The Reds manager admits a new center-back would help his struggling side, but the champions are unlikely to sign this month.
Jurgen Klopp admitted that a new center-back would benefit Liverpool, but said the Reds’ recent slide hadn’t changed anything in terms of the club’s ability to act in the transfer market.
The reigning champions are on their worst run in four years, winless in five Premier League games and failing to score in their last four.
On Thursday they lost their proud home record of 68 games unbeaten, losing 1-0 to Burnley on a miserable night at Anfield. Favorites of the title a month ago, they now occupy fourth place and could fall behind Tottenham and Everton if these two teams win their matches in hand.
With Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez sidelined with long-term knee injuries, Liverpool were expected to call in a center-back in the January window to ease some of the pressure.
But with just over a week to go, it looks likely there won’t be such a move, with Klopp explaining the situation to reporters on Friday ahead of his side’s FA Cup fourth round match in Manchester. United.
When asked if the past few weeks have changed anything in terms of the club’s thinking on transfers, he replied: “No, nothing has changed. Sorry, short answer! “
Later, he will develop the theme.
“I’m not a five year old anymore and if I don’t get what I want I start to cry,” he said. “Most of the time in my life, I didn’t get what I wanted, to be honest!
“I’m responsible for a lot of this club, but there are people who are responsible for everything, and I can’t make their decisions. I know they are with us, I know they want to support us, and they do.
“Now we’re talking about a center-half. Yes, that would help, 100%. Would we score more goals with a center-half? I am not sure. Would that give us more stability at specific times? Probably yes.
“But that’s not about it. We never, ever spoke in the transfer window like that because that would be an excuse and we don’t need it. What we need to do is improve football in critical areas with this team, and don’t sit here and be disappointed or frustrated with some decisions. I’m not.
“Of course we know what we would do in an ideal world, but the world is not ideal and not just for us. We have to face the situation.
“A center-half last night wouldn’t have won us the game, so we don’t have to talk about it. I know it’s a good thing for you to talk about it, but for me it’s just not that important.
“Everything is on the table, everything is clear, and we just have to work on the football.”
Klopp also dismissed the idea that he was facing his biggest challenge since moving to Merseyside in 2015.
“Everything we’ve done over the past five years has struck us as a challenge, to be honest,” he said. “But yes there is now a different challenge.
“It’s not like we win the league and I put my feet on the desk and smoke a cigar and think ‘well done, from now on everything will work without me doing anything’.
“It’s not a situation that we want, and if we’re not happy with a situation, we should work, and that’s what we will do.
“I believe 100% that we can change it with this team. We’re not saying “if we don’t get this or we can’t play” or whatever. We are very self-critical. We know what we have done and we know we need to change it too.
