Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists he does not need a break from management following a disappointing campaign with the Reds.
Kloppโs team didnโt get into the Champions League because they didnโt finish in the top four for the first time in a full season while he was in charge.
Liverpool went 11 games without losing in the Premier League, but they had to settle for fifth place after a 4-4 draw at Southampton on the last day of the season.
Klopp is the longest-serving manager in the Premier League, and there were rumours that the intense German might leave Liverpool because he was tired of it.
But, asked if he needs time off from football, Klopp said: โNo, no, no, not at all. Honestly, Iโm completely fine.
โIf youโd asked me 11 games ago, โdo you want to have a break?โ, I would have thought about it, to be honest.
โBut Iโm absolutely fine, full of energy. I have a break โ I donโt have training and these kind of things.
โI will find time to reenergise and then we start again in July.โ
The fifth-place finish was Liverpoolโs worst since the 2015-16 season, when Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers at Anfield and they finished eighth.
Despite their difficulties, Klopp is encouraged by the manner in which his team remained united during difficult times.
โThere is not a lot to learn (from the season) but a lot of clubs when the expectations are as high as ours when things donโt go well pretty quickly you start blaming each other,โ he said.
โThat didnโt happen here. The better you behave in a crisis, the better you get out of it โ and I really thought that was the case for us.
โWeโre really, really not happy about it and for a club like us itโs massive not to qualify for the Champions League.
โIf we improve, we are all of a sudden again a team nobody wants to play against and thatโs what we have to become again.โ
Photo by EPA/DANIEL HAMBURY