Jurgen Klopp has praised Thiago Alcantara for his impressive comeback performance against Newcastle.
The Spain international had been out of action for more than two months after sustaining a knee injury in October.
But the former Bayern Munich man return to action at St James’ Park, coming off the bench in a 0-0 draw.
"We could see a lot of moments how good a footballer he is," Klopp told BBC Sport of Thiago’s performance.
"Now we have to see how he reacts and all that stuff. We have another game in four days. James Milner played a super game in midfield after an injury break. Nat Phillips did his job, really strong against 100 per cent strikers.”
Liverpool dropped points for the second game in a row, and now sit just three points clear of Manchester United at the top of the table.
However, Klopp insists he was pleased with his team’s performance despite their failure to make a breakthrough against obdurate opposition.
"The Premier League is only good teams. We had big chances," he added. "The opposition is good and that happens all the time. You might not think I have to tip my hat to my team but I like the performance. It was really good.
"Can we play better football? Yes, but in this game we did more than enough to win it.
"I think we had four 100% chances. We have won against Newcastle before with fewer chances.
“Tonight we didn't but we accept that. I am happy with the things I saw tonight and I can really work with that. The boys are frustrated and rightly so but not about the performance. It is a basis to build on for the next few days, weeks, months."
Liverpool return to action against Southampton on Monday night, before an FA Cup clash with Aston Villa next weekend.
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