Jurgen Klopp is adamant Liverpool are not undergoing a crisis of confidence, but compared their situation to those faced by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
It is clear that, at the moment, things aren’t working for Liverpool the way they have for much of the last four years.
With only three wins from nine games so far this season, there are flaws growing throughout Klopp’s side, which is largely comprised of the same players who have led the club to success in the past.
As Saturday’s 3-3 draw with Brighton showed, there appears to be a mentality issue at present, with the squad seemingly short of confidence.
Speaking ahead of the visit of Rangers on Tuesday night, Klopp addressed the situation and used Ronaldo and Messi as reference points.
“People ask ‘how could that happen that these players are not full of confidence?’,” he said.
“Do you think Cristiano Ronaldo, in this moment, is on top of his confidence level?
“I would say he was for ages the best player in world and now it’s not going his way and it’s not exactly the same.
“That happens to all of us. Lionel Messi played last year a season where it was not exactly the same – because these kind of things are really important to all of us.
“You have to work for it. You have to do and go and to keep, to take the little things, to make a step in the right direction.
“And then, in the moment when you are really ready, then it’s back.
“That’s what we are doing. It’s not that we are without confidence, but being 2-0 is not good for confidence.
“Being 3-2 up is usually really good, but you could see with the first attack they had, which we gave them pretty much after 3-2, it was like ‘oh, still an open game’.
“That’s how it happens, especially collectively.
“In individual sports maybe you can fight yourself through it, but in a team sport, we all have to do it together. That makes it a bit more complicated, but that’s it.”
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