‘I’ve not become a bad boss overnight’
JURGEN KLOPP insists he’s still a top manager despite a disastrous season. But the German boss candidly admits if it was another manager in charge at Anfield, they would be facing the sack.
Thankfully, Klopp has huge credit in the bank and the full backing of the club’s Boston-based owners after four trophy-laden seasons.
So he’s in no danger, despite Liverpool sitting a huge 21 points behind leaders Arsenal and 10 points off a top-four place.
But as he heads back to Brighton’s Amex Stadium today in the FA Cup, Klopp accepts Liverpool must return to the high standards they have set.
And he’s promised fans Liverpool will “go for it with all they have” for the rest of the season.
“I didn’t become a bad manager overnight,” he said. “I was never as good as people probably said or not as bad as some people might think.
“But imagine if you were here today talking to another coach of Liverpool because last season we’d won all four trophies and I said, ‘See you later, holiday’.
“Imagine if you see a different face and he has to explain these things and he tells you how it is. Nobody would listen!
“They’d say last season was great and this year is not great – so go!
“You have to have wide shoulders and really just take it. It’s tough, I’m sorry. But we will go for it with all we have to get out of it and then play in a way that the people can’t wait to go to the stadium again.”
Klopp takes his Liverpool legacy seriously but he’s not interested in what’s past.
He added: “So far, we’ve not given the fans much this season but we are still in two cup competitions and we’ll not give up in the league. Why should we?
“Others teams are doing really well and we respect them a lot, but we want to beat them and I will see how we can do that at Brighton.”