Sam Allardyce hails 'tremendous' West Brom performance

In a fascinating clash at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp’s side dominated the opening 45 minutes and made their way off at the break having enjoyed a whopping 82 per cent possession.

Albion, for the entire half, had been content to sit deep and defend.

But their resilience ensured a solitary goal from Saido Mane was all the Reds had to show for their dominance.

And after the interval, the Baggies showed much more attacking ambition.

They almost pulled level when Karlan Grant charged into the box only to see a low drive saved by the legs of Alisson.

But they then did get the equaliser their resilience deserved when Semi Ajayi brilliantly headed home a corner.

“I think we’ve got a point against a Liverpool side that nobody, outside of us in our dressing room, believed we would get,” Allardyce said.

“I think when the first goal went in, everyone was thinking I wonder how many it’s going to be, especially after they put seven past Crystal Palace last week.

“But the players were so good at holding their discipline, at defending in a pack and defending as a team.

“And in that second half they were better at finding a way how to attack Liverpool when they got an opportunity.

“We talked at half time that we couldn’t just keep sitting deep as we did.

“We got better and better as the second half went on - getting out of defence and into Liverpool’s half.

“And ultimately, we created two or three chances and one of those was taken by Semi which was a great header and gave us a very precious point.”

Allardyce was particularly pleased with the reaction of his players after they went a goal down.

“It was a tremendous response to going a goal down because I think people probably thought we were going to sit and count how many they would score,” he continued.

“It was a tremendous effort from the players and I was pleased with how much they tried to play out, or played balls into the right spaces - it certainly happened a lot more in the second half.

“That is what gave us an opportunity to score through Semi and also gave us probably the best chance in the game when Karlan Grant had a one-on-one with the goalie.”

In the 90th minute goalkeeper Sam Johnstone - who has arguably been Albion’s player of the season so far - made an outstanding save to deny Roberto Firminho.

But while he was pleased with the save, Allardyce was quick to point out that was one of very few saves his keeper had to make.

“Everybody is talking about that save as if we’ve been lucky,” he continued.

“But that wasn’t Sam making save after save. Sam, before I arrived, had the highest save count in the Premier League.

“I don’t think he had that many shots to save. He had that one but I’m not sure he had any more than that.

“That shows you how good we were at limiting one of the best attacking teams in this country, if not the best attacking team in Europe.

“Our goalkeeper has had to make very few saves so let’s give some credit to the lads in front of him.

“But let’s also give them credit for trying to get forward more and more as the game went on.

“I think they sensed they might get something and ultimately they got a very well earned point. We weren’t lucky, we were very good.”