Jurgen Klopp 'will not cry like a five-year-old' if Liverpool fail to buy January transfer targets

Ahead of FA Cup fourth-round tie at Manchester United, Reds manager is finding that financial constraints caused by Covid-19 are taking their toll

Jurgen Klopp vowed not to "cry like a five-year-old" if Liverpool fail to deliver the players he wants in the January transfer window.

The German's injury-hit side have dropped to fourth in the Premier League after five games without a win and 440 minutes of top-flight action without a goal.

The champions sit six points behind leaders Manchester United – who they drew 0-0 with last weekend and face again in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday – and lost at Anfield in the league for the first time since 2017 when Burnley won 1-0 on Thursday.

At the heart of the Merseysiders' current slump is a series of injuries to defenders Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip – with the former pair long-term absentees.

Liverpool have been destabilised as a result, but Klopp has been unable to convince his employers to bring in a replacement so far during the transfer window.

Klopp said senior figures within the club who control the finances have the final say as the financial implications of the coronavirus pandemic take their toll.

"I am not a five-year-old kid any more and if I don't get what I want I start crying," Klopp said ahead of the game against their arch-rivals at Old Trafford. "Most of the time in my life I didn't get what I want. We are all probably pretty much used to that.

"I am responsible for a big part of this club but there are people responsible for the whole thing and I cannot make their decisions. I know they are with us and they want to support us and they do.

"A centre-half would help 100 per cent. Would we score more goals with a centre-half? I am not sure. Would it give us more stability in specific moments? Probably yes.

"It is not about what it would be like with someone else and never ever we spoke in the transfer window like this because it would be an excuse and we don't need that."

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Liverpool 0 United 0: player ratings

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Klopp also admitted that he needs to change the way he is communicating with his players as they look to put an end to their recent struggles.

"When you don't like a situation you have to change the right things, not everything, and that is what we try to do," he said.

"I like to see that in each bad situation there is a chance for something and I see it that way, but I will speak to my players.

"We want to change the situation, as you can imagine, and that is what we do now.

"Directly after the [Burnley] game I said exactly what I thought. I said that when things don't work out on the pitch as we want them to then there is an issue and the issue is the things I tell the boys.

"I didn't tell them clear enough so I have to change the way I tell the boys and then we have to change the way we play.

"We have to work on the details. We have to play football, we have to create, defend, score, 100 per cent we know that, and that's what we try to do again on Sunday."