Too early to say Liverpool are past their peak: Klopp

Liverpool’s German manager Jurgen Klopp speaks during a press conference at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, north-west England on October 31, 2022, on the eve of the UEFA Champions League group A football match against Napoli. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

Jurgen Klopp said it is his job as Liverpool manager to ride out a rough start to the season as he slammed suggestions his squad are on the decline.

The Reds have won just four of their first 12 Premier League games to fall 15 points behind leaders Arsenal and already sit eight adrift of a top-four place.

Successive defeats against Premier League strugglers Nottingham Forest and Leeds have compounded Liverpool’s misery.

Klopp and the Liverpool hierarchy have faced criticism for not doing more to rejuvenate a squad that came close to winning an unprecedented quadruple of trophies last season.

But the German claims a series of injuries means it is unfair to make any judgement on the players and his own position until the end of the season.

“I think the judgement for this will be later on in the season or at the end of the season when we say ‘this is it for this group of players or for this manager'”, Klopp said ahead of Napoli’s visit to Anfield in the Champions League on Tuesday.

“At the moment it is not 100 percent fair to judge the squad because we never had them all available, especially now up front we miss top quality which isn’t helpful.”

Liverpool are currently without forwards Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota, while Andy Robertson, Ibrahima Konate, Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara and Darwin Nunez have all been unavailable at times during the first few months of the season.

Klopp is credited with having transformed Liverpool’s fortunes during seven years in charge.

He has led the club to