LIVERPOOL -- Jurgen Klopp believes Sunderland are the "most defensive team" he has faced in his managerial career but praised Liverpool's ability to eventually break them down in the 2-0 win on Saturday.
Anfield breathed a collective sigh of relief when Divock Origi broke the deadlock in the 75th minute after Sunderland had frustrated the hosts until then, with James Milner securing the win from the penalty spot in the dying seconds.
The Reds boss insisted at a news conference afterwards that his team's intensity going forward forced the visitors to set up in the way they did.
Klopp was asked what he learned from the 90 minutes and replied: "That we are able to beat the most defensive team I have ever played against.
"It's actually a nice thing to learn. It's not about me to say what other teams are doing. What I said is that we forced them in this deep position. I don't think the plan was for [Victor] Anichebe to play left full-back.
"But in the end, the box was quite full and we had the situations where we could have made this or that better decision.
"The closer the space gets, the more difficult it is. You need to stay patient. It is not allowed to get frustrated and things like this. Their body language was a very important thing and that you really stay straight in the situation.
"We are ready for this situation to play against teams like this, but it's not easy. Before our game I saw a few minutes of Burnley and [Manchester] City -- it didn't look like it was too easy for City there.
"That's the job to do for all of us who want to be in the top region of the table. You need to collect points and don't care against who."
Meanwhile, Sunderland boss David Moyes thinks Klopp played an instrumental role in Liverpool securing the three points.
Klopp was regularly seen gesturing to the home crowd in order to raise the noise and urge the team on, which, ultimately, made the difference, according to Moyes.
"The crowd are certainly with the manager here, which is great for them and he is able to influence the crowd and did so" Moyes said. "I thought we had got the point where it was needing their manager to get the crowd going. We had frustrated them for long periods.
"It was always going to be a difficult job coming here, they have a great attacking theory about them, they are great going forward and are the best attacking team in the Premier League at this present time.
"We had to make sure we did our job defensively and create opportunities when we could. They had missed chances but we had a great chance, Victor [Anichebe] set up [Duncan] Watmore and he couldn't get his shot away.
"We needed that to go in, they are the small margins we sometimes need to take and didn't do so."