Jurgen Klopp has refused to be too loyal to underperforming players and there will be changes at Liverpool this summer.
After consecutive defeats at Brighton and Brentford in the Premier League, Liverpool are 10 points short of Champions League qualification. They visit Wolves in the FA Cup replay on Tuesday, having been lucky to avoid defeat in the third-round tie at Anfield.
Klopp admits the side that came close to winning a quadruple last season are misfiring and unable to surprise opponents recently. The slump, he insists, is not because players no longer listen to their managers or believe in their superior talent.
“I’m loyal, I think everyone should be loyal, but I’m not very loyal,” said the Liverpool manager. “The problem is very complex. You have a good player who did a lot of good things in the past and then maybe, in your mind, you think: ‘Now this is it for him.’ If you can go out and replace him, it makes sense on both sides to say: ‘Come on, it was a good time, see you later.’ If you can’t get somebody in, you can’t get anybody out, that’s the situation.”
Naby Keta, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner and Roberto Firmino are out of contract this summer, while Liverpool are expected to try to sign Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund. Klopp confirmed there will be changes and he won’t be going anywhere.
“When I left Dortmund, I said: ‘Something has to change here.’ It was a different situation there but in a way it’s the same – that I go, the manager position changes, or a lot of other things change. As far as I know, from what I’ve heard, I won’t go. So that means there’s a point where we Other stuff will have to change. And we’ll see that. But that’s something for the future, like in the summer, but not right now.
“We can’t even think about it now. We have to play good football now. We cannot play and say: ‘These are problems but we won’t have them next season.’ That’s really far away. Until then we stay together and fight. If we lose, we lose, but in ways we can and won’t admit: ‘How could this be?’
“I said Brighton were exceptional but at some moments it was too easy for them. So I’d like to see them again. [in the FA Cup fourth round] And make it harder.”
