Jurgen Klopp has denied being too loyal to underperforming players and insisted there will be changes at Liverpool this summer.
Liverpool are 10 points adrift of Champions League qualification after back-to-back Premier League defeats to Brighton and Brentford. They visit Wolves in an FA Cup replay on Tuesday, having been lucky to avoid a third-round defeat at Anfield.
Klopp admits that a side that came close to winning a quadruple last season have failed to surprise their rivals of late. The decline, he insists, is not due to players no longer listening to their manager or his belief in talent past their prime.
“I’m loyal, I think everyone should be loyal, but I’m not too loyal,” said the Liverpool manager. “The problem is too complex. You’ve got a good player who’s done a lot of good things in the past and then maybe in your mind you think, ‘That’s it for him now.’ If then you can go out and bring in another player to replace him then it makes sense and on both sides to say, ‘Come on, it was a great time, see you later.’ If you can’t get anybody in, you can’t get anybody out, that’s the way it is.”
Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner and Roberto Firmino are all out of contract this summer as Liverpool are expected to attempt to sign Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund. Klopp has confirmed that there will be changes and that he will not be going anywhere.
“When I left Dortmund, I said: ‘Something has to change here.’ The situation there was different, but in a way it is similar – either I leave, or the managerial position changes, or many other things change. As far as I know, from what I hear, I won’t be going. That means there might be a point where we need to change other things. And we will see that. But this is something for the future, like in the summer, but not now.
“We can’t even think about it right now. Now we have to play better football. We can’t play and say, “These are problems, but next season we don’t have them anymore.” That’s really far. Until then, we stick together and fight. If we lose, we lose, but in a way we can accept, not, “How could this happen?”
“I said Brighton were outstanding but at times it was too easy for them. That’s why I would like to go to see them again [in the FA Cup fourth round] and made it harder.
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