Criticism only fuels Liverpool’s burning desire to strike back – Klopp

Jurgen Klopp insists criticism of his Liverpool side is only making them more determined to end their dip in form.

The defending Premier League champions head to Tottenham tonight without a league victory since they thrashed Crystal Palace 7-0 on December 19, taking three points from five games since.

But Klopp said he and his players were “on fire” with their desire to get back to the levels which saw them win the title with 99 points last term.

“Wewanttobetheteamnobody wants to play against,” he said.“Wehavethechancetobe that team tonight and on Sunday and again on Wednesday and again and again. It’s what we want.

“People told us we were the best team in the world. We weren’t but that’s not a problem. We could beat the best team in the world and we still can, but we want to prove that on the pitch and we will.

“We are on fire to strike back, and the more negative things that are thought about us and said about us, the more we want it.”

While Liverpool’s injury problemsindefencehavebeen well-documented,thecurrent issues are at the other end of the pitch with the once-deadly attacking trio of Mohamed

Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino without a league goalbetweenthemin2021.But Klopp said his faith in his players remained absolute.

“Football is like this,” he said. “In this world we are losing trust much too quickly in everything.Everythingisgreat or everything is the opposite, but there are so many stages in between.

“We have a commitment to each other. It doesn’t mean they can play how they want, it neverdid,butIseethemtrying and working on all this stuff. We are working as a team on the solutions.”

When Liverpool and Tottenham met last month – a match decided in Liverpool’s favour by Roberto Firmino’s last-minute winner – the two sides were first and second in the table, but both have dropped out of the top four in the weeks since.

“We will give our absolute everything this season,” Klopp added. “It’s not about defending the title. It’s about winning football games. It was always about this.

“We have the potential to fightforthetitleandwewillsee ifwecanmakethathappenthis year. If not we will try next season. We will give our absolute everything for the next game. Withallthedifficultieswehave we will try all we can.”