In March, Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, and Roberto Firmino all scored as Liverpool thrashed rivals Manchester United 7-0.
Liverpool’s season has been dubbed a “bad season” by manager Jurgen Klopp, who also acknowledged that the few “highlights,” such as their 7-0 thrashing of rival Manchester United, have only served to “inflame” his anger.
After winning their last six Premier League games, Liverpool is making a late push for Champions League qualification. Despite playing an extra game, they are currently only one point behind United in fourth place.
Before Liverpool’s match against Leicester on Monday, Klopp said, “It makes it even more difficult to understand when you have just played a bad season, like we did until a few weeks ago with some highlights. It aggravates me even more.
“We can play this way, but the majority of the time we play like that, so that’s really not good. Therefore, this time period is crucial because it gives us all a huge hint about how it might appear. It also shows us that we are still in the early stages and that we need to make improvements to make it seem more natural and clear to the boys exactly what we want.”
“This is why it’s crucial that we get going right away and avoid playing a season and finishing in positions 10 or 11. It’s really helpful that everyone is aware that we are moving in the right direction.” In light of Liverpool’s failure to contend for a trophy, Klopp stated last month that the 7-0 victory over United was the season’s key accomplishment.
“I always thought I would have time for these things after my career,” he admitted. “So this season will only be remembered for the 7-0 win over United if we don’t accomplish something truly exceptional.
“I hope that when people look back on it in a few years, they will say, ‘That was the year we beat United 7-0,’ and they might add something nice on top of that. And after that, we were still eligible for anything. That will be great, but if not, we must accept that as well.
“We accept what we receive; that is how things are. We didn’t go into the season thinking it would be great if we made it to the Europa League, but the season did teach us a few things. And that’s perfectly fine. Absolutely fine if it is the Europa League.
“We need to concentrate entirely on the upcoming game. Try to win, play convincingly, be difficult to play against, and other similar things.”
