Jurgen Klopp admits past glories have saved him from the sack at Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp has admitted he cannot keep living off former glories after recognising that past achievements have saved him from the sack.

The Liverpool manager expressed sympathy for Graham Potter and Brendan Rodgers, who were jettisoned by Chelsea and Leicester respectively on Sunday, but confronted the issue of his own side’s form and accepted results should really have put him in the spotlight.

Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s owners, have never baulked from making ruthless decisions when they have felt things were not going as they should be: Kenny Dalglish was sacked in 2012 after losing 15 games in a season, Rodgers was removed following 17 defeats in 28 league games three years later.

Saturday’s pummelling at Manchester City was the 14th time Liverpool have lost since August and another setback this evening against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge would further undermine their already faint hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.

There is no chance, however, of FSG making Klopp the 13th sacking of a remarkably volatile Premier League campaign nor has the German lost his appetite for the challenge of trying to get his side moving in the right direction once again.

‘That is not my plan,’ said Klopp, when asked if he was considering doing what he did at Borussia Dortmund — leaving at the end of his seventh season.

But, equally, Klopp understands that patience in football is not limitless and the onus is on him to deliver now. For all that the form of his players has been questioned, there is no doubt Klopp’s performance in recent months has not been at the right level.

‘What can I say about that?’ said Klopp, when asked for his reaction to the departures of Potter and Rodgers, men for whom he has great respect. ‘I think the elephant in the room is why I am still sitting here in this crazy world, last man standing.’

Was he afraid that might not be the case? ‘No,’ he replied. ‘But I don’t think that Graham was afraid. There is no need for being afraid. I’m here to deliver. I’m not here as a talisman or whatever, or for murals on a house’s walls. I am here to deliver, I know that 100 per cent. I know as well I am still here for what happened in the last few years — I don’t like the fact and pretty much I have to rely on that.

‘Is it right or not? We will see that in the future but I am fully in, there is no doubt about it, but we have to sort it.

‘We cannot continue playing like we do from time to time. That is now allowed. I am really disappointed about us that we do these kind of things but it happened now we have to find a way out. That is what we are constantly working on.’

Klopp held talks with his squad at the club’s Kirkby training base on Sunday and must decide how many changes he wants to make at Stamford Bridge, though he won’t have Luis Diaz or Thiago Alcantara available as they work towards regaining full fitness.

There will be changes also this summer, with Liverpool pursuing top target Jude Bellingham and Mason Mount, but before that Klopp wants to see his current group do the things that used to make them formidable: namely running, tackling and pressing.

‘The inconsistency is the most annoying part of it, to be honest,’ grumbled Klopp. ‘Still we have to keep doing and trying. It is not rocket science or has not turned into rocket science overnight. It is still possible and what we have to demand and show and do.

‘Some clubs are underachieving this year — as we do. There are expectations out there, rightly so, and if you don’t reach them you have to accept the decisions. Both clubs are not in the spots they expect to be. Still we have to keep doing and trying.’