Jurgen Klopp has rejected suggestions that his Liverpool struggles mirror those he experienced after seven years with both Mainz and Borussia Dortmund.
Klopp marked his seven-year anniversary as Reds manager on Saturday and while his success at Anfield has helped make him the longest-serving manager in the Premier League, a disappointing opening few weeks to the campaign sees his side heading to Arsenal on Sunday afternoon 13 points behind league leaders Manchester City, albeit with two games in hand.
Klopp left both Mainz and Dortmund after seven years but the Liverpool boss has dismissed any comparisons with the respective situations he experienced during his time as a coach in his homeland.
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"I had no plans [to stay at Liverpool] for seven years," Klopp said. "But I think that in the first press conference I mentioned four years, that if I am here for four years then we would probably win something. I am not 100% sure if that worked out but that day I was happy to survive the press conference because my English skills were really not that good. I know I said a lot of things and some people remember and some things they thankfully forgot.
"The situation at the clubs [in Germany] were completely different [at the seven-year point]. I was a manager at Mainz and after three years we got promoted and then after three years we got relegated. We tried one more year to get promoted and then after that the club needed a change. Players left us for the Bundesliga and they needed a fresh start, definitely. It had nothing to do with [a lack of] energy. Then I went to Dortmund, I could have stayed [at Mainz], they wanted me to stay, we just couldn't make the Bundesliga that year. We were fourth in the second league.
"At Dortmund, after seven years the situation was that players constantly pulled out [and sold]. It was just a hard job to do constantly instead of developing a team constantly making two steps back and people asking why you aren't as good as last year. We just lost key players in certain positions, so just give us a bit of time. That was really intense and exhausting. And that was why I said 'OK, we have to stop it here'.
"I actually had no energy problem at all. I had a year-long holiday because it was fancy to do. Pep Guardiola did it, Thomas Tuchel did it so why should I not do it? I couldn't do it, actually. After four months I was here and I have no problem with energy here. The situation is completely different here. I can understand after seven years and we are here now in a difficult situation that people take that but if you think twice about it, you realise the situation is completely different.
"And being here for seven years is intense, no doubt about that. Everyone gets older. Yes, it's a difficult time and did I think that after match-day seven we'd be ninth or whatever? No, because I don't think about those things but this is the basis that we have so let's go from here. If there's one club that has a chance to go through it together, it's us."
After the 4-1 loss to Napoli on September 7, Klopp was asked in the post-match press conference if he feared for his job given Chelsea had sacked Thomas Tuchel that same day. The Reds boss insists he has never feared for his job during this particular sticky patch of form and believes Liverpool can still "create something special" from this term.
He added: "We don't have to do it the same way as other clubs. I know with one point more than us Chelsea sacked Thomas Tuchel and everyone in Germany said 'oh they sacked Tuchel but Klopp stays in a job!' You don't have to ask me why that's the case, we still have the chance to create something really special from this point.
"Does it look at the moment that we will be champions at the end of the year? Unfortunately not. But in all other competitions we're not out yet. And nobody knows where we will end up in the league yet so let's just give it a go. Difficult? Yes. Impossible? No. That's enough. So let's just go from here."
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