Klopp points to FSG over Liverpool’s disappointing January transfer stance

Jurgen Klopp has distanced himself from Liverpool’s transfer policy and stressed he is not in charge of the purse strings in the transfer window.

The German boss was left furious after Thursday night’s as 68-game unbeaten run at Anfield was ended by Burnley.

Klopp was raging at half-time with Clarets boss Sean Dyche and Ashley Barnes’ late penalty only dampened his mood.

The champions have been hampered by a series of long-term injuries this season, most notably to defenders Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez.

So much so that Jordan Henderson, who missed Thursday’s defeat with a muscle strain, and Fabinho played in central defence recently against Manchester United.

Joel Matip returned alongside Fabinho in defence against Burnley, but he could not stop Liverpool’s first home defeat in the league since April 2017.

It leaves the champions six points behind leaders Manchester United. And calls to strengthen their squad ringing in Klopp’s ears.

Klopp, though, says the club’s transfer plans are in the hands of Fenway Sports Group, who continue to take a careful approach to finances due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“These decisions are not my decisions,” Klopp was quick to point out.

“If somebody thinks we should do something, I cannot decide if we do something in the transfer market or not. That must be clear.

“But that is not something I am thinking about. It’s just with this group we can play much better. That is my concern.

“That is what I am thinking about. The confidence is not on the highest level, that is so obvious, you can see it in the matches and specific moments.

“A lot of it, I would say 95 or 90 per cent of all what the boys did all of the time is still there besides 10 per cent in the moment.

“So now it is about fixing this 10 per cent and that is what it is. For now, we have to dig a little bit deeper to get that back.”

Confidence problem

Klopp pointed at his side’s fragile confidence and believes decision making in key areas is letting them down.

“Confidence is a small flower and obviously someone has stamped on it, and now at this moment we have to find a new one and we will. But for tonight it was not enough,” said Klopp.

“It’s not the luckiest period of our lives but it would be a bit cheap to put it only on that, that we don’t have enough luck.

“I think our problem is the decision-making at the moment and the decisions are based on the information I give and also the mood you are in and how confident you are to do it in really small spaces.

“That’s the reason we didn’t score in these moments. It is not cool to mention it but we won games with lesser possession but we didn’t win because we didn’t score in these situations.”

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