After Liverpool ended the season with a 4-4 draw against Southampton, Jurgen Klopp reflected on the season as a whole in his post-match press conference. Here are five key points from the manager’s comments:
1. “A really busy period hopefully starts now”: Liverpool need signings. The match against Southampton reopened any cracks that may have been covered by Liverpool’s good form. With a couple of key figures rested, the team looked incoherent. Klopp reassured Liverpool supporters that the summer will be “a really busy period” off the pitch. Alexis MacAllister and Ryan Gravenberch have been reliably linked, as well as Southampton‘s Romeo Lavia.
2. Not being in the Champions League is “massive”: A fifth-placed finish means that Liverpool will not play in the Champions League for the first time since 2016, and with that comes the considerable absence of its prize money. Klopp said this was “massive” for the club and admitted: “There were four teams, at least, who were better than us. We play a bad season and finish fifth, that says something as well. The last 10, 11 games helped us to realise that again.”
3. Liverpool “opened the door” for Southampton: We could have seen a similar game be played out multiple times this season if it weren’t for Alisson‘s brilliance limiting the opposition’s output, and the match at St Mary’s felt like a return to the Liverpool from before system was tweaked. Klopp said Liverpool “just opened the door for a really talented offensive team,” something supporters will have been thinking also. The Reds were ultimately the architects of their own downfall again on Sunday.
4. A season “four years long”: With the World Cup break meaning the season started earlier and finished later, the Liverpool fans and players have endured an arduous campaign with little to celebrate. There have been times to enjoy – the Reds’ run at the end of the season provided optimism – but “there were moments in the season when you thought the season was four years long,” Klopp said. Liverpool’s thrashings of Man United and Rangers were the highlights of a season that seldom provided cause for celebration.
5. Klopp knows what needs to be done: Liverpool’s improvement in the latter part of the campaign is a good sign going into next season. “If we improve, then all of a sudden we are a team nobody wants to play against,” said the German. “That’s what we have to become again.”