LIVERPOOL – In his most challenging period as Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp put on a show of defiance Monday in outlining how he plans to turn his side's stuttering season around.
Klopp struck a downbeat tone following the 3-1 loss at Leicester on Saturday, conceding his team would not be retaining the Premier League after falling 13 points behind first-place Manchester City.
Liverpool is on a run of only two wins in 10 matches and has lost three straight league games for the first time since Klopp arrived in 2015.
It has also been a difficult time for the German coach personally with his mother, Elisabeth, dying last month at the age of 81 after contracting COVID-19. He was unable to attend the funeral in his native country because of travel restrictions.
Liverpool fans hung a banner on the gates outside Anfield on Sunday, with the message: “Jurgen Klopp YNWA” — shorthand for the club's motto, “You'll Never Walk Alone.”
He said he appreciated the gesture but was not in need of any “special support.”
“I don’t need a break,” Klopp said, dismissing speculation he was contemplating quitting Liverpool.
“I can split things, I can switch off, one thing and the other thing, I don’t carry things around,” he added. “Of course we are influenced by things that happen around but nobody has to worry about me or whatever. I might not look (fine) because the weather is not cool, the beard gets more and more grey, I don’t sleep a lot, my eyes look like this, but I am full of energy.”