Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admits if the players are to rebuild their shattered confidence winning a match would be helpful.
The 1-0 defeat to Fulham courtesy of Mario Lemina’s maiden goal for the club was the sixth in succession at home, extending the worst run in their history.
Injuries have taken a toll on Klopp’s defending Premier League champions but they have reached a point where they cannot even score as they have now gone more than 11 hours without a goal from open play at Anfield.
“We have to win football games, we have to win one football game, that would be helpful already and then we will see (with) the rest,” he said.
“Believe me, these boys want it but it doesn’t work in the moment.
“I cannot just say, ‘Yeah, we don’t have mentality.’ We have mentality, it’s just not the mentality we are used to probably, but the boys want to win games.
“We have really tight results in the moment, pretty much always against us, and we have to make sure we win football games again.
“If it’s a 1-0, it’s fine, fight for it with all you have and then you can gain confidence and momentum maybe again. In the moment we don’t have that.”
"It wasn’t good enough from the standards we’ve set."
James Milner on today's defeat. #LIVFUL— Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 7, 2021
The issue Klopp now has, apart from falling further behind in the race for the top four, is that next up is RB Leipzig in the Champions League.
They hold a 2-0 lead from the last-16 first-leg tie but since that victory they have won just one of the last four, at bottom side Sheffield United.
The one advantage may be the home game is being played once again in Budapest due to coronavirus restrictions and not at Anfield, where they have developed a mental block.
Klopp knows confidence is so fragile they cannot afford the slightest slip-up against the Bundesliga side.
“We made mistakes still, that’s the problem. The boys don’t want to make mistakes, we just made them,” he added.
A tidy way to get off the mark! 👌@LeminaM_13 made sure this one hit the net. 🧪#LIVFUL
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) March 7, 2021
“We have to make sure the mistakes we make are not accountable any more.
“You can concede a goal – we conceded goals in our best phases, the best periods of our lives – but the only thing is then you are not bothered about it. That’s where we have to come (to).”
While Liverpool’s downward spiral continues Fulham are upwardly mobile and thoroughly deserved their win.
Fulham have lost just once in the last seven and are now only in the bottom three by virtue of having a goal difference three worse than Brighton’s.
“A win like this galvanises, not that we needed it or a result to give us belief or an understanding of what we can do as it’s constantly been there,” said manager Scott Parker.
“While results can give you that extra bit of belief this is a team which has real belief.
“What is happening around us, who we are dragging in, is irrelevant and remains to be the case.
“It is about us, wanting to get better, and keep moving in the right direction and that will not change.
“We will carry on for the remainder of the season in the same vein.
“All I ask from the team is that there is a work ethic and constant belief, an understanding of what we need to do to get results and not let the bumps cripple us.
“Don’t worry about the noise, who is winning, who ain’t winning.”
