Liverpool have lost back-to-back Premier League games for a second time this season, suffering six defeats overall, three times as many as in the entirety of 2021-22 (2); The Reds have also lost as many as five away league matches in a single season for the first time since 2017-18 (5)
Jurgen Klopp insists he is not “too loyal” to his “underperforming” senior players and says Liverpool will only look to bolster their squad in January if deals are “available and doable”.
Klopp has a number of problems to solve after admitting Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Brighton was the worst performance of his managerial career.
His side have already lost six times in the Premier League – after being beaten only four times in 63 games in all competitions last season – and are 10 points adrift of the top four.
Speaking on the eve of Liverpool’s FA Cup third-round replay with Wolves Klopp said the issues at Liverpool are “complex” and cannot be resolved by simply spending in the transfer window, despite admitting the need to strengthen – Liverpool have already spent up to £45m on the signing of Cody Gakpo this January.
Under particular scrutiny has been Liverpool’s ageing midfield with captain Jordan Henderson himself admitting Saturday’s defeat at Brighton “lacked energy”.
Henderson (32) and Fabinho (29) – who have won every club trophy during their time at Anfield – and 31-year-old Thiago, a later arrival but still a double cup winner last season, remain the Reds’ first-choice midfield.
Staving off criticism he is overly-reliant on the so-called old guard, Klopp said: “I heard I’m too loyal but I am not too loyal. The problem is too complex. If you can then go out and bring in another player to replace him, then it makes sense.
“But if you cannot bring anyone in, you cannot take anyone out. I am not too loyal. At Dortmund, it was clear when I left, I said ‘something has to change here’. It is a different situation
“Either the manager’s position changes or a lot of other things change. So, as far as I am concerned unless someone tells me I will not go.
“I will be here for as long as I am wanted. If no one tells me to go, I will not go. So that means maybe there is a point where we have to change other stuff. We will see that, but that is something for the future. Like summer or whatever. Not now.
“I have space and time to think about it, we have to play better football now.”
He added: “Do we have to strengthen? Oh yes. But is this the right moment for it? I cannot see it because of the situation we are in, I think I know exactly how that is, and that’s it. I cannot change the answer every week. Even when we lost another game since the last press conference, it doesn’t change.
Klopp: We aren’t stubborn
Klopp also addressed questions over whether a particularly poor run of form, which has been compounded by injuries to Luis Diaz, Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and most recently Virgil van Dijk, will force the club’s hand in the January window.
“We look outside as well,” he said. “It’s not that we are stubborn and think that’s it, we’ll go with these boys until 2050 or whatever. That’s not how we see it, it’s all about what we can do and these kind of things – and what you want to do. More important is what you can do. It’s always the same, each year.
“I cannot change my answers – if the solutions are out there for us, available and doable, of course we would bring in players to help. But we have an existing squad as well and we are underperforming, definitely, I know that. But I cannot sit here and blame everyone else, the players, all the time. It is my responsibility.
“That’s my job to [get them to perform]. We have limited options but we have players with contracts here, they are not available. But if we bring in players, we cannot bring them all in the Premier League and Champions League list.”
