‘It was good fun’: Jürgen Klopp eager for Liverpool to repeat 2022 trophy charge
Jürgen Klopp has said he would relish challenging for four trophies again this season despite the hangover that Liverpool suffered after pursuing the quadruple in 2022.
Liverpool start their FA Cup campaign with a difficult assignment at Arsenal on Sunday before hosting Fulham in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal on Wednesday. Klopp’s team are also setting the pace in the Premier League title race and into the last 16 of the Europa League, a competition they are favourites to win.
The relentless pursuit carries echoes of the 2021-22 season, when Liverpool played all 63 games possible while winning the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup, reaching the Champions League final and taking the title race to the final day. The exertions cost Liverpool the following season, when they missed out on Champions League qualification for the first time in seven years, but Klopp insists it is far more important to seize the moment in football than worry about the impact of another demanding campaign.
The Liverpool manager said: “The season with the three finals and a really intense Premier League season was intense while we were in it, but it was good fun as well, to be honest. It was good fun the games the boys played, the two finals against Chelsea were two of the best draws I saw in my life – unbelievably intense, technically at a superhigh level – so it was a wonderful experience. And playing at Wembley is a top experience. I would not change it for anything. It was absolutely great.
“Obviously a Champions League final is not on the horizon but maybe there is a Europa League final which is really difficult to reach because there are a couple of really good teams in it. But no, you cannot really think like that [the impact on next season]. The summer is a longer summer for some, although there is the Euros as well. It’s always like that. We cannot go out of a competition just because we think we might have a problem next year. That would be a problem we have to sort then.”
Dominik Szoboszlai will miss the cup ties against Arsenal and Fulham with a hamstring injury the midfielder sustained in Monday’s defeat of Newcastle. Liverpool are also without Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo owing to their participation in the Africa Cup of Nations and Asian Cup respectively. Klopp admits he will need to be creative when replacing his leading goalscorer.
He deployed Harvey Elliott in Salah’s position for the 5-1 Carabao Cup rout of West Ham recently. “Mo can’t play all the time,” Klopp said. “In the games I rotated him Mo was probably in the physical state to start but I think it makes sense from time to time not going through all of the brick walls.
“Now, we have to see. We have different options and we can change system. When Mo is playing it makes sense that we play a specific way so that he can be in his favourite position. He deserves that and he helps us there the most. But when he’s not there we have to be creative and maybe we will be. I don’t know what surprises you after all these years but maybe it will.”