Jurgen Klopp takes a swipe at Dejan Lovren critics

Jurgen Klopp likened press reaction to Dejan Lovren’s performance against Tottenham to rubberneckers at a car crash.

The defender was substituted after only 31 minutes of Liverpool’s 4-1 defeat having been culpable for both Spurs’ first two goals.

After being asked for his reaction to Lovren deleting a reference to Liverpool from his Instagram biography, removed his profile picture and blocking incoming messages, Klopp hit out at the media.

Dejan Lovren amended his profile following the defeat at Tottenham
Dejan Lovren amended his profile following the defeat at Tottenham (Instagram)

The Reds boss, who must now decide whether to play Lovren from the start against Huddersfield on Saturday, said: “I don’t wish one of you to have your mistakes discussed in public. You cannot even imagine how it feels.

“The boys are in the first place still human beings but you look like you are watching an accident and you are the kind of people standing around with smartphones instead of helping. I’m not this kind of person.

“We had a normal week. Of course it’s not the nicest week in Dejan’s life but it’s only football. People don’t become a better or a worse person through making a mistake in a football game.

“If I think about Dejan, I have much more positive things than negative things. Dejan had a good training week. We will see what we will do for the game but it’s not about the last game, it’s about Huddersfield and what will be the best line-up.”

The Spurs performance saw Liverpool’s difficult run in the Premier League hit a new low.

The Reds have won just one of their last six league matches, slipping to ninth place, and Klopp has called on his side to be “confident” and “brave” against the Terriers at Anfield.

Much of the focus on Saturday will be on the managers, with Klopp facing best friend David Wagner on the touchline for the first time in a competitive game.

The pair were team-mates at Mainz in the early 1990s and Wagner managed Borussia Dortmund’s second team while Klopp was in charge of the first team.

Klopp admitted he cried when Huddersfield earned promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs, but it will be business as usual at Anfield.

“It’s exciting, 100 per cent,” said Klopp. “I’m really happy that we will play against each other in the Premier League. Nobody would have expected that 20 or 30 years ago.

“When I was a kid I played all the time against my best friends and I enjoyed nothing more than winning. He is my best friend and we have a really close relationship but that changes nothing for the game.

“I want to win that game and that means we have to beat Huddersfield, and I know him well enough that he thinks exactly the same. Nothing we say to each other during the game will stay a second longer in our minds than the final whistle.

“We played together and I said worse things to him than to any other person in the world and we are still friends. I was the defender, he was the skilled striker with not the perfect attitude so I helped him a little bit.”

Source: By PA Sport Staff


Published at Fri, 27 Oct 2017 13:44:59 +0000