MY ACCOUNT
Jurgen Klopp accepts Liverpool’s season has not been good enough but insists neither he nor his players are worse than last year.
Liverpool have collected one point from their past three Premier League matches and are down in eighth, 10 points adrift of the top four with leaders Arsenal to come on Sunday.
The Reds not only face missing out on the Champions League places for the first time in seven full seasons under Klopp, they will also finish the campaign trophyless.
It is a far cry from 12 months ago when they had already won the EFL Cup and were in contention for three other trophies, albeit ultimately only adding the FA Cup to their collection.
Klopp, who has regularly bemoaned his side’s injury issues this season, is confident Liverpool can come back stronger with some smart recruitment in the transfer window.
“It is one of these moments where it is really not good – I am not native so I can’t explain it better in English,” he said of his side’s season to date.
“You get in this whirlwind and it sucks you in that direction and all of a sudden it’s like, ‘wow, where are we?’
“I am not a worse manager than last year, definitely not. It doesn’t mean the outcome is good enough, not at all. But I’m not worse.
“And the players are not worse players. They just play worse. That’s definitely the case. But yes, with smart recruitment we will improve – definitely. That is the plan.”
Liverpool have been linked with numerous players, Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham among them, but Klopp is realistic about what is possible in terms of strengthening his squad.
“The difference is whatever we do next year will never be enough from people’s point of view and your [the media’s] point of view,” he said.
“We cannot make 24 changes and say, ‘here we go’ – not even 10 [changes]. But it is just that we have to make changes, smart changes, and then we go again.
“We have other moments when we think about what happens next year but this is not the moment.”
Sunday’s opponents Arsenal provide a source of inspiration for Klopp, the Gunners having gone from finishing fifth last season to leading the division this time around.
“I said last week that I hate the fact that I have to rely on what we did in the past,” Klopp said. “I couldn’t care less what we did in the past, honestly.
“But because we can’t ignore the past, it’s not like we can’t forget it, but if we go through this together we can have a massive benefit next year, not guaranteed but a good chance.
“So it is like it is still hidden somewhere there and we have to let it out again. Next chance for us [to do that] is Arsenal.”
