Klopp admits last season’s 63-game marathon has impacted this term’s fortunes
Jurgen Klopp has conceded that last season’s 63-game campaign is having an effect on Liverpool’s troubled term this time around.
The Reds played every game possible last time out, winning both domestic cups on penalties against Chelsea before losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League final in late May after amassing 92 Premier League points.
Klopp’s men have since endured a difficult season and head into Saturday’s trip to Brighton in seventh place and seven points adrift of Manchester United, who currently occupy the fourth and final Champions League spot.
Asked if last season’s exacting campaign has had a direct effect on performances since then, Klopp said: “It must have! It must have! And we can say that now but there was no book written about and there was data on it, there was nothing on it because nobody had played this amount of games before.
“We won finals and we were high flying on adrenaline and all these kinds of things. We came on holiday with our eyes like this (wide open) asking ‘where’s the next game?’ and it was ‘oh, there is no game’. That was how it was.
“So it doesn’t mean we don’t want to be successful. Next time we can sort things and hopefully it happens again just with a different outcome. And then we will know about it again and we can write a book about it. But so far it was not like this.
“Of course there were things [we could change] and the football in moments looked different, I know. I know. But I can promise you it’s not because the boys don’t want or I don’t want, that is not the case, 100%. If that would be the case then we could sort that immediately.
He added: “And we sorted it by the way, we speak about it like we speak about it like we are bottom of the table. Last week we drew a cup game against a team who did well and they scored a goal that was disallowed, I am not sure if it was for the right or wrong reasons. That is why we will play the game again.
“I said after the game that we didn’t lose it but it felt like a loss. And it’s not exactly what you want but we are not just here for the sensational moments or great finals. There are times you have to get through as well and you learn from it and then you go again. And that will definitely happen.
“It’s always the same; you have too many injuries for whatever reason and the players you have fit have to play all the time, which means they cannot always fly. We don’t have exactly the opportunities to change, rotate and stuff like this.
“Don’t forget last season how we could rotate between the cup competitions and what the team did on the pitch was incredible. We’ve played too many games and the players who have come back usually need time but we don’t have time so they play and get injured again and it’s a circle. It’s not for us to say ‘we don’t have a perfect squad together so we’ll play in five weeks’. That is what we have to get through.
“For me it is no problem, it is just every game it is like ‘again, what!?’ I know it is difficult and results are the most important thing, so if you win it is ‘ok, but it’s not exactly how they used to play’ and that is the situation we’re in.
“I love being here and part of this Liverpool thing with all the staff. A draw feels like a defeat and I love that because that is how it has to be but still there’s a next game coming up and we have to make sure we’re ready for that.”
