• Manager held inquest the day after losing against Swansea at Anfield • German admits his players are not enjoying the job they have to do

Jürgen Klopp has admitted he is not happy with Liverpool’s past few results in the Premier League and revealed he held a “long” meeting with his players the day after the 3-2 defeat by Swansea City.

Klopp also suggested the players were not enjoying themselves at the moment. “We had a very intense period around Christmas and new year,” the Liverpool manager said. “Fair enough, so did everybody else, but before the Swansea game I actually thought we were back on the right track, with the freshness coming back. But what I spoke most about was enjoying what we do.

“We are Liverpool, a really good football-playing side, and we don’t enjoy the job we have to do. It is not as though we are a team at the bottom of the league that has to defend 80% or 90% of the time. In most of our games we are dominant, so we have to enjoy this, even when we don’t come through after five minutes.”

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He also said their recent defensive record was discussed at the meeting. “We scored two goals, enough to win the game, but I felt the defending could be improved. I also think the goals we have conceded in 2017 have been a little bit of the same story. The influence of throw-ins is a bit too big, for instance, so we spoke about that.”

Liverpool have won just one of their six games since beating Manchester City on New Year’s Eve, and that was with the help of a replay against Plymouth Argyle of League Two in the FA Cup. They were defeated by their next opponents, Southampton, in the first leg of the EFL Cup, though Klopp believes a one-goal deficit should not be too much to overcome in the return at Anfield on Wednesday. “For us, 1-0 is no different to 0-0, there is still all to play for, everything is still possible. If it had been 3-0 to Southampton after the first leg we would have had to think about a few things.”

Therein lies the rub, because most observers felt Liverpool were lucky to escape St Mary’s with a single-goal defeat. Southampton certainly made enough clear chances to win the game 3-0, and Klopp is aware his defence is being breached too easily.

He denies Liverpool’s slump in form has anything to do with the absence of Joël Matip – “we are a big club, it is not allowed to say you miss one player” – and feels in any case that his side needs to defend better as a team. “Sometimes there’s a single mistake, but most of the time it is seven or eight players who could have done something differently. That’s how we understand it.

“It’s not about one player. We really have to do better as a defensive unit. That was one of the things we discussed in our long meeting after the Swansea game, and I think we are all ready for the rest of the season now. The feeling around the club is not quite as positive as it was, and it’s our job to bring that positivity back.”

Liverpool could be through to a Wembley final by Wednesday night, and after reaching the final of the same competition last year Klopp would like to go one better and win it. “A semi-final is a big game for us. We have to concentrate on Southampton, then see who is available for Wolves at the weekend before we can turn our attention to Chelsea,” he said.

Klopp is becoming used to fixture overload by now, though while it is clearly not ideal to have a showdown with the league leaders as a third game in six days, he reserved most of his scorn for the early kick-off in the FA Cup on Saturday. “We want to take our EFL semi-final seriously, as well as the FA Cup, but it is clear not everyone feels the same. We have an important semi-final on Wednesday night so they have given us a 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday.”

Klopp has confirmed that Jordan Henderson is still feeling discomfort from a heel injury, though says it is not the same complaint that sidelined him for three months last season and believes the situation can be managed. Henderson is expected to play against Southampton in the EFL Cup, though his manager explained he might have to grit his teeth.

“It is similar to last season but different,” he said. “We know a lot more about how to treat the problem now, and at this stage of the season we are not doing much training between games in any case. If the other lads are running, Hendo will be on the bike. He feels it a little bit when he plays but he can cope with it.”