Global impact, Klopp announces his future away from Liverpool after failing to qualify for the Champions League

Jürgen Klopp insists he does not need a break from the Premier League after completing a disappointing 2022/23 season in charge of Liverpool. The Reds crashed out of UEFA Champions League qualification after finishing fifth in the English league standings. Sunday's thrilling 4-4 draw with relegated Southampton extended the Merseyside outfit's unbeaten run in domestic competition to 11 games, a late resurgence in their bid to reach Europe's top table.

Despite the frustrating campaign, the German manager says he feels "full of energy" and ready to return to the top from mid-2023. When asked if he needs time off, the former Borussia Dortmund man was blunt. "No, no, no, no, not at all. Honestly, I'm completely fine," he replied. In any case, he made a clarification regarding his feelings two months ago. "If you had asked me 11 games ago (prior to the unbeaten run), about whether I wanted to take a break, I would have thought about it, to be honest," he added, before confirming that he is "full of energy".

On the other hand, the 55-year-old German is confident that the (European) winter break will prove restorative. "I have (a time) off, I don't have training or that kind of thing. But hopefully a really busy period will start from now on in a different area of the game. I'm more than happy to do that. I'll find time to revitalise myself and then we'll start again in July," he confided. Liverpool's fifth-place finish was their lowest since finishing eighth in the 2015/16 season, during which Klopp arrived with the course begun to replace Brendan Rodgers at Anfield.

He will take a break

Against that backdrop, the Stuttgart-born manager believes his club held together during some difficult times and is determined to recapture the fear factor they used to pass on to opposing teams. "There's not much to learn (from the season), but a lot of clubs, when expectations are as high as ours, when things don't go well quickly, they start to blame each other. That didn't happen here. The better you behave in a crisis, the better you come out of it, and I really thought that was the case for us," he analysed.