RANT OF THE DAY
Reporter: “Normally intensity is the name of your game, so how come it became so difficult in extra time?”
Jürgen Klopp: “Bit of a dumb question I feel. If you never saw us, you can ask, how can they have more resources? We have played, I don’t know how many games recently. I don’t know how many games United have exactly played. That’s sport. I’m really disappointed with that question, but you thought, obviously, it’s good?”
Reporter: “So, too many games?”
Jürgen Klopp: “Oh come on. You are obviously not in a great shape and I have no nerves for you. And the question … what is wrong with you? What did you want now”
Reporter: “How come you are so provocative?”
The first thing to say before Football Daily dissects Klopp’s bizarre post-match meltdown in the aftermath of Liverpool’s FA Cup exit at Old Trafford is there was a lot for him to be upset about. Losing to Manchester United is never fun, especially this Manchester United. Losing in stoppage time of extra time to this Manchester United, having led twice, would get a rise out of most people. Losing in stoppage time of extra time to this Manchester United, having led twice, to blow the fairytale ending of a quadruple in his final season of a legendary stint as manager would wind most people up.
The second thing to say about it is that if the above quotes looks bad written down, just wait until you see the video, folks! After a couple of perfectly respectable and sensible questions by a Danish reporter, the tone and personal nature of Klopp’s answers are, at best, unsavoury.
Klopp has always been a vibesman. Nobody does it quite like the German in the heat of battle, the teeth grinding, the chest-thumping, the fist-pumping, the hamstring-twanging. Just as he is in synergy with the Kop and the legions of away fans that continued to sing his name 20 minutes after the final whistle on Sunday, Klopp has always been synergy with with the city of Liverpool – the first thing he did with his family after his first press conference as Liverpool manager in October 2015 was go for a bevvy at the Old Blind School on Hardman Street.
But being a sore loser doesn’t fit very neatly into the cosy Klopp farewell narrative. Other than the personal insults and questioning of a reporter’s integrity, he also managed to speak a lot of gibberish. United were by far the better side in extra time and deserved to win. Their starting XI on Sunday had more academy graduates than Liverpool’s. Even with their injury list, Klopp and Liverpool are not really in a position to start complaining about “resources”. Liverpool have played more games recently because United are out of Europe. Perhaps Klopp would prefer to crash out of the Big Vase next month, too.
“I was very surprised by [the interview], and those standing around were scared, and they were almost pressed up against the wall like: ‘Wow, what the hell just happened here?’” remarked the above reporter, Danish broadcaster Niels Christian Frederiksen. Klopp is, at the heart of things, a nice man. We think. But he also seems to be a sore loser. There are worse things in life, of course, and lord knows he’s not the first managerial great to have that trait, but it would be nice to round off his final season without the nagging feeling that he’s also a bit of a prat sometimes.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We are going through a period that Turkish football is now completely fed by chaos, where tensions are constantly high, and where we cannot use the healing power of football” – Trabzonspor coach Abdullah Avci reacts after watching his own club’s fans invade the pitch to fight with Fenerbahce players who were celebrating their 3-2 win at Papara Park. Fifa head-honcho Gianni Infantino condemned the violence as “absolutely unacceptable” and called for those responsible to be held accountable. Sigh.
DOCKED FOREST
Nottingham Forest have received a four-point deduction for breaching the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules, dropping them into the relegation zone, one point from safety. An announcement from the Premier League is expected on Monday and Forest are likely to appeal. Forest admitted the breach but their defence was based around extenuating circumstances in relation to the sale of Brennan Johnson. The club received a £30m offer from Brentford early last summer but the forward was unwilling to move and Forest felt they could get more money for their star asset if they waited beyond the 30 June PSR deadline. Johnson was sold for £47.5m to Tottenham in September but an independent panel did not accept this defence. You can read the Premier League statement. Go on, knock yourself out.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Since that we knew that a decision in the Nottingham Forest matter was impending, should we have referred to their weekend fixture against Luton Town as a ‘relegation 14 pointer’? Or, given the inevitable reduction on appeal, maybe a ‘relegation 10-pointer’?” – Richard Reisman.
Erm … surely Emlyn Hughes was seated to Bill Shankly’s right (Friday’s Memory Lane). And, while I’m on, how could you tell he was happy? By his hair at the back of his head? There’s a whole world of wrong in this, I’m starting to think the Tin came out early on Friday” – Jonathan Dobson (and 1,056 others).
When it comes to Ben White, I refer to Half Man Half Biscuit: ‘When the club versus country debate arose, small children were trampled in the exodus’. The fact that there is a debate about a private issue is astonishing. The fact that Partridge/Southgate slyly organises a social media piley-on is more evidence of his ineptitude; than picking his faves or playing decent players in the wrong position” – Kev McCready.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our letter o’ the day prize is … Kev McCready, who gets a copy of Too Good to be Forgotten, published by Pitch Publishing. Visit their brilliant football book store here.
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