Jurgen Klopp has said that it is highly unlikely Liverpool will win the Premier League this season, but reaffirmed his commitment to the club and is confident about their chances in other competitions.
The Reds have made an abysmal start to the new term by their own lofty standards and head to high-flying Arsenal on Sunday already 13 points behind league leaders Manchester City.
Liverpool have won just two of their opening seven league games to open the new season and speaking to the media ahead of their trip to the Emirates Stadium, Klopp revealed that he considers his side out of the headline picture.
“From now on it looks like we will be champions at the end of the year? Unfortunately not,” said Klopp.
“But we’re not out yet in all the other competitions. Nobody knows where we’ll finish in the league, so we’ll just give it a shot. That’s it. Tough yes, impossible no. So let’s go from there. I thought you’d be ninth after seven match days? Nope . But this is the base where we are now and we have to go from there.”
Klopp surprised the footballing world when he quickly signed a new four-year contract with Liverpool in April, with most expecting him to leave the club when his previous deal expires in 2024.
The German coach has overseen a strange habit of his team’s form dropping off once they reach their seventh season at the club, which happened earlier at Mainz and Borussia Dortmund before such stagnation returned to Liverpool.
However, Klopp insisted he is fully motivated to turn the Reds’ fortunes around and that this is not a situation like in the past.
“I didn’t have any plans here for seven years. I was just happy that I survived the first press conference because my English skills really weren’t that good! But I don’t have a problem with energy – and here the situation is completely different. When I was the manager in Mainz, after three years we were promoted to the Bundesliga and three years later we were relegated. We tried one more year – and then the club needed a change because players left us for the Bundesliga,” he added.
“I was full of energy. I went straight to Dortmund and everything was fine. I could have stayed there. They wanted me to stay. But it was a case of players constantly being pulled to other clubs or leaving for whatever reason – and that was it really hard work. Instead of developing the team, we kept taking two steps back. It was really intense and exhausting. That’s why I said ‘OK, come on, we have to stop here’.
“I didn’t have any problem with energy but I took a year off because it was luxury at the time. I think Pep [Guardiola] did it and Thomas Tuchel did it. So a holiday – let’s try it. But I couldn’t do it and after four months I was here.’
“I’m in a difficult situation at the moment. But when you think twice, you realize that the situations [between Liverpool and Dortmund] are completely different. Being here for seven years is intense. There’s no doubt about that.”
