Klopp says ‘pressure is off’ after Liverpool’s late-season collapse

Liverpool’s German manager Jurgen Klopp checks out the conditions ahead of kick-off in the English Premier League football match between West Ham United and Liverpool at the London Stadium, in London on April 27, 2024. (Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP) /

Jurgen Klopp said the “pressure is off” after his Liverpool team dropped out of the Premier League title race, urging his men to rediscover their best form in the final few games of his Anfield reign.

Liverpool have won just one of their past five league games and it would now take a miracle for them to catch Arsenal and Manchester City.

The club were at one stage on track to win a quadruple but will end the season with just the League Cup, though they are already guaranteed Champions League football for next season.

“It is an achievement,” Klopp said. “Does it feel to everybody like that? Probably not, but to me it does and that’s how the perspective can change during a season.

“Because for a while we obviously looked like we could go all the way or at least stay in the race for longer, which was definitely possible.

“For different reasons that didn’t work out but it’s still probably third place in the league behind two teams who have done really well and they go all the way.”

The German, 56, said he wanted his team to play with freedom in his last three matches, starting with Sunday’s home game against fifth-placed Tottenham.

“The pressure is off now. That’s done. It would be really cool if we could play really, really good football again,” he said.

“That would be absolutely nice because obviously we have been very tense in the last weeks, we had a super-intensive period as well.”

– Fixture overload –
Aston Villa’s 4-2 defeat in the first leg of their Europa Conference League