Jurgen Klopp remains confident he is the right man to turn Liverpool's form around after seeing their underwhelming season continue with Saturday's 3-0 loss at Wolves.
Liverpool suffered their third defeat in as many away league games this calendar year at Molineux, falling to another dire reverse as Craig Dawson and Ruben Neves followed up Joel Matip's early own goal.
The Reds are now 11 points adrift of a top-four place in 10th, having lost more away league games this term (six) than in the last two seasons combined (five).
Klopp has previously professed his desire to oversee a rebuild at Anfield, and the German remains certain he is the right man for the job despite Liverpool's downturn.
Asked whether he was confident he could help Liverpool bounce back, Klopp said: "Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
"I know my job, you know my job, it's not to explain here how I can build up my team. I will be judged by you, which is fine. But today was not good enough, what I did."
Questioned on whether Liverpool's four-game winless run in the Premier League worried him, he added: "How can I not be concerned? I cannot sit here and say it's all okay. I was asked outside if it's because of last season, playing 63 games.
"Yes, of course, it's clear that it has influenced the first part of the season, but how long do we want to suffer from that? It's February now. We had a full week to prepare.
"We are fit, we are now there, that might have been a problem earlier in the season, of course, when we had injuries – all are clear now.
"But for today the first 12 minutes is not allowed, I have to say that, but we did it anyway. That's true and that's the outcome."
Asked whether he had lost faith in the players who almost delivered a historic quadruple last season, Klopp said: "No. I don't think they are at their best at the moment and do I like that? No. But I still know how good they are and how good they can be.
"But football, and life, is not like this. We work every day and it's not because of him, him or him. So, these things happen because we cannot help ourselves in these moments.
"These are the situations we have to go through. I don't lose confidence in the boys or whatever, but I see where we have to improve."
Liverpool have conceded more goals in the opening five minutes of Premier League matches than any other side this season (five), and goalkeeper Alisson struggled to explain the Reds' failure to start quickly.
"In a game of 90 minutes, you have to do it consistently for the whole game," he told Premier League productions. "We showed today you can get punished for 15 minutes and that's what happened.
"We have the same players who achieved so many great things at this club and we are not performing well. It's difficult to say why.
"I'm not saying I don't trust we can't bounce back. I'm just so disappointed about tonight's game. We have to keep working."
David Moyes will not compare himself to Ron Greenwood and John Lyall
David Moyes may stand just one match from writing his name into West Ham folklore, but he will not compare himself to the club’s two managerial greats.
If the Hammers overcome Fiorentina in the final of the Europa Conference League on Wednesday night, Moyes will become only the third manager, after Ron Greenwood and John Lyall, to guide the east London club to a major trophy.
Greenwood, who went on to manage England, was in charge when West Ham won their only previous European trophy, the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1964, while their last piece of silverware, the FA Cup, came under Lyall in 1980.
Yet Moyes insisted: “I don’t think of myself as any different to anyone else in this room.
“I’m really fortunate and privileged and thankful to be given an opportunity to be a football manager and to have the opportunity to go this far in my career and be on a stage like this.
“I think it’s really special. I don’t ever really think of myself as being a legend or any words like that.
“I’d just like to be known as a football manager and one who’s serious about his job and tries to do the best he possibly can, week-in week-out, try to prepare my teams to be competitive.
“I’d like to be known as much for that as much as I would the word ‘legend’, really.”
The final will hold special memories for West Ham’s Czech duo Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek, who both played for Slavia Prague at the Eden Arena.
Midfielder Soucek said: “When I realised one year ago that the final was in Prague and we were in this competition, I was like, ‘come on guys, we have to go there’.
“And now we are here in the Eden Arena in Prague, I can connect with the two teams I love.”
Michael Beale looking to Rangers academy for contributions on and off pitch
Michael Beale is looking to the Rangers academy for players to play their part on and off the park.
The Gers manager is revamping his squad this summer in a bid to turn the tables on domestic treble winners Celtic, but saleable assets are in short supply.
Rangers sold youth product Nathan Patterson to Everton in January 2022 for a reported £12million.
Midfielder Joe Aribo, brought from Charlton in 2019, was sold to Southampton last summer for a reported fee of £6million while defender and fellow Nigeria international Calvin Bassey, recruited from Leicester in 2020, joined Ajax for a fee widely reported as around £20million.
Gers boss Beale told Sky Sports Scotland that the Ibrox club need to generate more wealth while keeping results positive.
He said: “Everyone just wants you to win. I need to win and put some stability into the club, some harmony, some players in it which I feel can grow for the next two or three years here.
“That there’s a value on their head as well if they do well that we can trade and start again in terms of bringing other players in.
“If we look at the last 12 to 14 months, Nathan Patterson left the building, (as did) Joe Aribo and Calvin Bassey for the outlay of which was probably under £500,000.
“For the finance that we brought in, it was great but it’s important you have a conveyor belt behind it.
“It’s important the links between me and the academy are really strong to open a pathway.
“We have had a number of academy players on the pitch this year but who’s going to stay in?
“Who’s going to be a mainstay? Who’s going to be a marquee player for Rangers?
“The fans and the outside media will just look every three to five days when you play.
“Win, lose or draw that’s how they’ll deem success. I need to win. The team need to win. My staff need to win. But we also need to make sure we build a really strong club moving forward.”
Steve Cotterill leaves role as Shrewsbury manager
Steve Cotterill has left his role as manager of Shrewsbury.
The 58-year-old had already said his position at the club was uncertain and the Shrews have now confirmed his departure.
A statement read: “The club would like to place on record their thanks to Steve for all his hard work and commitment during the last two and a half years, taking us from a relegation place in League One to 12th in the table and also for working from his hospital bed during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Cotterill guided the club to 12th in League One last season and spent 49 days at the Bristol Royal Infirmary after contracting Covid and developing pneumonia in 2021.
Cotterill, who joined the club in November 2020, released a statement though the League Managers’ Association.
“I’m proud of the work that has been done by everyone in the past two and a half years at the club,” he said. “From fighting relegation to a top-half finish. I am confident this team will continue its progression next season.
“Working through Covid was tough and I have to thank my incredible staff for their help throughout.
“I would also like to thank the players. It is a fantastic group that gave me absolutely everything, right up to the last game of the season. The relationship I had with them was very special.”
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