For Jurgen Klopp, it was a reflection of the monologue chunnering away inside his most struggling players. But the Liverpool boss could easily have been talking about himself.
"Oh my God, everything is going against me," he quipped while urging his under-performing squad members not to start feeling sorry for themselves after a difficult campaign stalled once again with an FA Cup exit at Brighton and Hove Albion last Sunday.
But Klopp would have been forgiven for thinking exactly the same when news filtered through in the days following the match that Ibrahima Konate had become the latest Reds player to be directed towards the treatment room, a hamstring issue likely to sideline the French defender for up to three weeks.
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While, like so many of his team-mates, nowhere near his best level, Konate had been one of Liverpool's better players since the resumption of the season after a World Cup in which he was an Emiliano Martinez foot away from having assisted the winning goal in the final.
And with Virgil van Dijk having been on the sidelines for more than a month - the Dutchman is expected to be back in parts of training next week - it has compelled Klopp to turn to yet another centre-back pairing in Joel Matip and Joe Gomez.
"The changes of partnership are not cool, you don't want to have it," said the Liverpool boss. "You want to make them when you are rotating or everyone is in a perfect moment. But Joey and Joel obviously played together before and that's not a massive problem but it's not perfect, that's clear."
It is not. Despite a combined total of more than 14 years of experience in the Liverpool squad, the duo have previously lined up only four times together at the heart of the defence.
The first was also their only time in the Premier League, the 2-2 draw at Manchester City in November 2020, shortly after which Gomez suffered the serious knee injury that ended his campaign. They were paired twice last season, in the Champions League home win over AC Milan and the Carabao Cup victory at Preston North End, although Matip was substituted at half-time for Nat Phillips. And the one time this term saw Matip and Gomez partnered for the 3-2 Carabao Cup loss at City a few days before Christmas.
That, though, is it. Admittedly, Van Dijk's dominance of the role has prevented any partnership not involving the Dutchman to flourish, and when he was ruled out for nine months in October 2020, Gomez was similarly put on the sidelines only a few weeks later.
The defensive woes that have weakened Liverpool this season are in some ways unsurprising given the back four that started the Champions League final last May has lined up only once this campaign - notably in the Reds' best away Premier League performance in a 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur in November. Indeed, the preferred defensive spine of the team - Van Dijk and Konate with Fabinho in defensive midfield - had started only four games, three of which were won. The fourth, the loss at Brentford at the start of the year, saw Van Dijk go off at half-time after picking up an injury in the first half.
Konate's latest setback has also impacted the future of Phillips, with Liverpool considerably less keen to move on the centre-back during the closing days of the January transfer window despite having recalled Rhys Williams from his loan at Blackpool partly to cover for a possible departure. And with whispers the Reds could consider cashing in on Matip this summer as he approaches the last 12 months of his contract, the state of flux in such a key position could soon intensify.
Of course, the last time Liverpool were scrambling for Champions League qualification two years ago, they ultimately had to rely on Phillips and Williams during a Premier League campaign which, similar to this season, saw the final quarter played in April and May.
With respect to that duo, Klopp will hope it won't come to that this time around. Van Dijk and Konate are not expected to be out for any considerable length of time, Liverpool hopeful they can be back together for the Champions League round of 16 first leg visit of Real Madrid in three weeks. For now, though, the Reds are once again reliant on a largely untried centre-back pairing to edge them nearer the top four.
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