazil duty, with sources telling ESPN FC that the Merseyside outfit split the cost of a chartered plane with Chelsea, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain in order to get their Brazilian internationals back with their clubs at the first possible instance.
Coutinho initially struggled in the fixture against the Saints on Saturday but Klopp says he would not have started the 24-year-old if he was not fit enough.
"[Coutinho and Firmino were back on] Thursday at Melwood, that was the earliest moment we could [get them back]," the Reds boss added. "But then, of course, they cannot train after a long flight.
"Sadio [Mane] came back pretty early, he was back on Monday, so it was all good. Because of the flight, Phil had a little bit [of a problem] but obviously no big problem as everybody could see today.
"We would have taken no risk -- 100 percent not. Three things are important for me -- what the doc says, what the scan says when you have one and what the player says, and all were thumbs up so we let him run."