Last season it looked like Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool could dominate English football for years.
The German appeared to have built the “bastion of invincibility” Bill Shankly boasted when his world and European champions won 26 of his first 27 Premier League games.
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Liverpool lost their fifth home game in a row in the Premier League on ThursdayPhoto credit: Reuters
That relentless win is a distant memory after an unprecedented fifth straight home defeat to Chelsea on Thursday left Liverpool in seventh place in the table.
And Klopp now claims that the idea of governing for a generation has always been a pipe dream.
He insists that only Manchester City with their magical Abu Dhabi money tree can win the title year after year.
Klopp said, “If your problems don’t get bigger than solutions, you can have it.
“But it’s the most difficult league to stay at the top for a long, long time.
“It could happen. There is a club that might have it all – the quality of the players, the manager, the money and everything – and that’s Man City.
“All of the rest have to struggle with whatever it takes to get closer.
“If you’re close enough, maybe you can do what we showed last year.”
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Klopp raised his eyebrows as he replaced Salah while Liverpool looked for a goal against ChelseaPhoto credit: EPA
Many members of the Liverpool family stick to the club’s corporate mantra, “This Means More”. Jamie Carragher and Jason McAteer claim the Reds suffered far more than others during their time behind closed doors because their followers are more passionate.
Still, Klopp is far more realistic about his fallen champions.
While his central defensive injury crisis is clearly debilitating – with new boy Ozan Kabak joining Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip on the missing list for tomorrow’s clash with Fulham – Klopp admits that Liverpool are going far should do better.
He said, “There is a huge difference between the situation we are in and the situation that could have happened.
“Second or third place in a year that isn’t perfect for you is absolutely fine for everyone in my opinion. Then you have the opportunity to go as far as possible in the cup competitions and the Champions League.
“But our situation is different. I think we can all agree that it’s really weird because of an injury and that football is a lot more of a rhythm game than people might think.
“When you can rely on different things and build on different things, you can do your best as a team.
“This season we’ve never had the situation where we can really build on something because we had to change too much.”
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Liverpool moved with Fulham to Craven Cottage in DecemberPhoto credit: Andy Hooper-The Daily Mail
If Liverpool didn’t beat relegation-threatened Fulham, the winless home run would take almost three months.
And so Klopp asks his team to win ugly.
The Anfield boss said: “It was clear that it was going to be difficult for us, but we have to fight with whatever we need to get results – maybe not your absolute best football.
“And at that point we didn’t do it well enough.
“In an average game you can still win or draw – but we even lost games when we were really good.
“And that’s exactly the opposite of how it should be.
“We are very self-critical and accept all criticism, that’s absolutely fine.”
Liverpool have the most valuable Premier League squad
Klopp spoke about 18th place Fulham and their manager Scott Parker.
Still, the Londoners have only scored nine goals in their last 12 league games and so this game must surely be seen as the perfect opportunity to end Liverpool’s worst home run ever.
The Liverpool boss said: “We need to improve our decision-making at crucial moments – it’s clear and obvious.
“Chelsea had more shots on goal than we did – that’s a sign. A lot of things were good, but the last run wasn’t good enough and that killed those situations. “
Klopp again claimed he had no problem with Mo Salah after the 17-goal Premier League top scorer showed an angry reaction to the Chelsea move.
He said: “We lost 1-0, which doesn’t make any player happy. And as a striker, you think you should stay on the pitch – that’s not a problem.
“Mo still has a great record. He knows himself he could have scored more goals – but Mo’s record is not our problem.
“In general, we have to improve 100 percent.”
LIVERPOOL (probably): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Phillips, Fabinho, Robertson; Thiago, Wijnaldum, Jones; Salah, Firmino, mane.
Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp reacts to subjugating Mo Salah
