Liverpool boss Klopp has cheeky dig at Newcastle over new Premier League rule

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has made a cheeky dig at Newcastle United when asked about the new Premier League rules around technical areas.

For the 2023/24 season, the Premier League have introduced a rule stating “only one person can stand at the front of the technical area and coach during the match”.

Newcastle assistant Jason Tindall went viral last season for trying to shake opposition manager’s hand before manager Eddie Howe and putting himself at the centre of the action.

Tindall seems to be more vocal on the sidelines than many assistant managers in the Premier League and he was made the face of the league’s campaign in images used to present the regulation.

And Liverpool boss Klopp couldn’t resist a cheeky dig at Newcastle when asked if he understood why the rule had been implemented this season.

Klopp told reporters after his side’s 1-1 draw against Chelsea: “I think it is only a problem for one team: Newcastle. Sorry!”

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The Liverpool boss added: “It is like that in the Champions League, anyway. Obviously we have first-team coaches, we have assistants, and they are all lively. It’s absolutely fine, they get up and we just have to get used to it.

“Around the set-pieces, Pete Krawietz got up and then the fourth official told me, ‘He cannot stay [there]’ so I said what happens if I sit down. ‘Yeah, then he can…’ so I sat down. It’s absolutely fine. We need to get used to it, but it’s fine.”

Another change from last season is the addition of more stoppage time at the end of each half but Klopp doubts it “will last forever”.

Klopp continued: “I think last season some teams stretched it, definitely. And we are not one of these teams, we never were. I knew we would get a yellow card – probably the first yellow card – for timewasting with a throw-in.

“When Trent is looking for a player and tries to find a player, this is a tactical thing – he cannot just take the ball and throw it. It is a tactical thing… maybe we have to clarify it a little bit, but besides that I think too many teams stretched it and did it too obvious and that’s why everybody thinks we should watch a bit more football.

“I don’t know exactly what the net ball in play time was today, but that’s how it is now. It was not a problem today for me, to be honest. What was it, first half six minutes? Because of the VAR decisions. And second half, five, I think. That’s a lot but this is a time where we try to sort it like that. I am not sure that will last forever but at the moment it’s like that and we have to deal with it.”