Jurgen Klopp staying calm during Liverpool’s inconsistent run of form

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists he is remaining calm as a top-four finish continues to drift out of sight due to his side’s inconsistent form.

The Reds boss said the wholesale changes made in midweek against Chelsea were not intended to send a message to under-performing players after an abject second-half performance at Manchester City where they conceded three goals to lose 4-1.

For the goalless draw at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, Klopp removed more than half of that team, dropping the likes of Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, but while the City display partly influenced his thinking, it was not intended to provoke a response.

“We had now one proper session since then and the boys don’t show me that they don’t want it or whatever, not at all,” he said.

“(It’s not) ‘Why have you left me out?’. This is not the situation we are in.”

Asked how much his team selection was a reaction to the City game and how much was as a result of three games in a week, Klopp added: “We had a game against City, which is an influence both physically and performance-wise, and then we have a game three days later so it is both.

“How can you expect I give you an answer and I say ‘two were because of that and four were because of that’.

“This was a different week, because we played three days, but from now on if you don’t play three times a week then you have more time to train and I have to and I will make decisions about the team based on what I saw in training.

“That opens the door for everyone because if you play three times a week the boys who play all the time they recover and the other boys can train well but (if) the last game you won why would you make six changes because we saw one session with a few players?”

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