Exclusive: Jurgen Klopp discusses his team’s dismal performance this year, staying motivated, smart recruitment and more

Jurgen Klopp addresses Leeds United, Liverpool’s dismal form, wise hiring during the summer transfer window, and other topics in an exclusive interview; On Monday Night Football, you can watch Leeds vs. Liverpool live on Sky Sports Premier League starting at 7 p.m.

In 2015, when Jurgen Klopp had his first press conference as Liverpool manager, he talked about telling a new tale and inspiring the crowd to believe once more.

At the moment, he declared, “I’m the normal one.” The majority of Liverpool fans would consider such a humble self-description after seven and a half years and six major trophies.

No one can dispute the German’s performance, but even he didn’t anticipate taking home every trophy in the room.

No, of course I didn’t expect it, he exclusively admits to Sky Sports ahead of Monday Night Football’s match between Liverpool and Leeds.

“I was hoping for it, and it’s incredibly unusual since we could have won more. But I didn’t really give it much thought.

“When you join a club for the first time, you need success and positive steps to buy time and correctly develop things, and that’s what we accomplished. However, I didn’t anticipate it.

Klopp: Our away record isn’t great, but we’ve occasionally performed well.
Klopp has seen his team drastically deteriorate this season after nearly leading Liverpool to an unheard-of quadruple last term.

With nine games left, Liverpool, who are currently ninth in the Premier League, are 12 points behind the top four and have lost more league games this season than they did all of 2022, the year they won two trophies and finished second in the Champions League and Premier League.

That decline has largely been caused by their performance on the road. They only have three wins on the road this season, compared to 10 wins in 15 away games at this point last year. Their lowest away scoring average since the 1992–1993 season is 0.87 points.

We’ve had a couple really fantastic games this season, I would add to that,” adds Klopp from Liverpool’s Kirkby training facility.

We’ve played in a lot of terrific Champions League games and a couple really good Premier League games. The majority of them have been at home, but we’ve also had successful away trips; we just weren’t successful in all of them.

“We played well and won at Tottenham on the road. We played incredibly well away against Arsenal, yet we lost in the strangest of ways. That’s how it began, but later on we lost our form. That is the reality.

At home, even if we didn’t play our best football, we could still get results. The apparent difference is that we also have the support of our supporters, but aside from that, in order to attain consistency, we need to play better football overall.

“If you play consistently, the gap between your home and away records is not as great as it appears to be this season. In all of our successful seasons, we never experienced this problem. What you need is an impressive away record, which we have.

Both a 7-0 victory over Manchester United in March and a 9-0 thumping of Bournemouth in August showed that Liverpool is still capable of putting up some incredible performances and results at Anfield.

The Reds have only suffered one home defeat in the Premier League thus far, and last weekend’s stirring comeback victory over league-leaders Arsenal served as a timely reminder to Klopp of what is possible when playing in front of one’s own fans.

For the upcoming season, he believes, “It’s a start, but we can’t rely on it.”

Of course, it’s encouraging, but I don’t feel like we can now concentrate on our away form because that issue is resolved. We are aware that both the way we put things up and our overall football need improvement.

“We need to be lot more transparent about how we defend. We also need to improve how we attack and manage games. Even though it’s a big job, I’m looking forward to it.

Since I have to discuss these topics every week, this year has been difficult and a lengthy one for us. Not only was it every week, but a few weeks ago, it was every three days, which made life quite unpleasant.

“The issues aren’t always immediately apparent, but it’s still easy to see where they’re coming from. After that, you want to work on it, but a game comes along three days later, so it’s still not resolved. After talking about it, you move on.

The season has been long and difficult, but we are still in it. The second half against Arsenal, when Liverpool rallied from two goals down to draw 22 with the league leaders at Anfield, in particular, gave us a huge boost and demonstrated that we still have it in us. Let’s build on that.

If he completes the duration of his current deal, Klopp, the longest-tenured manager in the Premier League, would stay at Anfield for close to 11 years.

He told Liverpool fans that despite his team’s troubles on the field this season—which has seen a Premier League record-breaking 13 managerial changes—he still has a burning desire to achieve.

He answers obstinately, “Yes, I am still motivated.” “Perhaps even more, as I feel even more in charge of everything now that I know everyone here.

“I’ve said it a few times; it’s a little odd when you have to say, ‘I’m fully in,’ perhaps because others would wonder about it. But no, I have no issues with motivation.

The hierarchy’s behavior during the summer transfer window will, at the at least, have an impact on Klopp’s chances of returning Liverpool to their prior levels next season.

Due to his £100 million+ price tag, the long-standing interest in Borussia Dortmund teenager Jude Bellingham may be ended, but they still hope to be active in the market and are rumored to be looking for at least two new midfielders.

When asked if it was wise to spend a lot of money on one player rather than bringing in numerous players, Klopp responded, “There’s really nothing to say. You won’t be able to view what we did until after we are finished with our work.

“Either praise or criticism must be prepared for. The boys and I will start working together on the first day of the new season, and we’ll really go for it.

“Media rumors constitute the remaining information. Nothing about that involves us.

Since the summer of 2016, Liverpool has spent over £700 million on new players, yet the club’s total net spending is less than that of teams like West Ham, Everton, Aston Villa, and Wolves, raising concerns about why they have not spent more.

According to Klopp, “We always try to be smart in our recruitment.” “If you handed a few people the power stick, I’m positive we’d sign 20 new players for the upcoming season.

“The experiences the lads had together were a big part of what we were able to accomplish. We are not doing well a year later, and everyone tells us we are too old. That is the circumstance we are in, and I have no issues whatsoever.

“It’s about acting morally, and that’s what we constantly strive to do. It’s not a matter of quantity or number. When we play football outside, others must evaluate us.

Putting transfer rumors aside, Klopp’s top priority is to help Liverpool break their five-match winless streak across all competitions on Monday night when they visit Leeds in the Premier League, live on Sky Sports.

Leeds wants to avenge their shocking 5-1 loss to Crystal Palace last weekend at Elland Road. Leeds stunned Liverpool in the rematch back in October.

“I anticipate a huge fight. That’s obvious, claims Klopp, who has never managed Liverpool for six games without a victory.

“The match versus Crystal Palace was weird. The fact that Roy (Hodgson) is back, the magic Roy, makes Crystal Palace a good squad.

“They made a really wise move, especially with the counterattacking goals in the second half. Both the decision-making and the football were excellent.

“That may happen when you’re in a situation like Leeds are. These kind of one-off games are possible. However, I anticipate them to be fully on track once more and put up a serious fight against us. We must be prepared for it.