DON’T PANIC!
Klopp: We have to be calm.. our form is not perfect but it’s no catastrophe and I know how to fix these things
JURGEN KLOPP has issued a rallying cry to Liverpool and their fans by insisting: “This is not a catastrophe – I know what we have to do!”
The Reds have slipped from top to fourth in the Premier League after a poor run of results in which they have picked up an average of only 1.5 points per game in the last two months – no better than mid-table form.
They host Burnley tonight as manager Klopp outlined his defiant mentality with a warning his side cannot panic and change what has brought them so much success in recent years.
“We have to be calm in this situation,” he said. “It is not a catastrophe, it is not perfect, but that is not important. Be as good as you can be.
“I learned in my life that it doesn’t help if you get overly active in difficult situations. If you are convinced about something, then you have to do it.
“If you are in doubt then you should change something or better, you ask someone who is not in doubt. And that didn’t happen so far.
“I know what we have to do. I want to give it a proper, proper try (against Burnley). We are together with the squad all the time and, believe it or not, we think about these things the same, because the players still listen to me – which helps!”
Klopp has experience of dealing with worse situations than Liverpool’s recent slump (Roberto Firmino takes on Manchester United’s Harry
Maguire, left). In his final season at Borussia Dortmund, they were bottom of the Bundesliga at this stage of the season before rallying to finish in the European places.
Such a reaction from his team now would still offer a real chance of defending the title and Klopp said: “There were a lot of good signs in the United game and I will not ignore them. You can’t compare this with my time at Dortmund, but much more often in my life we had to fight against pretty much everything.
“We are on it and take it really seriously. We want to be as successful as possible, and that means more successful than the last few weeks, 100 per cent. ”
Klopp also revealed Virgil van Dijk’s comeback from serious knee ligament damage looks “really, really promising”.
Holland star Van Dijk has posted pictures of his recovery on social media and has already returned to running on grass.
But Klopp deflected speculation he could return by the end of the season, adding: “I don’t know what is possible and I don’t know when he will be back.”