Jurgen Klopp has warned there is no quick fix to Liverpool problems and accepted that everyone at the club needs to do more.
Defeat to Leeds United at Anfield on Saturday was the Reds’ fourth loss in just 12 Premier League games, double the amount they suffered in the entirety of last season. Klopp’s side already find themselves 15 points off the top of the table and face a battle to secure a top-four finish.
There have been a host of problems leading to Liverpool’s struggles, with question marks over the playing staff and their all-conquering manager. And Klopp has admitted he expects more from all of his players ahead of the Champions League clash with Napoli.
“We expect more from ourselves, the boys expect more, I expect more from them,” he explained. “It’s just that we have to make sure that we get there with steps. In this game [vs Leeds] we had some good moments but the goalie had an exceptional game.
“You have to work on that and use that as well. That’s the challenge at the moment…avoiding the mistakes, obviously, and keeping the good stuff in and we’ll get there step by step. We can say it now, this was never going to be a quick fix and now it looks like it won’t be a quick fix.”
Klopp accepts that the downturn in form will lead to criticism about the job he’s doing, but is adamant he remains undeterred in his battle to arrest their slump in form.
He added: “We will not stop fighting. It’s not a question about fighting - I didn’t read anything, which is absolutely fine. People look at me and they will say ‘he looks tired’ or whatever, that’s normal. I cannot give the excuse that it’s too much for me. It’s not.
“My job is not only to being here in the moment when the sun is shining and someone is giving us a trophy, it’s to be there when we are going through a really rough period. And I will do that, with all I have and if possible, even more than 100 per cent.”
If Liverpool are to get a result against the form side in Europe, they will need to avoid a situation which has plagued their early-season inconsistencies. Leeds’ opener at Anfield was the eighth time in all competitions that they have conceded the first goal already this term.
“Yes of course, it’s concerning,” Klopp said about their unwanted record. “But it’s not like we go into games and say ‘make sure we don’t concede the first goal’, that’s clear in football anyway. It’s not a self-fulfilling prophecy that we talk about it and it happens or we don’t and it happens, we’ve had games where it didn’t happen, that’s obviously very helpful.
“I understand the question coming up, but my answer cannot change on that. Of all the problems we’ve had this season, that is one of them of course and maybe the one that leads to many others.”
