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Pressure on Liverpool to deliver trophies, says Klopp

The German is about to undertake his third full season in charge but despite the progress since he took over in 2015, he is yet to win his first trophy with the club.

Liverpool have lost in three finals under Klopp – the League Cup and Europa League in his first campaign and the Champions League last season – while finishing eighth, fourth and fourth in the Premier League.

Klopp said: “People will say that. It is the next step and we need to be ready for that. I cannot give guarantees here but I understand if people think that. I know about the expectations and that is completely normal.

“First of all we have to play the football that gives us an opportunity to win something. We cannot talk about winning something before we start the season.

“I am confident we can build on last season. It’s not that we lost things completely but you have to work on it to get it back. 

''The football the boys played last year was not easy. There was a lot of work invested into playing like that. 

''That’s what we will do again. I am not in doubt about our basis or that we will reach it again.

“Other teams, of course, will do transfer business as well. They will not be weaker than last year. City brought in (Riyad) Mahrez. 

''I did not hear that they lost one player so far. So it means the quality of last year plus Mahrez. That’s a nice plan as well. United will go for it, too, and that’s completely normal.

“We expect more from ourselves. We will go again for the championship and each kind of cup but that does not mean I can sit here and we will get it. We have the highest ambitions, 100 per cent.”

The German has made four signings since, adding goalkeeper Alisson from AS Roma, midfielder Naby Keita from RB Leipzig, defensive midfielder Fabinho from Monaco and winger Xherdan Shaqiri from Stoke City.

A number of other key names are also still missing, and Klopp said: “I want to have the best start ever but we all know something can happen and it is all questioned in a second.

“I am in the third season and each season we have a period where a few people questioned me or our progress and all that stuff and in the end it was OK. I am prepared for these moments. I don’t want to have them but I will not go nuts and think we have lost everything.

“The new players will make us stronger 100 per cent. But it will not happen in the first day. It is all about staying calm, looking at the situation, judging it right and then make the step.”

Liverpool won three of their four matches against Manchester City last season, including both legs of their Champions League quarter-final, but finished 25 points behind them in the league.

Klopp believes consistency is the answer to closing the gap, saying: “It is not just that we have to be more consistent, we have to create circumstances where we can be more consistent. Nobody is consistent with 11 players. What we are working on is the depth of the squad.”