I won’t panic over goal dip, insists Klopp

JURGEN KLOPP is not flustered about Liverpool’s stuttering form and has made it clear a run of four games without a win is no catastrophe. Liverpool’s manager recognises the problems his team have encountered in recent weeks, during which they have gone 346 minutes without scoring, and knows they will face another potentially problematic challenge from Burnley tonight. Fluency is missing from the champions’ play and it was argued that their performance against Manchester United was as flat as anything they have produced this season. But Klopp has re-watched that 0-0 draw and believes there were promising signs. While he conceded there is little margin for error now if they want to retain their title, Klopp (right) is confident his squad have the capabilities to put together a sequence that will make Liverpool a threat to all as they head into a sequence of fixtures that will define the campaign. ‘Perfection depends on the situation,’ said Klopp, whose side face Tottenham, Leicester, Manchester City and Everton in the next four weeks. ‘There is no perfect season with (one team taking) 114 points. There is just dealing with the situation. ‘We have to be as perfect as possible. Pretty much all the teams have a dip. Some have sorted it, others are on their way to sorting it. We cannot change it just in a minute. A day has 24 hours. We think about a lot of stuff and somebody has to be calm in this situation. ‘Our situation is not a catastrophe. It is not perfect but we will be as good as we can be (soon). I saw a lot of good signs in the Manchester United game but because we did not win, nobody was interested. I cannot change my view. If we had won that game everyone would have seen them.’ There is no doubt that the loss of Virgil van Dijk continues to shape Liverpool’s season, but Klopp gave an intriguing bulletin yesterday, refusing to say categorically that the defender would not return this season. Van Dijk posted a video on social media last Sunday of him on a pitch in Dubai, juggling a ball. He has been in the UAE for a month with his personal trainer as he works to overcome the anterior cruciate ligament damage he suffered last October. ‘He looks really good and I’ve spoken to him,’ said Klopp. ‘He is in a good mood. I had this injury myself but for how long he is out, he looks really promising.’ Uncertainty also surrounds when Diogo Jota will return from the knee ligament damage he sustained in December. The Portugal forward, who made such an outstanding start to his Liverpool career, still needs a knee brace when he is away from the training ground. BURNLEY are interested in Bournemouth striker Josh King, 29, having struggled for goals all season with just nine in 17 Premier League games.