Jurgen Klopp admitted that Liverpool will not qualify for next season’s Champions League if they carry on at their current rate and said they need to “fix” their form to salvage a top-four finish.
Liverpool suffered a first defeat in 30 league games at Anfield by losing 2-1 to Leeds, after being beaten 1-0 by Nottingham Forest, another team who kicked off in the relegation zone, last week.
And it leaves them eight points off fourth place, with twice as many defeats as they suffered in the whole of last season, and still yet to record an away win in the Premier League.
Klopp is more concerned about the reasons for their current struggles but accepts they are in danger of missing out a top-four place at the end of the campaign.
He said: “That is not my main worry but of course I am not that dumb that I don’t know about distances and who is up there. We cannot qualify for the Champions League if we play as inconsistent as we do at the moment. We have to fix that.”
Klopp rued the way his side allowed Leeds substitute Wilfried Gnonto to put in the cross for Crysencio Summerville’s 89th-minute winner when the teenager was outnumbered by the corner flag.
He added: “My main issue is how we defended the second goal. We concede in a situation where it is obvious you cannot defend like that. It is a two-v-one, even for a second a three-v-one and they pass the ball through and all of a sudden it is a two-v-one in the box. At 1-1 we had some massive chances, but the biggest disappointment of the game is how we defended for the second goal. That shouldn’t happen.
“I would have easily taken the draw in this moment, which is difficult, but now we stand here with nothing, which is completely different.”
Klopp said his side did not exert their authority on the game, adding: “It was a setback, absolutely. I thought we had a really good start then conceded a freakish goal. We scored the equaliser but for some reason it didn’t give us the security back. We struggled to control the game and gave too many balls away.”
Leeds manager Jesse Marsch said victory was vital to “stop the bleeding” for his team, who had lost their four previous games and only taken two points from eight matches.
Rodrigo opened the scoring and Illan Meslier made a string of saves and Marsch felt they showed they were still playing for him.
“I think they were but I think they were fighting for us,” he said. “They believe in what we are doing. It has been painful for all of us. I think we should never have been in this situation because I think we have been playing well but not getting points. It was necessary to stop the bleeding.”
Marsch was pleased to see his side celebrate but urged them to use victory as a springboard. “The guys are happy,” he added. “There is music in there. That is great. I want them to enjoy the moment. We have use this to launch ourselves.”
