Jurgen Klopp admits his Liverpool side have an ‘insanely difficult’ task on their hands to break into the top four in the Premier League this season.
The Reds have been used to challenging for the title in recent seasons, but are a long way off this time after they suffered their fifth league defeat of the campaign against Brentford on Monday.
Klopp’s men are currently seven points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester United, and the German manager admits Liverpool have their work cut out for them to return to the Champions League.
Jurgen Klopp admits his side have a huge battle on their hands to break into the top four
‘Reaching the Champions League is of course very important for us. That’s very difficult,’ Klopp said Bild.
‘People there are a bit spoiled because mostly we’ve made it early in recent years. If it works this year, it’s a late decision. It may take a while for us to catch up. But we know what we have to do.’
Liverpool are just two games away from a historic quadruple last season after beating Chelsea on penalties in the Carabao Cup and FA Cup finals.
The Merseyside club were beaten by Manchester City in the Premier League title race on the final day, and then lost to Real Madrid the following week in the Champions League final as they narrowly missed out on an impressive victory.
Explaining why his side have slumped this term, Klopp pointed out that last year’s campaign took a huge toll on his players, and admitted that injuries to key players had also left the team struggling cope with
Klopp thinks his team are still feeling the effects of their ‘extreme’ finish last season
‘We had to pay a bit of a price for last year, which was incredibly steep,’ Klopp continued.
‘Then the preparation was difficult: short holiday, then a trip to Asia, suffered early injuries and brought back some from the old season. And then you have to juggle – players who are injured have to play early. Others who are not injured will have to play more often. Everyone came together.
‘And then we play in a good league. It doesn’t matter what your problem is. You need to be there right away. We stabilized then, but now we have injury problems again: Diogo Jota is still not back, Luis Díaz is injured again. That’s brutal.
We are not looking for excuses, we have to fight our way through. The head is 100% there.’
Liverpool have failed to find top gear since domestic football returned after the World Cup, with defeats against Manchester City and Brentford coming either side of unconvincing wins against Aston Villa and Leicester.
Klopp has also been hit by injuries which have not helped Diogo Jota who has been sidelined in recent months
Luis Diaz is also out injured at the moment, and is not expected to return for a while
Klopp was happy with how he used the World Cup break, however, and revealed that his coaching staff had put together video clips from last season to remind his players how he wanted them to perform. .
‘The preparation during the World Cup was really, really good. We made small videos for our players, 15 minutes of their beautiful scenes,’ he said.
‘That’s when we realized: In order to show them, we had to use some from last season. We want to get back to this football.’
Klopp has just passed the seven-year mark at Anfield, a remarkable feat given the length of time he spent at his previous clubs Mainz and Borussia Dortmund before leaving.
Following Liverpool’s poor start to the season, there have been rumblings that Klopp’s time at the club could be coming to an end.
Klopp feels he is the right man to bring Liverpool back to their best, and has backed himself to guide Liverpool through their ‘transitional period’
The 55-year-old doesn’t see things that way, however, and is determined to guide Liverpool through their ‘transitional period’ and get back to their best.
‘It’s a human reflex and completely normal,’ Klopp replied when asked about those questioning his future at Liverpool.
That doesn’t bother me. When the weather is good, we are always overwhelmed. In bad times, there is much to be said. I can handle that easily. No problem!
‘The strategy with seven years at Mainz and Dortmund and now seven years at Liverpool is obvious. But if I noticed that things were going wrong here even after seven years because of me, I would have been the first to leave.
‘I know this is a transitional period right now. That is why the club and I agree that I will stay behind the wheel and that we will look at the whole in the medium to long term.’
