KLOPP TELLS FANS TO ‘FASTEN SEATBELTS’ AHEAD OF TITLE RACE
Klopp’s team have lost a five-point title lead in less than a week, with Manchester City overtaking them on goal difference by defeating Arsenal last Sunday.
Jurgen Klopp has dismissed the idea that he is losing his nerve in the Premier League title race, telling Liverpool’s fans: “Fasten your seatbelts.”
Klopp’s team have lost a five-point title lead in less than a week, with Manchester City overtaking them on goal difference by defeating Arsenal last Sunday and Everton on Wednesday.
Liverpool have drawn their past two matches, against Leicester and West Ham, with Klopp criticising the refereeing on both occasions afterwards.
His criticism of Kevin Friend following Monday’s 1-1 draw at London Stadium prompted the Football Association to request an explanation from the Liverpool manager, who is adamant that he is not feeling pressure.
“I did not see what they [critics] all say they can see in our faces,” Klopp said. “When I talked to the referee after the game, people say: ‘Now he is nervous.’ I am not. I did not think this but I cannot change it [what people say].
“I knew this would be a really tough race and here we are. It’s a tough race. Make yourself ready. Fasten the seatbelts and let’s go.”
Klopp has acknowledged that his players have not performed as well as he would have wanted in the two matches since returning from a warm-weather training break in Dubai.
He does not feel the break disrupted the players’ momentum, though, having confirmed on Friday that he intends to take them for another short training break after Saturday’s Premier League home match against Bournemouth.
Having been eliminated from the FA Cup, Liverpool have a 10-day break before their next fixture, when Bayern Munich visit Anfield for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Klopp said: “We are very critical. In the outside world, we can never use any real explanations, because it’s then always used as being an excuse, which we don’t do
“But internally, we have to talk about why things were a bit more difficult. We still should have performed better, especially in the Leicester game.
“Before that, everything was fine. We won a difficult game against Crystal Palace. But we won it.
“And then we had a 10-day break, but then the players don’t really come back [perfectly] from Dubai. A few players had different issues, and that was the situation.”
Klopp has been battling injury problems of late, although Trent Alexanderarnold, Georginio Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson all returned to training on Thursday after missing the draw at West Ham.
Joe Gomez, however, is facing up to six more weeks out as he recovers from surgery on the broken leg suffered in early December, while fellow defender Dejan Lovren is not yet over a hamstring problem.
“The performances weren’t exactly as we wanted them. That’s what we have to change. And that’s what we are working on.
“For us, there are always explanations, because as you know, it’s not cool if we cannot train with the team we want to play, especially in all these games. It’s difficult.
“You see a couple of teams now have their full squad and a couple of teams don’t. But they still have to find a way to win football games.
“We are not blind to our problems, but it’s not as serious as people make it. That’s the truth.”
THE INDEPENDENT