Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp At the beginning of next month, he is aiming for a decisive week that he believes will determine not only this season but also the next season.
his side out Champions League After a 1-0 defeat at the Bernabeu, they saw a 6-2 loss to Real Madrid on aggregate, leaving them with the option to place in the top four of the Premier League to seal qualification for European competition.
They started to gain momentum after scoring 13 points out of 15, but a 1-0 loss at Bournemouth both shook their confidence and was a blow to their two main rivals, Tottenham and Newcastle, to their hopes to finish in fourth place.
Now with no matches scheduled until after the international break, Liverpool are returning to their top four credentials with the toughest tests as they head to Manchester City and Chelsea before hosting. Premier League leaders Arsenal in a week.
“With the history we have in this competition (Champions League), we usually start with the idea of winning, to be honest,” Klopp said.
“We’ve reached the final a few times, we haven’t won the final that often, that’s true, but we’ve been there three times in the last few years and so I believe you have to be extraordinary if you want to win the competition.” .
“It’s a competition and we want to be a part of it every year. This is a huge task for us, we all know that.
“Coming back from the international break I can say we have a decent week of football ahead of us, with three games: City, Chelsea and Arsenal, then it will probably determine what we get out of it.
“People can say we lost at Bournemouth, but I think this week is a pretty decisive week, so we have to hope the kids come back healthy, early enough, in proper form and then we’ll try.”
The bumpy nature of their seasons means it’s hard to maintain any momentum to build any platform to keep up with their rivals.
However, their last run has lifted Liverpool to sixth place, six points behind the fourth-placed Spurs, but one game on hand and two behind Newcastle, who are playing two games less.
With a dozen games to go and nothing else to play, Klopp knows his team can’t afford to make more mistakes like they did last weekend.
“Our job is to squeeze absolutely everything possible from this season,” he added.
“It’s a strange thing. Our last two games have been quite frankly sensational (7-0). Manchester UnitedReally bad performance against Bournemouth, which was a really good football team and then a good football team as well, but we shouldn’t lose those kinds of games.
“Then it put us under even more pressure. If we could get three (more) points then I think anyone could really feel or smell our breath if you wanted to.
“There is still distance because other teams have won their games. (But) it’s clear, we want to get into the top four.”