Jurgen Klopp took full responsibility after a much-changed Liverpool side crashed out of the FA Cup fourth round following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield.
The Reds were convincingly beaten by Paul Lambert’s side and were knocked out of a cup competition for the second time within the space of a week, having been eliminated in the EFL Cup semifinal by Southampton on Wednesday.
Richard Stearman’s header gave the Championship outfit the lead after 52 seconds and Andreas Weimann made it 2-0 off a rapid counterattack in 41st minute, before Divock Origi netted a consolation goal late on.
Klopp made nine changes to his starting XI for the tie against Wolves, with only goalkeeper Loris Karius and Roberto Firmino keeping their places from the midweek defeat to Southampton.
The Reds boss was asked at a news conference after the game about whether he felt his players let him down, but he quickly dismissed that suggestion.
“No, I don’t feel that they let me down or something,” he said. “I am responsible for the lineup; I saw them training and I thought, ‘That’s the lineup.’
“At the press conference on Monday we can talk about who can play and cannot play [against Chelsea on Tuesday] because today not a lot of the players who were not involved could play.
“I said — and it’s what I mean — that I am responsible for the bad things and not just the good things, and today was obviously not good, so that’s my responsibility. We could have played better, each boy could have played better and I know this. You always learn a little bit about [the players].”
Klopp added: “For each single performance maybe there is an explanation, but I’m not sure that we should look for it. I am never too harsh in criticism and you especially should not be emotional in the moment when you make the criticism, it makes no sense.
“At one point I will watch the game again and then I will know a little bit more about it, but from tomorrow onwards we have to prepare for the Chelsea game.”
Liverpool have only won one game in 2017 and currently sit 10 points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea ahead of Tuesday night’s showdown with Antonio Conte’s side at Anfield.
The Reds boss said he was unsure whether this current bad run was the lowest point of his tenure, but he insisted that his team could not fall any further following the latest setback.
“We spoke about confidence a few months ago and I said it’s a little flower,” Klopp said. “If something bounces on it, then it’s away. Obviously, that happened kind of, but it’s not that we play without confidence. I can see a lot of moments when we really still believe in our skills and all that stuff. So we don’t have to make it too big, but it’s not that difficult.
“It’s not that I say there’s no chance until Tuesday to make a real turn. Somebody asked me a second ago if this is the lowest point of my Liverpool time until now — I don’t know. But if it is, it’s the perfect point to turn because it’s not possible to go lower. That’s all we have to think about now.
“It’s not that hard but it feels in this moment, and is absolutely right, bad. We have to use it. In this moment, it’s not the right time to talk too much about being positive and optimistic. No doubt from tomorrow on we will be, but in this moment we feel really bad.”
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