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LIVERPOOL. — Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said he will not leave the English Premiership football club unless he is forced to, and hinted at changes at Anfield during the summer.

Klopp also said he is not being “too loyal” to long-serving players who are underperforming at the club but that a lack of adequate replacements means he has to keep picking them.

Klopp admits a team that came close to winning a quadruple last season are misfiring and have been unable to surprise opponents recently. The downturn, he insists, is not due to players no longer listening to their manager or his faith in talents who are past their best.

The German’s comments come amid a run of poor form for the Reds, who are ninth in the English Premier League and 10 points off a top-four spot.

“Either the manager’s position changes or a lot of other things change,” said Klopp.

“So, as far as I am concerned unless someone tells me I will not go.”

He added: “So that means maybe there is a point where we have to change other stuff. We will see that, but that is something for the future. Like summer or whatever. Not now.

“I have space and time to think about it. We have to play better football now.”

Klopp reiterated it is unlikely any more signings will follow Netherlands forward Cody Gakpo in January, while midfield trio James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be out of contract in the summer along with forward Roberto Firmino.

Liverpool were beaten 3-0 by Brighton on Saturday after what Klopp described as a “really bad” performance, and he said his team had to get “back to basics” to improve their form.

They faced Wolves in an FA Cup third-round replay last night and prior to the game Klopp also denied he had been too loyal to some of his players.

“Yes, of course I have heard it. I heard that before and I am not,” said Klopp.

“I am loyal. I think everybody should be loyal, but I am not too loyal.”

He added: “The problem is too complex. You have a good player who did a lot of good things in the past and then in your mind (you think) maybe that’s it for him.

“If you can then go out and bring in another player to replace (him) that makes sense.

“If you cannot bring anybody in you cannot bring anybody out. That is the situation.”

Liverpool’s struggles have seen them concede the first goal 21 times in their past 35 matches, and they have not kept a clean sheet in the Premier League since October.

However, Klopp does not think some of his players have stopped listening to him.

“I was not that often in a similar situation, but I know exactly how it works when things don’t go well,” he said.

“There is a list of things you go through and one of the things is the players aren’t listening to the coach any more.

“In Germany we say the manager doesn’t reach the team any more. So I understand it looks like this sometimes but it is just not the case. You can take that off the list. “Everyone feels responsible. There is nobody sitting there thinking, “I was OK but he wasn’t’. It wasn’t there, I don’t see it, I don’t hear it, it’s not there.

“If it was here then the player would have a real problem. That is the moment the problems really start.” — BBC Sport