Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, has stated that his team will compete for the Premier League title next season.
This was stated by the German manager to reporters after a disappointing season ended with a 4-4 draw away to already-relegated Southampton on Sunday.
A point on the South Coast dropped Liverpool to fifth place, with Klopp’s men knowing they would miss out on a top-four finish for the first time since the 2015/16 season.
Liverpool, on the other hand, appeared to be finishing a trophy-less season on a high note, thanks to early goals from Diogo Jota and outgoing fans’ favorite, Roberto Firmino.
Despite this, they were forced to scramble for a point after falling behind 4-2 thanks to Kamaldeen Sulemana’s double for Southampton, who also had goals from James Ward-Prowse and Adam Armstrong.
Liverpool’s unbeaten streak was eventually extended to 11 games thanks to goals from substitute Cody Gakpo and Jota.
Klopp, on the other hand, was relieved to see the end of a frustrating 2022/23 season.
He said:
There were moments during the season when you thought ‘the season will be four years long. Thank God for the last 11 games, that helped massively, gave us a real boost, gave us a perspective, gave us a basis for what we have to do.
That it didn’t turn into the best ever season, we see that, we know that, we are very disappointed about the fact that we didn’t make it to the top four.
But there are moments when you have to admit there were four teams that were better than us — that’s the truth.
We played a bad season, we come fifth, that is a message as well.
Imagine we were our normal self, which we absolutely will be again next season and will be a contender again. That’s how is it. The last 11 games helped us to realise that again.
Reflecting on Sunday’s match, Klopp said his side had made life hard for themselves in a “silly” period of a see-saw contest.
He said:
We are 2-0 up and you know these Southampton players want to pay back to these people (home fans) and we let them, just opened the door for a really talented offensive team, with the speed they have.
I can make a list of things we weren’t and that led to the counterattacks they had.
Then it’s 2-2 and 4-2 and then we started doing the right things again. I think we could have scored a fifth and a sixth.
Top start, outstanding finish, in between just silly.
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