Klopp urges Liverpool to take responsibility for bad season as rebuild begins
Jurgen Klopp couldn’t resist a chuckle when asked if he feared Mo Salah was agitating for a move, with his strange language over Liverpool ’s Champions League failure.
And that genuine laugh, slightly bemused, slightly dismissive, spoke volumes about the manager’s mindset, as he contemplates next season and the absence from European football’s high table banquet.
Klopp has always fostered a strong group ethic at Anfield, a common cause with no one above criticism, and no one below praise. So his message to his group is simple: ‘We made this mess together, we get out of it together’.
Liverpool have a large number of players entering their late peak years, between 29-31, including Salah and Virgil van Dijk. At some clubs, that would spark panic over stars forcing a summer transfer, to get the maximum number of seasons in the Champions League.
Yet Klopp didn’t just brutally put that notion down by insisting he would drive them to whatever club they wanted to join himself, he offered a clear insight to his philosophy in the process.
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“It is like (me saying) - (and he puts on a childish voice for emphasis) ‘oh we didn’t qualify for the Champions League, I need to work in the Champions League so I go’.
“No! I am responsible for this mess, or whatever, so I, you, can not go in these moments.
“It is not the case with Mo, not at all, and nobody else told me - they ask if they can have a longer holiday or whatever - but nobody asks me if after holiday they have to come back. So that was not in our conversation.”
Klopp wants his players to bounce back stronger (PA)What was in Klopp’s conversation with his squad, when the realisation hit last week that their impressive late season run wouldn’t be rewarded with Champions League football, was that this year’s adversity will make them stronger.
Those are often glib words of course, for masking ‘failure’ - and fifth in the Premier League is the first time Klopp has failed to deliver Champions League football in his seven full seasons at Anfield - but the German manager passionately believes them to be true, with his tightly knit squad.
“The dressing room is not in a bad mood. We have learned to deal with the situation. We didn't get divided in one moment between manager and team, which is super helpful. We didn't point fingers at each other.
“We are very self-critical, but there's no reason why we should put the head down and leave it there until the new season starts. I saw very good signs and that's the thing I will take for next season.”
Klopp also believes that his players have bought into the idea of a renewal for next season - and the chance to go again, after a campaign of rebuilding this time around.
"Of course there are reasons for optimism because of the things we have shown in the last few weeks, that's definitely the case. There are other reasons for an optimistic view because of the atmosphere our people created,” he added.
Mo Salah made clear his disappointment at missing out on the Champions League (Getty Images)“The way the club said farewell (to players), the following day how Bobby (Firmino) said farewell, all these kind of things are absolutely the basis for a fantastic future. We are still really united, that's the good thing about it.
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“If you can go through difficult moments like we did in the last season, that's a really good basis for a better future.
“We come together again and that must be a full throttle start whatever that leads to, then in the first games we have to show we are back and that is what I want to show."
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