Jurgen Klopp admits Liverpool have to start making life “much more difficult” for their opponents on the road if they are to embark on another remarkable sprint for the top four.
Jurgen Klopp said: “Yes, I think (we can go on a run) but we have to show that. It was incredibly difficult last year, and it’s always incredibly difficult. If you go through the games, I’m pretty sure we won some of them late, we weren’t always brilliant, we forced luck here and there and had other games where we were really flying, an early lead. Different moments. We didn’t have these kind of situations really often (this season). A big part of the season I’m being asked about us being 1-0 down. We kept that for a pretty long time. You need to be stable to go through this (kind of winning run). That’s the difference from the games we won against Aston Villa and Leicester after the World Cup to the game against Everton – this was us. The intensity was there. Yes, the goals were counter-attacks. But with all the bad things we did this season, we still have the second-most shots on targets I think, at least until last week, we still have the second-highest possession. And counter-attacking goals, I pretty much can’t remember (us scoring any). Those kind of goals, it doesn’t mean you defend deep all the time and then you have the chance to counter, we don’t have that situation that often. But there are situations like after defending set-pieces where you can react quick, but you need different things like the awareness, the runs and, of course, precision with the passes. The intensity I loved the most from the Everton game. Not how much we were running but how intense we were in these moments. That creates the rhythm for us. We know tomorrow is Newcastle and nothing else. That’s already difficult enough but it must be much more difficult for Newcastle than it was for all the other teams we have visited in previous times.”
Liverpool have qualified for the Champions League in each of the last six seasons, including 2020/21 when, with only 10 games remaining, they were in eighth place and eight points adrift before eventually finishing third. Asked if Ceferin should resign,
Jurgen Klopp said: “Wow. No. I’m not sure who made the decision (to play the final in Paris), to be honest. I’m boss of some people, and on a lot of things I’m not 100% on the subject. So I get information from different people and then you make a decision. The better the information you get, the better the decisions are. I don’t think Mr Ceferin maybe made the decision, but somebody put all the papers together saying what the best place is. I can’t see him flying to Paris or Rome or Berlin and saying ‘oh, it’s not that good’. There are other people who bring that together. Maybe one of them should have a think if there is not a better place for them in another job. I don’t know.”
