Tense.
Liverpool threw away two Premier League points on Saturday as West Brom recovered from going 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at The Hawthorns. Salomon Rondon’s late strike salvaged a point for the struggling Baggies, who have now taken four points off Manchester United and Liverpool in their last two games.
With a Champions League semi-final showdown against Roma looming, Jurgen Klopp would have been extremely disappointed with his side’s inability to close out the game after goals from Danny Ings and Mohamed Salah had established a comfortable lead.
Speaking after the game with Match of the Day’s Conor McNamara, Klopp was not in good form.
Was there a problem with the pitch at West Brom?
Here's what Jurgen Klopp thinks.#wba #lfc #WBALIV pic.twitter.com/IotaDHFBzF
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) April 21, 2018
After asking the German coach about his thoughts on the state of the Hawthorns pitch, Klopp responded:
“I see in your face when you smile a little bit that you think it’s funny. It’s football, so we need good circumstances. If the pitch gets drier and drier then it’s not good for the football-playing side. That’s it.”
Klopp proceeded to have a dig at West Brom, who are facing the prospect of relegation, saying “they’ll know about it in the Championship next season.”
Just interviewed Jurgen Klopp for @BBCMOTD
Little dig at West Brom for not watering the pitch more.
“They’ll know about it in the Championship next season” when they want to play and other teams do it to them. #bbcfootball #WBALIV
— Conor McNamara (@ConorMcNamaraIE) April 21, 2018
In his Sky Sports interview, Klopp doubled down on his criticism of the playing surface.
“I was not happy with the pitch,” he told Sky Sports. “It was a tough game, especially after the pitch was getting dryer and dryer and we had the ball constantly so that makes it not so easy.
He also had another pop at the man asking the questions.
“West Brom obviously decided not to water the pitch at half-time and it was quite difficult after that. You (the interviewer) have never played football obviously because it makes a massive difference.
“If the pitch is dry you can’t pass the ball through three or four yards. That is the easiest thing in the world, if they play football, but if you do it like West Brom the ball is constantly in the air [so] you don’t need a wet pitch but that’s how it is so we have to deal with that.
“They can do it next year playing football with a dry pitch in the Championship. That’s how it is and we have to deal with it.”
