It was a day of high drama and high emotion.
There is a popular image of Jurgen Klopp: charismatic, eccentric, inspiring. It’s not inaccurate. Not by a long stretch. He does, however, have a dark side. It usually rears its head when Liverpool lose or when he takes exception to a decision made by the referee.
That was the case on Sunday when, after an amusingly one-sided Merseyside derby, Klopp steamed towards referee Craig Pawson at the final whistle. The German, in no uncertain terms, made his feelings known about Pawson’s decision to award Everton a penalty for Dejan Lovren’s challenge on Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
The incident led to Wayne Rooney salvaging a point for Sam Allardyce’s Toffees, firing the spot-kick beyond Simon Mignolet and leaving Klopp fuming in the dugout.
The game itself was far from a classic and much of the post-match debate has focused on the conduct of the Liverpool manager. Klopp, visibly incensed, conducted a remarkably tense interview with Sky Sports reporter Patrick Davison.
Not a good day for Klopp with his team, penalty opinion & interview! Don’t take a chance in the Derby with your team, no doubt EFC were lucky as they never had a chance of note but at 1-0 there’s always a chance an LFC defender will do something stupid!! #LIVEVE
— Jamie Carragher (@Carra23) December 10, 2017
It made for compelling television: a revealing five-minute window into Klopp’s mind in which he abandoned the generic auto-pilot mumbo jumbo managers usually go to in favour of intense, unabashed honesty.
This is what we want, isn’t it? We want managers to speak their mind. We want them to express their opinions freely about the match. At the end of the day, they are knowledgeable footballing brains which is why post-match interviews and press conferences can be, at their best, highly enlightening.
Klopp’s post-match comments were exactly that. Klopp’s anger certainly shone through in his exchange with Davison, but he never felt threatening. Arrogant, yes, sarcastic, sure, but not threatening. He was, in fairness, infuriated with how the game had panned out.
Crucially, though, he was also wrong in his assessment of the penalty.
In his view, Calvert-Lewin initiated the contact and intentionally drew the foul from Lovren.
“Calvert-Lewin makes it smart, because he takes a step in this direction (steps to his right), but even then it’s nothing. But he gave a penalty, and now one team can celebrate, probably, and we can’t.”
What’s his point? It was smart forward play from Calvert-Lewin, getting his body in between Lovren and the ball. That’s precisely what you would expect from him. What you wouldn’t expect from Lovren, a defender of considerable experience, is a blatant push to the back.
Klopp’s having a nightmare here. pic.twitter.com/p3XRcbHeVi
— Tony Scott (@Tony_Scott11) December 10, 2017
It was naive and rash defending from the Liverpool man, but Klopp didn’t see it that way.
Klopp asked Davison for his opinion on the penalty. When the interviewer said he thought it was, Klopp’s response was:
“Well, then we can stop the interview because I only want to talk to people who have a little bit of understanding about football. I’m sorry. I’m really… I cannot believe…”
Although he apologised, he doubled-down on that stance in his post-match press conference, questioning a Daily Mail reporter’s understanding of football. Klopp also asked the press room who thought it was a penalty and most reporters raised their hands. Jamie Carragher, who knows a little something about defending, also said it was a clear penalty.
I’m all for Klopp’s forthright post-match interviews. The Liverpool boss can be a fascinating character, full of emotion, insight and thoughtfulness. But here he was definitely wrong, perhaps partially blinded by rage, while the referee was right and we can certainly do without his condescending ‘you don’t understand football’ comments in the future.
