LONDON • Jurgen Klopp has vowed not to "cry like a five-year-old" if Liverpool fail to deliver the players he wants in the January transfer window.
His injury-hit side have slumped to fourth in the Premier League after five games without a win. The champions sit six points behind leaders Manchester United (40) and lost at Anfield in the league for the first time since 2017 when Burnley won 1-0 on Thursday.
The crux of Liverpool's crisis is injuries to defenders Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip. Van Dijk and Gomez are long-term absentees and Matip has battled fitness issues, forcing Klopp to use midfielders Fabinho and Jordan Henderson at centre back.
The Reds have been destabilised as a result, but Klopp has been unable to convince his employers to bring in a replacement during the transfer window.
"I am not a five-year-old kid any more and if I don't get what I want I start crying," Klopp said ahead of today's FA Cup fourth-round trip to United, a quick turnaround after the 0-0 Premier League home draw with the Red Devils just last week.
"Most of the time in my life I didn't get what I want. We are all probably pretty much used to that.
"I am responsible for a big part of this club but there are people responsible for the whole thing and I cannot make their decisions.
"A centre-half would help 100 per cent. Would we score more goals with a centre half? I am not sure. Would it give us more stability in specific moments? Probably yes.
"It is not about what it would be like with someone else and never ever we spoke in the transfer window like this because it would be an excuse and we don't need that."
Four league matches without a goal is the club's worst run in almost 21 years. However, Klopp refused to see it as a bigger a challenge than anything else he has encountered at Anfield.
"Everything we did in the last five years felt like a challenge. There is a different challenge. Is it as big? I don't know," he added.
"It is not like when we win the league I put my feet on the desk and think, 'That's it now' and smoke a cigar and think, 'Well done, from now on everything will work without any doing of mine'."
The German added that he was looking to rebuild confidence in his misfiring squad.
"Confidence is not naturally given to normal people, so some things have to work out to build confidence.
"It didn't work out in the final third for us in the last few games," Klopp said.
He also confirmed that he would name a strong line-up in the tie at Old Trafford.
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, meanwhile, plans to make full use of his squad today.
"We'll rotate, that's for sure," said the Norwegian. "We'll put a decent team together of course, a team I feel can win the game.
"The FA Cup is a run we've got to enjoy as long as it lasts. We got to the semis last year and, as I said, we're going to make a few changes but we'll put a team out there that I hope can go through.
"Anyone can have an easy Cup run, I'm not one of those. I never get an easy Cup run! This time around, we are up against one of the favourites and we know this is a big one if you want to go all the way."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
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