Another Liverpool stumble – another Jurgen Klopp excuse.
The German manager is now very quickly becoming known for his blame game rather than his excellent coaching.
It’s very difficult to dislike Jurgen Klopp – Liverpool’s chuckling rockstar of a manager.
From his heavy metal football to his views on politics, the German endears himself to even the most ardent Liverpool haters.
The 51-year-old has fist-pumped his way through most of the season, but it’s easy to smile when your winning.
When things don’t quite go Liverpool’s way, a rather petty side often reveals itself.
After the 1-1 draw with West Ham it was the referee who copped the blame, despite Kevin Friend giving the Reds a goal, which had seen James Milner stray offside during the build up.
Here, talkSPORT.com looks at some of his more outlandish excuses following poor results.
Liverpool 0-1 Southampton (0-2 agg): ‘Too windy’
The Reds dominated both legs of their 2017 EFL Cup semi-final against Saints, but somehow lost 2-0 on aggregate.
It was all fairly confusing until Klopp, thankfully, cleared everything up.
“First half, it was difficult – the wind was really strange, it was difficult to handle,” he told reporters.
“You saw one or two balls when the ball stopped in a moment when nobody knew about it. That was difficult for a football-playing side.”
Liverpool 2-3 West Brom: ‘TV broadcasters cut the game short’
In January 2018, Klopp alleged broadcasters were behind Jon Moss’ decision to add four minutes of injury time instead of ten at the end of the first-half.
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.”
The game was frequently interrupted by referee Craig Pawson’s use of VAR. The review system was used on eight separate occasions and, in the first half alone, Pawson employed VAR to disallow an Albion goal, award a penalty to Liverpool and allow the visitors’ third goal.
West Brom 2-2 Liverpool: ‘Pitch too dry’
The Reds threw away a two-goal lead against a West Brom team who were already relegated at the end of last season, and Klopp was not happy.
The German slammed the pitch and told the Baggies to enjoy their dry turf in the Championship. Ouch.
“It was a difficult game, especially after the pitch got drier and drier, we had the ball constantly and it’s not so easy,” Klopp said. “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.”
Wolves 2-1 Liverpool: ‘Too windy, again’
Klopp’s woes with the wind continued at Molineux as the Reds went crashing out of the FA Cup earlier this month.
Although, in fairness, it was pretty windy.
“The wind didn’t help,” Klopp said. “Players struggled to control the ball.”
There wasn’t much wrong with Ruben Neves’ touch, mind.
Liverpool 1-1 Leicester: ‘Too snowy’
Klopp is very much an adult when it comes to snow.
As his team staggered to a 1-1 draw with Leicester in frosty conditions, he noted the weather’s effect on Liverpool’s fast, free-flowing football.
“You saw that the ball didn’t roll really,” Klopp said. “If you then have the ball pretty much for 70 to 80 percent of the time it makes life really uncomfortable.
“The only problem is if it stays on the pitch and that was actually the case.”
West Ham 1-1 Liverpool: Referee was influenced after giving an offside goal
Having seen the Reds go ahead through a Sadio Mane goal, which saw James Milner involved in an offside position, Klopp was quick to – somehow – blame the officials as he felt resulting decisions never went the way of Liverpool.
“I heard our goal was offside, I’m pretty sure the ref knew that,” he told the BBC.
“In 50-50 situations it was always a free-kick for the other team, which was hard and did not make life easy.”
Speaking to Sky Sports, the German added: “As a human being, if I know I have made a big mistake in the first half, I don’t want to open the gap any more.
“Referees are obviously human beings, and I understand that, but I didn’t during the game because I had no clue that our goal was offside.”