Jurgen Klopp hailed a "perfect" reaction from Liverpool as they ended their winless Premier League run with a deserved 2-0 victory over Tottenham.
The Reds had gone five top-flight matches without a win before Saturday's triumph, their barren streak culminating in last weekend's 2-0 loss at struggling Hull City.
Sadio Mane was the hero against Spurs, scoring twice in 138 first-half seconds to cap a fine start from the hosts, laying the platform for a win that moved them to within one point of their second-placed visitors.
"It was how we have to play against Tottenham," said Klopp, whose side are not in action again until 27 February, in quotes reported by BBC Sport. "We had to show a reaction and it was perfect.
"It was an outstanding performance offensively in the first half and defensively in the second half.
"We could have scored again. There were some outstanding individual performances. We understand it is a situation that we have to go through together.
"On a physical level there were some brilliant displays from [Jordan] Henderson, [Georginio] Wijnaldum, [Roberto] Firmino – my God I don't think I've seen a better performance from a striker without scoring.
"It was difficult to defend against us in the first half, we had four or five players in the area, it was like the early part of the season.
"We have the potential to do much better, the next chance is against Leicester and we have to use this time now to start with a little pre-season."
