MY ACCOUNT
Jurgen Klopp scotched the idea Liverpool got ideas above their station after the 7-0 thumping of Manchester United.
Since that sensational drubbing of their fierce rivals on March 5, Liverpool have gone five games without a win and fallen 12 points behind the fourth-placed Red Devils.
On Monday, Liverpool will look to fend off the threat of suffering home and away league defeats to Leeds United in the same season, something that last happened in the 2000-01 campaign.
Liverpool are averaging a miserable 0.87 points per game away from home in the Premier League this season, taking 13 points from 15 road trips. That is their lowest average in a campaign since the inaugural 1992-93 Premier League season when they posted a 0.76 average, collecting 16 points from 21 away games.
Yet all was briefly rosy in the moment when Liverpool turned over Erik ten Hag’s United at Anfield, inflicting the joint-heaviest ever competitive defeat on the visitors.
“After 7-0, I’m not sure if you can really learn how to deal with it,” Klopp said on Friday.
“It’s more the expectation within yourself. Winning 2-0 five times in a row is much better.”
Liverpool also had a 9-0 win against Bournemouth this season, but they sit in mid-table, behind Aston Villa and Brighton and Hove Albion and just a point better off than Brentford.
“[It has been a] super strange season. We all agree it’s not our best season, but the two highest results in our history. Absolutely strange,” Klopp added.
“So it shows, if they can do that, why can’t they do it every week? It’s a good question, and we have to work on the answer.
“The reaction [to winning 7-0] could have been better probably, but it was not intentional. We didn’t think we were the greatest just because we beat United with a crazy result. Things happened, because we were not consistent this season, that’s the problem.”
Klopp expects “a massive fight” at Elland Road against a Leeds team who he feels got “a proper knock” when losing 5-1 against Crystal Palace last Sunday.
Liverpool’s boss hailed returning Palace boss Roy Hodgson as “magic Roy”, but he anticipates a Leeds reaction, saying: “It will be a tough one, but we have to build now on two games where we were good and in moments really good.”
A 0-0 draw at Chelsea was followed by a 2-2 thriller against leaders Arsenal, which saw Liverpool come from 2-0 behind and almost sneak a late winner.
“The second half against Arsenal was obviously really good and we have to build on that and that’s what we’ll try,” Klopp said.
“We have nothing to lose really. We are in a position where we don’t want to be in the table. We have to try new things. We have to fight for things. The things we tried so far this season didn’t work out properly and especially not consistently and that’s what we have to do.
“Leeds will go with all they have and we have to go with all we have.”
Liverpool have not lost in their last five league visits to Elland Road since being beaten 4-3 in November 2000, when Mark Viduka scored all four for the hosts.
Luis Diaz is available again to Klopp after a knee injury, but the winger is likely to start on the bench.
