Jurgen Klopp – The manager with a thousand excuses

Watching his side drop another two points across Merseyside on Sunday afternoon, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp once again found himself scrambling for an excuse to cover the Reds’ shortcomings.

Unable to reclaim top spot in the Premier League and now sat one-point adrift of Manchester City, the pressure is really starting to mount on the German tactician.

However, while Liverpool’s performances have not matched the same level they set in the first half of the season, Klopp has continued to find even the most petulant of excuses.

Quickly gaining a reputation for playing the blame game, we have decided to look at the top five most ridiculous reasons Klopp has given for Liverpool failing to win a game.

 

1. The wind

Watching his side slump to a 0-0 draw at Goodison Park on Sunday, Klopp went back to one of his most favourite excuses, the wind.

That’s right, although Liverpool only play their football at the other side of Stanley Pak, Klopp found himself using the wind as the reason for Liverpool’s stalemate with their bitter-rivals.

Seconds into his post-match interview with Sky Sports, the former Borussia Dortmund boss announced that the wind played a huge part in the Reds’ lackluster display.

"People don't like it when I say this, but the wind came from all directions. It didn't help."

Jurgen Klopp discusses Liverpool's 0-0 draw with Everton.

More: https://t.co/ULIWEA3cKD pic.twitter.com/hBU2QzSgII

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 3, 2019

Despite last year’s PFA Player of the Year Mohamed Salah missing a string of golden opportunities, Klopp refused to blame anything other than the conditions.

Maybe the wind affected his decision to leave Xherdan Shaqiri as an unused substitute?

 

2. The wind, again

Yes, as most of you will remember, this is not the first time that the wind is to blame for a shabby Liverpool performance.

Remarkably, when the Reds suffered a 2-1 loss against Wolves and crashed out of the FA Cup back in January, Klopp went back to his trademark excuse.

Continuing his feud with the elements, the 51-year-old refused to accept their FA Cup defeat might have something to do with him making nine changes, instead, it was of course down to his old enemy, the wind.

It is also worth going back to Liverpool’s League Cup semi-final defeat to Southampton in 2017, where you guessed it, Klopp first used the wind as the reason behind a defeat for his side.

Poor Jurgen, it appears that even though he could be in Merseyside, or on the South Coast, or even in the Midlands, the pesky wind is always following him about.

 

3. Manchester United’s injury issues

Another of the more recent excuses that Klopp has mustered up.

With Manchester United having to make three first-half substitutions in their 0-0 draw with Liverpool at Old Trafford last month, it looked like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had a legitimate excuse for not taking all three points.

However, and rather remarkably, it was to be Klopp who used United’s injury issues as a reason for his side’s sluggish display.

Although Solskjaer lost Jesse Lingard, Ander Herrera and Juan Mata within the space of 45 minutes, it was to be Klopp who claimed the injuries ruined Liverpool’s afternoon.

Speaking after their stalemate in Manchester, Klopp said:

“If we had carried on like we started we could have won but we lost our rhythm with the injuries.”

“If United had played like they have been, with the same players, it would have been a different game. They would have known what they were doing and so would we.”

 

4. The TV broadcasters

Arguably the most innovative excuse in the Klopp handbook.

That’s right, you read that correctly, the German boss actually tried to pin Liverpool’s FA Cup defeat against West Brom last year on the TV broadcasters.

Once again failing to make it past the fifth-round in the Cup, Klopp alleged broadcasters were behind Jon Moss’ decision to only add four minutes of injury time on.

The FA Cup game was being shown on BT Sport, but Klopp did not name the company as directly responsible for the reduction.

“What I heard was that the actual extra time in the first half should have been 10 minutes,” Klopp said. “It was only four minutes. I heard that television said it’s not longer than four minutes.

“Of course that’s not possible, you can’t cut match time because there is something else to broadcast.

“I don’t know what was afterwards, maybe the news or something. It was 10 minutes and so you need to play 10 minutes longer. You cannot say it’s now a little bit too long.”

Sadly for Klopp and his imaginative excuse, BT Sport’s match director immediately took to Social Media and refuted the Liverpool bosses attempt to try and pass the buck.

I directed the match and I can categorically state that at no point did I (can add ‘have I’ or ‘would I’ to that) ever try to influence the officials, including the allocation of stoppage time. Not only would it be unprofessional, it would also be utterly futile. https://t.co/GD7SfOVn66

— SPJ Hughes (@HughesSPJ) January 30, 2018

 

5. The pitch was too dry

During his tenure in the Premier League, we have heard Klopp blame the wind, the snow, and the sun, but we don’t think we have heard anything like a manager blaming the pitch for being too dry?

Once again struggling against an already relegated Baggies at the end of last season, Liverpool threw away a two-goal lead and Klopp was far from impressed.

Bizarrely, he was not unimpressed with his side failing to pick up three points, the former Dortmund boss left the Midlands complaining that the dry pitch was to blame.

Klopp also couldn’t resist kicking West Brom while they were down.

“It was a difficult game, especially after the pitch got drier and drier, we had the ball constantly and it’s not so easy,”

“West Brom obviously decided not to water the pitch at half-time again. It was quite difficult.

“I was not happy with the pitch. You never played football, obviously. It makes a massive difference. If you’re like West Brom, the ball constantly in the air, you don’t need a wet pitch.

“That’s how it is and we have to deal with that. They can do it next year, playing with a dry pitch in the Championship.”

Sadly for Klopp, much like his never-ending feud with the wind, it has not been the first time that he has come across a patch of dry grass.

Failing to beat League Two Bury in pre-season, Klopp pointed fingers at the Gigg Lane pitch.

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