Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp: Even Manchester United will have given up on winning the Premier League title now
City have won 16 out of 17 matches in the league so far and are 11 points clear of second-placed United at the top of the table
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Your support makes all the difference.Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp claims the rest of the Premier League have already given up on catching Manchester City – including their bitter rivals Manchester United.
City have won 16 out of 17 matches in the league so far and are 11 points clear of second-placed United at the top of the table.
United boss Jose Mourinho refused to throw the towel in this week and said if it was “over now “ he would “go on holiday to Brazil or Los Angeles”.
Klopp believes that deep down the Red Devils have already conceded that they will not be able to catch City following their defeat in last weekend’s Manchester derby.
Although the German challenged Liverpool’s own players to motivate themselves to finish as runners-up to City.
“This season nobody is really fighting anymore for the title. I don’t think United are,” Klopp said ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Bournemouth on Sunday.
“We will all try to come as close as possible but if City doesn’t have any dropped points then they will probably win it. So does that mean all the others have to stop?
“To be the best of the rest could be a fantastic target. So it is to try to have the best position in the table which for us for the last, I don’t know how many years, is probably third or second.”
Klopp, of course, has been here before when he was in charge of Borussia Dortmund.
The financial wealth and allure of playing for Bayern Munich underpinned their strangehold on the Bundesliga in the same way City’s dominance appears so all encompassing.
Klopp was able to prise Bayern’s vice-like grip open for two seasons when he guided Dortmund to back-to-back Bundesliga titles between 2010 and 2012.
Bayern recovered to beat Klopp’s Dortmund side at Wembley in the 2013 Champions League final and have been virtually unstoppable in Germany since.
However, Klopp learned from his time with Dortmund that it would be counterproductive to cast envious glances at City.
Instead the 50-year-old takes a more phlegmatic view about ‘keeping up with the Joneses’.
“If you make your own targets because of your neighbour then you can never move on,” Klopp said.
“You want to have the nicer garden, the nicer garage or the nicer car then you will always be a little bit behind. You have to make your own targets and go for it.
“You maybe face the other team twice a season, maybe more in FA Cup for the third time or in the Champions league for the fourth and the fifth time.
“That’s probably possible. Usually you only face them twice and that’s the only moment you should be concerned about them or think about them. There is no other chance
“We cannot chase City, like we couldn’t chase Bayern in these times but we could have beaten them in the Champions league final – that’s 100 per cent.
“We were not worse, it was an open game and nobody saw in this game a team 25 points ahead.
“We didn’t play a bad season, we got to the Champions league final and had some of our best moments in our life in that campaign.
“Yes City are ahead of us as well in the moment but our performances show we could do it if we bring them often enough on the pitch. That’s what we are thinking about.”
Liverpool, meanwhile, are poised to welcome back Adam Lallana for the game against Bournemouth.
The England midfielder has built up his fitness following a thigh problem which has restricted him to just one substitute appearance this term.
And Klopp’s emotions were a mixture of excitement and caution over his return.
“When you see him training you think ‘Wow!’ You know the quality that he will bring,” Klopp said
“It is all about the problem of getting him into a rhythm. He is not a machine so he can’t be at 100 per cent in the first game. He has not lost anything. The left foot and right foot, strong like before.
“He plays football in close spaces fantastic. He covers distance and is very important for pressing. But without him we did well. Having him back from injury is fantastic.
“The intense period is a little bit early for him. He cannot play 90 minutes three games in a row and we won’t say to him ‘you haven’t played since December, now you do the job for us’.
“But it is really good to have him back.”
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