Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool Performance 'Could Have Been Better' in Genk Win

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said his team's performance "could have been better" against Genk in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.

A brace from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was followed by strikes from Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah in the contest, as the Reds eventually ran out 4-1 winners.

While the team scored some fine goals on the night, Genk could have easily made the match more competitive but spurned a number of clear opportunities. 

Speaking after the win, Klopp said he wasn't completely pleased with the display from his team, but singled Oxlade-Chamberlain out for praise, per Carl Markham of the Press Association (h/t MailOnline):

"It was absolutely a great moment for him, but I would say with Ox his performance was exactly the same as the performance of the team—the goals were great but all the rest could have been better.

"That's how it is, but it's no problem. The (second) goal was sensational and very important for us. Wonderful.

"...We had good moments, a lot of good moments, and made a very good start. Then had another 10 or 15 minutes absolutely okay, exactly as we had to do it. The plan worked okay then not any more because we lost completely unexpected balls we were not ready for, which in the formation was not possible."

Oxlade-Chamberlain opened the scoring with a low deflected shot in the first period, before guiding a stunning second home from the edge of the area to effectively kill the game:

The England international himself said after the match he still feels as though there is room for improvement from the Reds:

Klopp did make a number of changes to the side following the 1-1 draw with Manchester United on Sunday and perhaps with this weekend's showdown with Tottenham Hotspur in mind. As such, it wasn't a surprise to see Liverpool a little out of sync in some aspects of their play.

Defensively they were caught out on a couple of occasions by long balls over the top that Genk were unable to capitalise on.

Football writer Daniel Storey noted some changes in midfield appeared to destabilise the Liverpool defence:

Nevertheless, the attacking potency of the team was always going to be too much for Genk, with Oxlade-Chamberlain offering the Reds a different type of threat from his central berth.

Simon Hughes of The Athletic praised the manner in which he's come back into the side following a long injury layoff:

Liverpool have made major defensive improvements over the last couple of campaigns and they've shown that when the situation demands, they can dig in at the back.

Klopp will be well aware of that fact, although may have been a little wary of complacency creeping into the performance on Wednesday. His critical words will ensure his players are on their game on Sunday when Spurs visit Anfield.