Klopp accepts blame as static Liverpool slump again
LONDON (Reuters) - Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp was at a loss to explain his team's shock 2-1 home defeat by Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday, their third loss at Anfield in a dispiriting week.
The German made nine changes from the team beaten 1-0 by Southampton in the League Cup semi-final on Wednesday and he watched another laboured performance against a team lying 18th in the Championship who led 2-0 at halftime.
"If someone asks if this is the lowest point of my Liverpool time until now, I don't know," Klopp told reporters.
"I don't think it is the right time to talk about being positive or optimistic. In this moment we feel really bad."
Liverpool, fourth in the Premier League, have won only one game out of eight in January and their chances of lifting a trophy this season look bleak.
"It is a perfect moment to turn because it is not possible to go lower," Klopp said.
"It is absolutely right that it feels bad and we have to use this moment."
Liverpool fell behind in the first minute when Richard Stearman got behind a static defence to head home and Andreas Weimann doubled Wolves' lead just before halftime.
Klopp threw on Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge to spearhead a revival and Divock Origi scored a consolation goal in the 86th minute but Wolves hung on to become the seventh lower-tier team to knock Liverpool out of the FA Cup since 2000.
"We made a lot of changes, most of them because we couldn't do differently, a few because we wanted," Klopp said.
"After losing two games we are not full of confidence, not flying and the start of the game doesn't make it easier. A free kick after a minute and a goal makes them fly.
"In the first half we were too static, not fluent enough and that side didn't play too often together but it should have been better."
Klopp, whose team also lost 3-2 at home to relegation-threatened Swansea City in the Premier League last Saturday, accepted blame.
"I feel really responsible for this performance because I thought we could do better," he said.
"I cannot explain every single thing today but I don't look for excuses."
(Reporting by Ed Osmond; Editing by Clare Fallon)