Jurgen Klopp says he was not surprised by his Liverpool players' reaction as they returned from the international break with a 2-2 draw against Everton at Goodison Park.
The Reds were beaten 7-2 at Aston Villa less than a fortnight ago but put in a much improved display as they were held in the 237th Merseyside derby on Saturday lunchtime.
The Premier League champions saw goals from Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah pegged back by Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin before a last-gasp winner from captain Jordan Henderson was controversially ruled out for offside.
After the heaviest defeat for 57 years last time out at Villa Park, Klopp had challenged his players to put in a performance in the build up to the derby this week.
And the Liverpool boss said he had no complaints about how his charges fronted up as a late call from the VAR stopped them ending Everton's unbeaten start to the Premier League season.
Klopp said: "It has nothing to do with my message from two weeks ago, how they played today.
"These boys are exceptional. I am 100% of the time proud of being their manager and we really played an under-average game when we lost 7-2.
"I'm not surprised about the reaction, that's what we wanted to see but it is still only a draw.
"But the game and the performance, everyone who was with us thought it was pretty good.
"Everton are in a sensational moment, flying and winning their games, and then getting dominated like they got dominated here at home is not easy but my boys did it today in very difficult circumstances losing a main player early.
"Joe Gomez played a sensational game."
After VAR David Coote ruled that Mane was offside in the build up to Henderson's stoppage-time strike, Klopp conceded he was not in the mood to talk through the 237th meeting between the local rivals.
"I am not worried about the boys," Klopp said.
"The problem we have at the moment is that I am not really in a good mood, I have injured players in the dressing room and that is not good.
"We will see how they respond. We will show the response we have shown in all situations. We scored today a late goal today, it just didn't count for some reason.
"The boys are fine in that but we don't make the decision if it counts or not."
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