Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has defended his players ahead of the crucial FA Cup tie against Manchester United at Old Trafford by saying that they have not changed overnight, and that sometimes, a low point can really help a team in putting things into perspective.
Liverpool's unbeaten record at Anfield since 2017 was finally put to rest by Burnley on Friday as the Clarets inflicted a 1-0 defeat in what was a rather deficient performance from the Reds. It was also Liverpool's fourth consecutive Premier League game where they failed to find the net.
Many questioned Klopp's decision of resting Mohamed Salah, who was brought in after the hour's mark, but it was an understandable approach as Liverpool face Manchester United for the second time in eight days. Speaking ahead of the FA Cup tie, Klopp said that he hopes his team can bounce back from this drought.
"We lost that game, and it was a really low point. It's not that I thought, 'Who cares?'," he said.
"When I think back, I can't find a reason why we lost that game, but we lost it. It happened and sometimes you need a really low point to change things properly and that's for sure [what] we will go for now.
"If we would have won in a bad game the world would have said, 'OK, it's not the football they usually play but they are back on the result path', but in the long term it would not help.
"It can be a real help if we use it. I can imagine what a lot of people think about us in the moment.
"But people don't change overnight. People sometimes face challenges they are not immediately ready for and sometimes you don't even know a challenge will come up.
"But this is a challenge we didn't want to have. Was it absolutely impossible it could happen? No, especially in the situation we are.
"They [the players] are still brilliant people and brilliant characters, all of them.
"All of them made happen what happened in the last few years and they don't change overnight. It is still a really good group."
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Peter Powell
