Klopp: We shouldn’t suffer because of our history

Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool should not be forced to “suffer because of our own history” as they face mounting criticism over their faltering campaign.

The Reds were held to a drab 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday which leaves them seventh place in the Premier League, six points behind fourth-placed Tottenham, albeit having played a game less.

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Liverpool won the Champions League and ended a 30-year wait to become English champions during Klopp’s seven seasons in charge, but he insists those achievements should not prompt harsher focus now as they face a scramble to finish in the top four this time around.

“We keep going,” said Klopp after the stalemate at Selhurst Park. “Look, I see it in your eyes and in the players’ eyes as well: it looks like we lost the game. We didn’t. It is like that. We cannot suffer because of our own history. That would now be really a joke.

“This will not be the season that everybody when you have the history books and say ‘let’s have a look at that season again and again and again.’ There will not be big movies about it and stuff like this but we have to go through it anyway. And we will.

“It is not always ‘here we won, great, oh now we dropped points, oh rubbish.’ We have to keep going. Take the things and go again, that’s what we will do.

“Nothing really changed tonight. You can see it two ways: we didn’t win, that sounds negative. We have a point more than before. I think that sounds pretty positive. So you can choose.”

It was a similar message from veteran midfielder James Milner, who stressed the players needed to block out outside criticism.

“We’d like a better performance and three points but we didn’t get that,” he said.

“We have to keep going. We’re our harshest critics. It’s important we don’t listen to the noise outside. It’s down to us. We’re the only ones who can change it.”

Liverpool next face back-to-back home games against Wolves and rivals Manchester United before trips to Bournemouth and then Real Madrid, where they will have to overturn a 5-2 first-leg deficit to reach the Champions League quarterfinals.

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