Jurgen Klopp fires warning to Liverpool's rivals ahead of second half of season
By Tom Gott
Jurgen Klopp has warned Liverpool's rivals that they will have their work cut out for them to maintain their spot towards the top of the Premier League as life 'will get tougher' for all of them.
The Reds, alongside Manchester City, have been among the league's elite for the past few seasons but have endured a significant drop-off this time around, sitting down in ninth midway through the current campaign.
While Klopp was happy to praise his rivals for being towards the top of the standings, he made sure to warn the likes of Erik ten Hag and Mikel Arteta, at Manchester United and Arsenal respectively, that maintaining that sort of form is the true challenge.
“Consistency is really the most difficult thing to have in football and we will see how that goes for other teams,” Klopp said.
“How they deal with little drops, injuries, all these kinds of things. But it is pretty likely it will get tougher for everybody up there to stay in the league, to qualify for Europe, Champions League and especially to become champions. It will be absolutely difficult because of the quality of the teams, the money around and the quality of the coaches.”
Both Liverpool and Chelsea have tumbled out of the European qualification spots this season, with Newcastle, Fulham, Brighton and Brentford leading the charge to disrupt the traditional 'big six' in the Premier League.
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Klopp argued that injuries have not helped his team perform to the best of their abilities this season but insisted that their current struggles will not leave a negative stain on his record at Liverpool.
“If you look back 20 years at this team people will say: ‘What a time. Wow,’” Klopp said. “Will they talk about this season? So far we’ve not given them lots of reasons but we are still in two cup competitions and we’ll not give up in the league. Why should we?
"We have to make steps. There is a lot of games to play and we’ll be ready. But I can’t talk here like we’ve won them already so we have to fight, be positive and work hard and make the next step. Extend your good spells and be yourself much longer in a game. That’s what we will do and we’ll see where we end up.”