Jürgen Klopp says he never expected Liverpool FC to win the league during his first season in charge of the club.
While some fans, pundits and even fellow managers were claiming that the Reds could claim their first title in 26 years after wins at both Chelsea and Manchester City, Klopp was not one of them.
Liverpool lost 2-0 to struggling Newcastle United at St. James Park on Sunday and the club’s manager was adamant that he never considered the Premier League title a possibility.
The German said: “Everybody on your side of the table maybe [said that]. I didn’t hear anybody on this side of the table talking about it. I have no problem with anything you might talk about, but please don’t ask me now about this.
“I didn’t say before we were title contenders, so why I should say now that we’re not? So I’m sorry.
“We played this game today and at this moment I’m trying to understand why. We’ve got to try and understand why, but I won’t answer that question, because it’s not mine.
“If in professional football you don’t feel defeats, you don’t feel a loss, then something is really wrong. We feel this defeat. We know for today it’s deserved, but it hurts, like it should do.”
Liverpool are currently 7th in the Premier League table, nine points from leaders Leicester City, although even defeat to the Magpies is unlikely to dampen the enthusiasm of the more optimistic Reds fans given the fact that both Chelsea and Manchester City also lost to lesser fancied teams – Bournemouth and Stoke City respectively – this weekend.
