‘It is down to the players’: Jordan Henderson leaps to Jurgen Klopp’s defence amid Liverpool slump
Champions have lost their last three league games and are 13 points behind leaders Man City
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Your support makes all the difference.Jordan Henderson leapt to the defence of Jurgen Klopp as the Liverpool captain insisted he and his team-mates take “full responsibility” for their blip in form.
Defeat at Leicester on Saturday was Liverpool’s third in a row, leading Klopp to admit the defence of their Premier League title was over after they fell 13 points behind leaders Manchester City, who have played one game fewer.
The Reds can briefly forget their domestic difficulties as they resume their Champions League campaign against RB Leipzig on Tuesday night, and Henderson is eager to reward his manager’s faith in the group.
Ahead of the trip to Budapest for the last-16 first leg against the Bundesliga side, Henderson said: “The manager is really good in situations like this, in adversity he is the one we listen to the most.
“He is always there for us and tries to protect us the most, but as players we take full responsibility. As players it is down to us to change the situation we are in. There are no question marks over the manager and how he reacts after games.
“He actually reacts totally opposite to what people would think and handles situations like that very well. That is why we want to go out there and put in a performance on, for the team but him as well.
“It is down to us to go out there and keep working hard, keep fighting to try to change this tough period that we’ve been going through over the last few weeks. Hopefully we can do that (against Leipzig).”
Klopp had earlier rubbished rumours he was ready to take a break or quit his post, while Henderson dismissed speculation on social media that goalkeeper Alisson Becker and Andy Robertson had a bust-up after the Leicester loss.
Henderson said: “I don’t think I even need to comment on something like that. Someone is sitting behind a keyboard making up rumours about the manager or the players in the dressing room.
“It doesn’t need me to say anything about it. Not true. I quite liked the one where Robbo and Ali were having a fight about something. That made me chuckle, but apart from that I didn’t really give it much thought.”
Liverpool conceded three times in the space of seven turbulent second-half minutes at the King Power Stadium as they crashed to their third defeat this month, following setbacks against Brighton and City.
Henderson added: “It is difficult. We set standards for a long period, to then lose a few games in a short space of time is not normal for us, so it is something we need to adapt to very quickly.
“But I feel the lads give everything when we train and every time we play. I feel once we do come out of it, hopefully that’s sooner than later, we will be a lot stronger as a team for it.
“Strength comes from adversity at times and you stick together as a team and get through it and if we do that then I’m sure we’ll be even stronger come the end.”
PA
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