Jurgen Klopp admits he’s having to rely on the previous glory he’s overseen to protect his status as the Premier League’s longest-serving manager.
The Liverpool boss joked that he was the “last man standing” after Chelsea’s Graham Potter and Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers were both sacked on Sunday.
They paid the price for their teams’ under-achievement this season and Klopp knows Liverpool find themselves in the same category as they sit eighth in the table having suffered nine league defeats ahead of Tuesday’s trip to Stamford Bridge.
Klopp said: “The elephant in the room probably from your point of view is why I’m still sitting here in this crazy world. Last man standing!
“I respect both of them (Potter and Rodgers) a lot, really good people, fantastic managers, but still things can go the wrong way, and when the decision-makers think they need to make a change, they change.
“We all accept that part of the business. It’s a strange week with (Antonio) Conte (leaving Tottenham) and (Julian) Nagelsmann (leaving Bayern Munich), and now these two. The season gets to the decisive part and people get afraid of not reaching their targets.
“For all four I mentioned, their football managing future is still bright. It’s not a disaster, just a situation they probably don’t like, but it’s part of the business.
“That’s 12 (sackings) now in the Premier League this season, eh? An awful number. Some clubs are underachieving this year, definitely — we are. When you are in a relegation battle, we all know how much it means from a financial point of view for the clubs. You could say a similar thing about being in the Champions League or not being in it. There are expectations out there, rightly so, and if you don’t reach them, you have to accept the decisions.”
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Klopp struck a defiant tone in the wake of Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at the hands of Manchester City as he vowed to put right what’s gone alarmingly wrong.
“No, I’m not afraid but I don’t think Graham was afraid either,” he added.
“There’s no need to be afraid, I’m here to deliver. I’m not here as a talisman or for murals on the walls of houses, I’m here to deliver. There’s nothing else in my mind.
“I am aware of the fact that I’m sitting here because of the past not because of what we did this season. I don’t like the fact that I have to pretty much rely on that. Is that right or not? We will see that in the future. If this had been my first season, that would be slightly different. We have smart owners who know about the situation.
“I am fully in, no doubt about it, but we have to sort it. We can’t just continue playing like we do from time to time. That’s not allowed. I am really disappointed that we do these kind of things but it happened and now we need to find a way out.”
Klopp has vowed to make changes for the showdown at Chelsea. Thiago has returned to full training after two months out with a hip injury but he won’t be available. The Spain international is targeting Sunday’s visit of Arsenal for his comeback. Luis Diaz also won’t be involved as he is still building up his fitness after a long absence due to knee surgery.
“In this moment, I have no clue who I can line up,” Klopp said.
“We want to give the boys as much time to recover as possible. There will be changes, definitely. There have to be. We have a few late calls to make. The boys want to show a reaction 100 per cent.”
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(Photo: Getty Images)
