LIVERPOOL -- Jurgen Klopp insists Sadio Mane's absence from the Liverpool team is not the sole reason for their recent slump in form.
Mane is currently away with Senegal at the African Nations Cup and his two goals have helped his national team reach the quarterfinals of the tournament in Gabon.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have only won once in 2017 and fell to fourth in the Premier League following Saturday's 3-2 defeat to Swansea City at Anfield.
However, Klopp believes there other factors that have halted his team's momentum, including Philippe Coutinho's ankle ligament damage and the uncertainty around Joel Matip's eligibility while the African Nations Cup takes place.
"It's a problem," Klopp told a news conference when asked about the impact of Mane being away. "We miss Sadio, we missed Phil for a long time and we missed Joel Matip -- that's really difficult. Sometimes we did really well in most of the games.
"As much as I like Sadio, it's not allowed that we think a few problems we had in the last games are because we miss Sadio. That's not how football should be, that's not how life should be.
"In the games where we didn't have the result [we wanted], we made other mistakes than not scoring enough goals because we scored two against Swansea. We scored enough goals to win the games."
Klopp added: "Now I know you spoke a lot about defence but you [the media] always speak about players, I speak about the whole defence work of the team, so that's different.
"If it would be that easy to buy one new player and all the problems are solved, then why should I be that silly and not do it? It's not like this.
"We have to improve still, that's what we know about. I knew about the problems we had after the Christmas period, but that was really disappointing and the Swansea game was not in these thoughts anymore.
"I saw before the game that we are on the right track and that we could already see the freshness coming back in training and all that stuff. Then you have this game, so that makes it not too nice. It's part of life too and especially part of life as a football manager. We had a long meeting after the game. I'm ready for the rest of the season."
Liverpool face Southampton at Anfield on Wednesday evening in the second leg of their EFL Cup semifinal tie.
The Reds need to overturn a one-goal deficit over Claude Puel's side if they are to reach the final at Wembley on Feb. 26.
Klopp believes the occasion presents a good opportunity to bring back the feel-good factor that was present around the club in the opening months of the season.
He said: "Did we play really, really good football until the end of last year? Yes. Did we lose on Nov. 26 Phil Coutinho and a few days later Joel Matip -- two of the best players until now? Yes. Is this lucky? No. Did we cope with the situation? Yes.
"We don't sit back now and say: 'Look at this.' We don't look for excuses. What we need is to fight. In the good moments this team is still able to play wonderful football and we did it already.
"In the Swansea game, a few of the best minutes maybe in the season came after we were 2-0 down. It was really good. It's all we have to do -- don't think about why we lost this or that. We are responsible for our situation and that's how we feel.
"I can feel it around that it's not that positive anymore and maybe that's normal, too. It's our job to bring everybody back on track. Because it's a night game at Anfield, the impact would be unbelievable if there was an outstanding performance from the crowd."
Klopp said that there were no injury concerns within the Liverpool squad ahead of the Southampton game.