Jurgen Klopp has insisted that he has ‘enough energy for another 10 years as Liverpool boss’ after he oversaw his 1000th game in management during Saturday’s 0-0 draw against Chelsea at Anfield.
After a 15 year playing career that saw the 55-year-old make 340 appearances for FSV Mainz, Klopp transitioned to become the manager of the Bundesliga side, before moving to Borussia Dortmund in 2008 and then to Liverpool in 2015.
And in that time, he has asserted himself as one of the best and most charismatic managers to have graced the game, but it appears he is not ready to leave the Merseyside club just yet, despite Liverpool’s up and down form this season.
‘My motivation is no problem,’ Klopp said to BT Sport after the draw.
‘I have enough energy for another 10 years if you want!’
Interestingly, the Reds’ boss, who is now in his seventh year at the club, was speaking to a panel of pundits that included Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, who will no doubt have his eyes on the managerial position if Klopp does vacate it in the future.
Klopp has previously claimed that Gerrard becoming the Liverpool manager ‘will definitely happen’ one day.
But it seems the former Liverpool midfielder may have to wait a little while longer, despite hinting that he could still play a role at the club, by using his stature as one of English football’s greatest midfielders to lure Jude Bellingham away from joining Real Madrid and towards Merseyside.
Klopp continued: ‘That time [when he started as Mainz manager] I didn’t know if I would have a second game to be honest!
‘It’s a big number, I look like I have 1,000 games but I have done it in 22 years and it was pretty quick so here we are.’
Yet for Klopp, while Liverpool will undoubtedly welcome his commitment to the club, given the success he has achieved with the Reds guiding them to both Premier League and Champions League titles, his side currently sit eighth in the Premier League table after a difficult season.
The 2022 FA Cup winners have now won just two of their last five games, falling ten points adrift of their long-standing rivals Manchester United who sit in fourth place.
Champions League football looks like it could just be out of their grasp this season, and Saturday’s drab affair shows Klopp may have some work to do to get the 2019/20 Premier League champions back to their former glory.
‘We had a super intense season,’ the manager said speaking on last season. ‘We won two cups but were not champions because we didn’t win the league. It looks like we are lacking energy I know and it is not cool.
‘We were lacking energy and hunger but it was not on purpose. We need to find consistency.
‘We need to find a good season again and hopefully today we can take another step.’
While they may be struggling with their league form, the Reds’ are still on track to defend their FA Cup title this season, thanks to a 1-0 win against Wolves last Wednesday.
They’re back in action in the Cup next weekend as they take on Brighton in the Fourth Round of the competition.
