Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl has said that Liverpool's ability to never underestimate their opponents is the key to their remarkable season.
The Reds moved 22 points clear at the top of the Premier League on Saturday after seeing off the Saints 4-0 at Anfield.
In the process, Liverpool stretched their unbeaten record in the league to 42 games across two seasons, just seven shy of Arsenal's record in English football.
Hasenhuttl was complimentary of Saturday's opponents, though did admit that the game could have been different if they were awarded a penalty for a foul by Fabinho on Danny Ings.
“The first goal made all the difference," he said, as quoted by the Liverpool Echo. "If we score it, maybe it's a completely different second half.
“But you could see they got a lift from it and they were strong. Their performance shows how strong they are - they had played on Wednesday evening.
“There's not a moment where you think they are underestimating you and that's what makes this team unbeatable at the moment. You have to be brave against them and we have been today.
“They were kicking the ball long and didn't know what to do against our high pressing, and that's not normal.
“But you know it's 90 minutes, and even if we went 1-0 up by half-time there still would have been a long way to go. But we didn't deserve to lose 4-0.”
The Austrian went on to further bemoan the decision not to award Southampton a penalty, but insisted that he was proud of the showing his side put in.
“I don't see the reason why he [Ings] should go down. He is alone with the goalkeeper in the area.
“He [Fabinho] hits him twice, the first is a foul and the second is a clear foul.
“It would not happen that Liverpool scored and then that was disallowed and we got a penalty. This we can forget.
“It was the crucial moment in the game. I don't want to speak too much about the referee decisions as my team played too well to lose focus on what they did.
“It was fantastic to watch, I enjoyed every minute from my team. I wanted them to never stop doing what we can do best.
“If we then concede four goals it's maybe a little bit too high but who cares. The way we played today, we showed up. I'm very proud of my team.”
Source : 90min