Liverpool's Season Hindered by "Obvious" Flaw, According to Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has acknowledged that his team's inconsistency was their 'obvious' flaw earlier in the season, as they were mostly hovering between seventh and ninth in the Premier League table. However, the Reds have found their form at the right time and their latest victory – a 3-0 win over Leicester City at the King Power Stadium – is their seventh consecutive win in the league. Previously, they struggled to string together more than two back-to-back victories, even when they won four consecutive matches, which were separated by the six-week break for the World Cup.

Their fifth-place standing has now ensured that Liverpool will play some form of European football next season, and there is still a possibility they might even qualify for the Champions League, given that they have closed the gap on Newcastle and Manchester United to one point, albeit with both teams having a game in hand.

"Six, seven weeks ago I didn't believe it could happen," said Klopp of Anfield's assurance of European football in the 2023/24 season. "What we lacked at the time was obviously consistency.

"There was only one way for us to do it, by pretty much winning all of our games. It is crazy but that was the situation we were in. We knew before the game that we would qualify for the Europa League if we won the game, which is absolutely great from where we have come from.

"The rest is not in our hands but we know we have to win all the games until the end of the season to have a chance [of qualifying for the Champions League]. Our job is to keep the pressure on. It's not likely, but if not then this is already better than we could have expected six, seven weeks ago."

Last season, Liverpool also ended strongly and eventually finished third in the final Premier League table. They were eighth with just ten games remaining after losing at home to Fulham, but they then took 26 points from the final 30 available to surge up the standings.

On Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth and Graeme Bailey to discuss all the latest transfer news. The podcast features topics such as Aurelien Tchouameni, Lionel Messi, Moises Caicedo, Rafael Leao, Kim min-Jae, David De Gea, Dusan Vlahovic and more.