Jurgen Klopp was chippy at the start of his post-match interview, and things did not improve when he was asked about Liverpool’s latest injury.
An enraged Klopp directed his anger at the pitchside reporter after Liverpool and Brighton and Hove Albion suffered more injuries in a 1-1 draw at the Amex Stadium on Saturday.
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Klopp has been complaining about the 7:30 am ET start time three days after Liverpool play Champions League football, and answered the BT Sport reporter’s post-match question about James Milner’s injury with a “congratulations.”
When told that the interviewer doesn’t set the fixture times, a furious Klopp would not relent (it probably didn’t help that Liverpool conceded two penalties, one in stoppage time, and also saw two goals taken off the board by VAR for offside).
When the topic turned to the Premier League not using five subs, Klopp turned some of his fury onto managers who voted it against it. He poured particular vitriol on Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder.“When we had the talk between managers a week ago, it was 15-5 if not 16-4 for five subs. Since then, nothing happened. But Chris Wilder or whoever says constantly that he’s selfish. I think all the things he’s said show that he’s selfish. I was in a similar situation as he when I worked at Mainz and it was all about staying in the league but they now have three subs and one point so there’s no advantage or disadvantage.
“For example if I have five subs I take off Robertson 100 percent bring on Tsimikas to save Robbo, not to make our game better. So it’s not about changing tactics and the system. It’s just to save the players.”
Klopp earlier saw a penalty conceded by fill-in right back Neco Williams, and Klopp put James Milner in his place for the second half.
While Klopp has a valid point about the start times, it’s worth noting that the 34-year-old Milner was the only player besides Alisson Becker who had played every minute of three matches in seven days.
And the way in which he conducted his protest over kickoff times and the number of substitutions was lacking for a certain amount of class for a manager who normally delivers plenty of it. Given his clapping up officials after the game, the legendary manager may be in for punishment, too.
See the video atop the post. Here’s our crew talking about it afterward:
Robbie Earle and @TimHowardGK offer their thoughts on Jurgen Klopp's comments about the kickoff times. #MyPLThanksgiving pic.twitter.com/qfN6nA0eik
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) November 28, 2020