Jurgen Klopp has joked that leaving Liverpool at the end of last season would have been a "really smart" move to make.
The German coach wrote his name in Anfield folklore by guiding the Reds to their first top-flight title in 30 years last time out, a year on from lifting the Champions League.
Liverpool have made a shaky start to 2020-21, however, having lost three of their nine matches in all competitions, including a humiliating 7-2 league defeat at Aston Villa.
Klopp has also had to contend with defender Virgil van Dijk being ruled out for the rest of the season, and the 53-year-old quipped that he may have been better off quitting in July.
"If I would have been a really smart person I would have left in the summer!" he told BT Sport. "It would have been really positive what people would have said, but unfortunately I'm not that smart! I don't know, it's really not about me.
"When I used that phrase ["it doesn't matter what people say about you when you arrive, but what they say when you leave"] it was specifically about the Borussia Dortmund farewell because people were positive when I arrived there and they were positive when I left there in the right manner.
"So that's all good and if that happens, whenever it will be, I will be fine with that. What we can win between now and then, I have no idea, but I can promise we will try everything."
Liverpool got back to winning ways on Wednesday evening with a 1-0 win at Ajax in their opening Champions League group match.
