Jürgen Klopp has claimed he would quit as Liverpool manager the moment he harboured any doubt over his ability to end the club’s prolonged wait for the Premier League title.

Liverpool trail Manchester United by seven points before their early clash at Anfield on Saturday having won once in seven matches in all competitions, albeit while producing stronger performances than results would suggest. Klopp’s prospects of delivering a first league championship to Liverpool since 1990 have also not been helped by the financial power and early‑season form shown by the two Manchester clubs.

But having returned Champions League football to Anfield in his first full season in charge, Klopp remains convinced Liverpool “are on a good way” and can compete with wealthier rivals. He would not be Liverpool manager, he insisted, if he suspected otherwise.

“In the moment when I think we cannot be successful, and there is only consolation, I go,” Klopp said. “Why should I be here as some kind of caretaker until the world creates a manager who can be more successful? That makes no sense. I am really convinced. Other managers have different ways to do it, other clubs have different ways to do it. We have our way. I don’t think I am the perfect manager, I only think I am the perfect fit for this club. And I feel already much more responsible than maybe I should. I don’t even think about going from my side or saying ‘That’s it’. I really think we are on the right way.

“Doing things like this [spending money] makes it more likely. Yes, we need to be a little bit luckier but to do that you have to carry on working. I know we are on a good way. If we could start again now by bringing me in, I would still have the same fire and the same passion, absolutely no problem. I know people don’t want to wait. We cannot change this. If you don’t want to wait, don’t wait. It’s like, if you have a really good situation in your private life, then enjoy it. But if your neighbour has a better situation, does that mean you can’t enjoy your own situation? ‘But he’s got one more car, he gets to go on one extra holiday.’ It’s not about others. It’s about us becoming happy.”

Klopp admitted he did not open a bottle of champagne to toast his two-year anniversary as Liverpool manager last Sunday as he is “not overly happy” with the team’s results. Though he cautioned: “If they [Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s owner] sacked me now, there would not be a lot of managers who would do the job better than I do. I don’t think I am perfect but, as long as 98% of Liverpudlians are behind us, then we are on the right way and we will succeed.”

In 24 months at Liverpool the two‑times Bundesliga winner has spent £148m on new players and recouped £116m. His opposite number at United, José Mourinho, has spent £306m and recouped £41m in 17 months at Old Trafford. Yet Klopp insists the financial disparity is not reflected in Liverpool’s quality or ambition. He said: “Can we dominate them for the next 20 years without spending the same amount of money? Probably not. But can we still be there? Yes, of course we can and we want to force this.

“We want to be consistent, constantly at our high level and improve it. Even when we lose a player in the future we want to bring in other players. That’s the benefit of a long-term project. I know the owners are not in doubt about me, about us, about anything. It’s really OK but of course we know we have to deliver.

“At Newcastle I was close [to losing it after the 1-1 draw]. It was too much for me for a second. It felt unfair after the game. We were the better side, we had more chances. They had one chance and scored. A journalist asked me: ‘Do you think it’s a fair result?’ I said ’What do you think?’ When he said ‘Yes’, I was close to saying, ‘Come on, get up!’ As a human being I’m not proud of this. When I went out, I thought, ‘Come on, go back, shake hands. It’s not his fault ...’ But it’s how the world is. They aren’t interested. It’s about results. Deliver: we know that.”

Klopp predicted United “will not be as passive” as they were in the goalless draw at Anfield last season. He also admitted Liverpool’s collective confidence suffered more than it should have done after the 5-0 defeat at Manchester City on 9 September when Sadio Mané, who will miss the next six weeks with a hamstring injury, was sent off.

The Liverpool manager said: “We want a situation to create confidence. Against City we were the better team before we had 10 men and then they scored five and something like 40 goals in the next two weeks. We took the knock and thought, ‘Shit, we conceded five,’ but it was not that bad. We were the better side in all the games after that and did not win, except at Leicester. The big challenge is stay confident and play football. I am ready for this and the boys are ready for this.”