Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool’s 2-1 loss to Crystal Palace in November 2015 was a turning point in his tenure at the club.
Goals from Yannick Bolasie and Scott Dann inflicted defeat upon Klopp for the first time as Liverpool boss.
The German, who had taken charge the previous month, reacted badly to the reverse against Sam Allardyce’s side and berated supporters for leaving early.
Klopp then set about upgrading his squad the following summer and Liverpool are now on the brink of securing the Premier League title.
And their manager believes the side has come a long way since that defeat by Palace – who travel to Anfield on Wednesday – four and a half years ago.
“On that day I felt literally alone because so many people left the stadium and I thought it was important that night to make a statement that things had to change,” Klopp said.
“We had to change and supporters could change as well if they wanted to help. I’ve never felt alone again since then, honestly, and I will not feel alone when something special will happen whenever it will happen.”
“We didn’t have a massive masterplan behind it and think: ‘We have to sell him, him and him and bring in him, him and him.’ Not that night, for sure. It was a cold night against Palace, I remember that, but I don’t know too much about that time any more.
“The only thing I know is that the team we had at the time was the basis for what we have now. They created the mood that we could build on, even if the mood was not that good in the moment.
“We had to use the fact that people wanted to change things. If people don’t want to change and think everything is fine because a new manager is coming then nobody is bothered.
“The situation was our starting point and losing to Crystal Palace that night maybe helped more because I could make this kind of statement after the game.
“It was not planned, it was just what I felt in this moment, and it helped us to come together closer because people discussed the influence of supporters in the stadium that night.
“They had to think about it and thought: ‘OK, we are not just there for the start and for 80 minutes of the game, the team needs us for 95 or 100 minutes or however long it will go.’ That was important.
“A lot of things have changed. I couldn’t tell you how many players, but the team at that time was not so bad and the team now is a pretty good one. A lot of things we did in the past obviously worked out and may that continue for ever! That would be really cool.”
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