"I think today is a game we can be really satisfied with because we were losing against a very good team. But we showed character and played very well in the second half, so this was very positive," said the Reds boss.
"The team showed a lot of character after conceding an early goal. I was really disappointed when they scored so early because I wanted a high tempo from the start. They were passing the ball and keeping possession, so we needed to change a lot of things. I think it was really important to have chances and to improve a lot in the second half.
"Today you could see a lot of players working really hard, especially the strikers Dirk Kuyt and Robbie Keane, who were doing amazing work up front, and also Albert Riera in his first game played well - he is a lucky man.
"Physically he was not ready but we needed to use his ability. And after we used Steven Gerrard, he did well too. I can talk about a lot of players - Ryan Babel was really good too, but I think the overall play of the team was good."