Gabby Agbonlahor has hit back at Jurgen Klopp in their bizarre war of words, stating that the Liverpool boss should “concentrate on being a manager” rather than critiquing his punditry.
Following Manchester United’s 4-0 defeat to Brentford last weekend, Agbonlahor had heavily criticised Erik ten Hag’s side in his role as a pundit on talkSPORT, saying they lacked a strong mentality as they trailed by four goals at half-time and failed to hit back in the second 45 minutes.
In his pre-match press conference on Friday, ahead of their game against Man Utd on Monday, Klopp called out Agbonlahor for his comments, in particular questioning the ex-Aston Villa striker’s own mentality in his playing days - citing a 6-0 defeat the Villans suffered to the Reds back in 2016 during Klopp’s first year in charge at Anfield.
“It was not a nice week for United after Brentford. We forget how good Brentford are,” said Klopp. “I watched the first half and then listened to the radio, talkSPORT. Gabby Agbonlahor, he lost against us 6-0 in my first year.
“I couldn’t remember him as a mentality monster on the pitch. But what he said about United on that show, I was close to calling in and telling him, ‘You have forgotten completely that you have been a player’.
“It was unbelievable. If ex-players are going already like this, you can imagine how everything else is going.”
Agbonlahor has now responded to those comments, urging the German to focus on management and suggesting he has no interest in taking advice from the Liverpool boss on how he should be doing his radio job.
“Mate, I woke up and I’ve never seen my phone blow up as much as it was,” Agbonlahor told Jamie O’Hara on talkSPORT. “I was like ‘what’s happened? Jurgen Klopp has done this’.
“When I’ve seen it and I’ve seen the clip, I’m thinking ‘come on, Jurgen’. It’s a bit too much, isn’t it?
“It’s great for the show that he’s listening to our show, all managers should be. For me, I’ve got bosses at talkSPORT who I answer to. If my reaction to Manchester United being 4-0 down was too much then I’m sure I’d have heard about that.
“I don’t need Jurgen Klopp telling me how to be a pundit, he should concentrate on being a manager. He wouldn’t take advice on being a coach from me, would he? So I’m not going to take advice from him.
“It’s all settled now though. Simon Jordan sorted him out for me – my good friend Simon, I owe him a drink. It’s very strange but Jurgen, if you’re listening, I’m available for a chat any time. We’ll catch up in Liverpool and have a drink, no problem.”
