Jurgen Klopp has branded Liverpool's campaign a "bad season" and admitted that the few "highlights", such as their 7-0 thrashing of rivals Manchester United, only made him "more angry".
Liverpool are making a late push for Champions League qualification, having won their last six Premier League games. They are currently just one point behind fourth-place United, albeit having played an extra game.
"When you have just played a bad season, like we did until a few weeks ago with some highlights, it makes it even more difficult to understand," Klopp said ahead of Liverpool's game against Leicester on Monday. "It makes me even more angry.
"We can play like this but most of the time we played like that, so that's really not good. So, this period is super important because it gives us all a massive hint on how it could look and how we all know we are in the early stages, we have to improve, to make things more natural and more clear for the boys of what we want exactly.
"That's why it's so important we started it early and not play a season and end up in position 10 or 11. Everyone knows we are going in the right direction and it's really helpful." Klopp said last month that the 7-0 win over United was the main highlight of Liverpool's season, given their failure to compete for silverware.
"I always thought I would have time for these things after my career," he said. "So this season, if we don't do something really special, will be remembered for the 7-0 against United.
"I hope when people speak about it in a few years they will look back on it and [say] 'that is the year we beat United 7-0' and that they could say something nice on top of that. And after that we qualified still for whatever. That will be nice, but if not then we have to take that as well.
"We take what we get, that's how it is. It's not that we started the season and said if we qualify for the Europa League it would be fantastic but the season taught us a few things. And that's absolutely fine. If it's Europa League then it's Europa League, absolutely fine.
"We have to be just really focused on the game coming up. Try to win it, try to play in a convincing way, try to be uncomfortable to play against, all these kinds of things."
