Premier League: Liverpool must prove we were right to keep squad together, says Klopp

Liverpool must prove the decision to keep its squad together was the right one by performing well, feels manager Jurgen Klopp.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp wants his side to replicate last season's success.

Jurgen Klopp urged Liverpool to prove he was right to keep his squad together after a quiet transfer window.

The European champion only added three players – teenagers Sepp van den Berg and Harvey Elliott and back-up goalkeeper Adrian – to their squad.

Klopp, whose team open the Premier League season at home to Norwich City on Friday, hopes Liverpool prove him right after it retained its stars in the off-season.

"Big teams stay together for a number of years," the German told UK newspapers.

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"I really think it makes sense to keep this team together, but we have to prove that. If we had bought new players people might ask, 'After you played last season like this you send some of them away?'"

While it won the Champions League, Liverpool fell just short domestically, its haul of 97 points one short of Manchester City.

Klopp believes the Premier League giants must avoid making drastic changes every season, pointing to previous sides who have dominated.

"The big teams of the past – and I don't say we are a big team now, that will be decided in a couple of years – they stay together for a number of years. They do not need a lot of changes," he said.

"I am not comparing us with Barcelona of five, six or seven years ago but they stayed together. A new player came in and struggled and so it was the same players who played again.

"Man United had the class of '92. How long did they stay together? They changed a few after [Eric] Cantona got older and brought in Van the Man [Ruud van Nistelrooy] or whoever. You do not change completely.

"We are a good team together in a very difficult league with a lot of competitors desperate to get the position we are in.

"Nobody knows how it will look exactly but Sunday [the Community Shield loss to Manchester City] showed we will be fine and the rest is what we make of it."