Jurgen Klopp has declared that Liverpool’s troubled season has not suddenly turned him into a bad manager and insisted that in the 2040s people will look back on his reign at Anfield as a golden era.
Liverpool are ninth in the Premier League and, after winning both domestic cups last season, will be out of both by the end of January if they are beaten at Brighton on Sunday.
But Klopp, who thinks he was overpraised in the good times, said his shoulders are big enough to take the criticism as he reflected on how there would be calls for another manager to be sacked if he had won the quadruple and his successor had got the results he has had this year.
He said: “I didn’t become a bad manager overnight. I was never as good as people probably said or not as bad as some people might think. But imagine if you were here today talking to another coach of Liverpool because last season we win all four trophies and I say, ‘See you later, holiday’. Imagine if you see a different face and he has to explain these things and tells you how it is nobody would listen. They’d say last season was great and this year is not great so go. So [for] these kinds of things you have to have wide shoulders and really just take it.”
Klopp is the only Liverpool manager to win all of the European Cup, Club World Cup, English title, FA Cup and League Cup and believes his success will be remembered in two decades’ time.
He nonetheless said: “I have been more second place in my life than first, to be honest. Things can change anyway. If you look back 20 years at this team people will say, ‘What a time. Wow’. Will they talk about this season? So far we’ve not given them lots of reasons but we are still in two cup competitions and we’ll not give up in the league. Why should we?
“Legacy? Well, ten years or 20 years look back and say that was great. A final here, a final there. A joy. Who cares about that now? I couldn’t care less. I don’t think for a second how it felt to win the Champions League. Do we want to win it again? Of course. Does it look like we will smash [Real] Madrid? Maybe not. But it’s a competition where we are pretty good.”
