Jurgen Klopp has insisted that Liverpool are not suffering a hangover from last season and said disappointment from not securing the quadruple is no excuse for their winless beginning to the Premier League campaign.

Liverpool have only taken two points from their first three matches, after drawing with Fulham and Crystal Palace and losing to Manchester United, and are already seven points behind leaders Arsenal and five adrift of champions Manchester City.

They were two games from winning all four competitions they entered last season but finished as runners-up in the Premier League and beaten finalists in the Champions League, but Klopp feels that is not a factor in their slow start.

“You mean because of not winning?” Klopp asked. “That is not an excuse. That never crossed my mind. That season is gone. If you want to turn it around in the Champions League, now we know the group. If we want to turn around the league, we know the opponents. Even the League Cup, we know the opponent now, so no hangover.

“Physically we had the season we had, we played 63 games plus internationals so maybe 70 games. Some players had for sure too many games and then only three weeks off, is that enough? Probably not but the boys are used to it.

“The last five years might have looked different but our supporters know if you want to support a club without any kind of drama or lows then you cannot choose Liverpool. Our people are used to that. This is the first proper fightback early in the season and it will take hopefully until the last day of the season, just us against the rest of the world. Let’s go.”

Klopp held a meeting this week after the defeat at Old Trafford but said he did not let his players speak in it.

“There is no discussion,” he explained. “I was getting things off my chest. The good thing about this meeting is I feel much better after it. It is not that I shout at the players: not at all, it is about putting things in perspective, what we did well and what we didn’t do well.

“I’m 55 and they are 30. I got washed with all kinds of water in my life, highs and lows, and it is all about how you deal with it. It was a bit of a longer meeting, these kind of meetings always are, and afterwards I felt better.”

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