Jurgen Klopp felt Liverpool made an "important statement'' as they beat Premier League leaders Manchester City in their first match since selling Philippe Coutinho.
The Reds prevailed 4-3 in a compelling Anfield encounter, inflicting a first league defeat of the season on City, days after Coutinho left the club to join Barcelona in a deal worth a reported £142 million.
Liverpool manager Klopp said: "It's not that I said in a meeting, 'Boys, it would help a lot if you could win tonight so nobody speaks about Phil Coutinho anymore.'
"We like speaking about him. He'll still be jumping in his new living room in Barcelona, happy about the win tonight.
"But it was important to show we can play without him and we did that. That's a very important statement.''