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Jurgen Klopp discusses his Liverpool future amid the poor season.
Despite the Reds’ recent slump in performance, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has insisted that he does not have any immediate intentions to leave the team.
Under Klopp, Liverpool had an unexpectedly poor 2022–23 season, slipping from title contenders to mid-table mediocrity seemingly overnight.
The Reds were eliminated early from the UEFA Champions League by Real Madrid, and they currently occupy the eighth spot in the Premier League standings, behind teams like Brighton and Brentford.
Due to this form, speculation has been rife about Klopp’s long-term future at Anfield, speculation which the manager himself was keen to downplay in a recent press conference.
“[At Dortmund], I stepped back and then we turned it around while I was stepping back. When I announced I would leave at the end of the season we played a good part, that is true. [Leaving Liverpool] is not my plan,” he said.
“The difference at that time was we had the winter break so we had a really good second part of the season. I don’t know exactly if it was completely after I said I wanted to leave because the whole second part of the season was good. It was nearly normal, from where we were coming from.
“Players started coming back from injury and we started playing our football again. When players came back here so far it didn’t work out. That is the main difference.
“I tried a lot and in moments it did work out, and in others not. The inconsistency is the most annoying part of it, to be honest. Still we have to keep doing and trying.”
When Klopp’s Liverpool visit managerless Chelsea on Tuesday night at Stamford Bridge, they will be hoping to get back on track following three straight losses.
At his pre-game news conference, Klopp also spoke on the wave of management dismissals that has hit the Premier League this year. There have been 12 such dismissals thus far.
Klopp admitted that, with so many losing their job, he felt like the ‘elephant in the room’ due to Liverpool’s poor form: “What can I say about [the sackings]? I think the elephant in the room is why am I still sitting here in this crazy world! [I am] the last man standing!”