Klopp: 'Fasten the seatbelts and let's go'

Jurgen Klopp has urged his players and the supporters to focus what is ahead of them and forget what has gone before as Liverpool aim to get back on the winning track against Bournemouth at Anfield today.

Plenty has been made of the Reds inability to win their last two fixtures against Leicester and West Ham, while their main rivals Man City have made the most of that mini blip and climbed back to the top of the table albeit having played a game more.

You would expect a sense of trepidation and panic to creep into the mind of a manager in this kind of situation, however you get a sense that Klopp is loving the challenge.

The Liverpool Echo reported Klopp as saying:

“The reality is that if you want to be champions of the league, you have to fight until the last matchday.

"That is completely normal and what we have to do.

"To be in that fight is very positive – a big achievement – and we have to make sure the people see that again on Saturday.

“We have no influence if people want to be overly critical. We can not change that immediately. What is on offer is a tight race until the last matchday.

"Make yourself ready. Fasten the seatbelts and let’s go.”

The German is fully aware that the current narrative for his side is one of lost opportunities.

However, he has been around long enough to know he can't change what people think.

“For us, I did not see what they all say they can see in our faces.

"When I talked to the referee after the game (at West Ham) they said now he is nervous.' I did not think it but I cannot change it.

"There was never a guarantee this season. People always wanted the biggest gap in the world, pretty much, 25 points, whatever, and then only three games to go. That’s nice, but it’s not the reality."

The two clashes against the Foxes and Hammers have seen Liverpool lack any kind of fluency in a attacking sense, while the defence which had previously been the strength this season, has started to look a bit vulnerable under pressure.

Klopp knows they have to improve their game once again if they want to realise their title dream this season but maintains there were mitigating reasons behind the sluggish displays.

“We are very critical. In the outside world, we can never use any real explanations because it’s then always used as being an excuse.

"But internally, we have to talk about why it was a bit more difficult. It’s not cool if we cannot train with the team we want to play.

"We still should have performed better, especially in the Leicester game. The pitch didn’t help. Nobody has to write that any more. It’s just a fact. It made the game really difficult.

"West Ham was always a tough place to go and a few other teams realised that already. 

"Getting a point there, and having more chances, stuff like that, which nobody even thinks after the game, it’s like you have to dominate them constantly and they are not allowed to have anything.

"That’s the situation we are in, but that’s not a problem. We expect ourselves to do better. We are not blind to our problems, but it’s not as serious as people make it. That’s the truth.”

There is a view that injuries to members of the back four have contributed the team conceding five goals in the past three games, but the manager was not using that as a excuse.

“It is never cool if you have to change but the goals we conceded were not because of the changes to the last line.

"If you look at the goals and make the analysis, the goal against West Ham and Leicester had nothing to do with the last line. That is the 100% truth.

"The goals against Palace, maybe, we had to change a lot in the game and had a red card. It is always better if you can keep seven or eight players always playing and change three or four and keep it like this."

As Klopp says, when expectations are raised, more questions follow when things don't go to plan.

The best way to answer that is to claim the three points in the fixtures ahead.

And that is what the Reds aim to do.