Jurgen Klopp Admits 'Pressure' Is Now on Liverpool After Poor Back-to-Back Defeats
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has insisted that the Reds must come out fighting for the next game against Huddersfield after two poor back-to-back defeats in the Premier League and FA Cup have seen the club's recent positive momentum grind to a complete halt.
Liverpool were the toast of the nation earlier this month after being the first Premier League team to beat Manchester City this season, only to lose against bottom club Swansea a week later. That was then followed by an embarrassing home loss against West Brom in the cup.
Now Klopp knows that Tuesday's league trip to Huddersfield cannot end the same way as the 'pressure' is firmly on Liverpool to see how they cope.
"We have to show in the next game what we really want. It's not the first game we've lost and it's all about reactions," the German coach is quoted as saying by The Guardian.
"We have to do better. We've played two games in a row in which we didn't perform like we can. Look at both games and you have to say that was not good enough, simple as that. What we achieve, we will see in the next few game," he added.
Klopp believes Liverpool have to be ready for the 'big challenges' in the weeks to come.
"After each defeat, if you learn from it, then it makes a little bit of sense. If you don't learn from it, then it makes absolutely no sense," he said. "Of course the pressure increases in a situation like this, the pressure we make on ourselves, but that's how it is."
Klopp insists that the Manchester City win didn't give the player a false sense of status, with nothing to suggest that complacency has crept into the dressing in the fortnight since.
"It was only a few days ago we were here talking about Manchester City, one of the best football games we were a part of. That's how it is. Nothing in training gave me a sign that the boys misjudged the success or result against Man City, or the performance," he explained.
"We are really serious people and I think we took it in the right way. But then we had two games and we have to show that we can do better. It's not allowed to concede goals like we conceded."
The trip to Huddersfield will see Klopp once more reunited with long-time friend and former assistant David Wagner. Liverpool won 3-0 thanks to goals from Daniel Sturridge, Roberto Firmino and Georginio Wijnaldum when the clubs met at Anfield earlier in the season.