‘Stroppy’ Liverpool boss Klopp told 12.30 kick-offs ‘not a hill to die on’ after ‘really weird’ exchange
Gary Lineker has told “stroppy” Jurgen Klopp that 12.30 kick offs are “not a hill to die on” after the Liverpool manager’s “really weird” exchange with an Amazon Prime presenter.
Ahead of the packed Christmas schedule, Marcus Buckland asked Klopp: “You mentioned Jurgen, you’ve had to shuffle your pack, you’ve had a few injuries. You’ve got all these games, you’re still going strong in the League Cup in the FA Cup. You go to Crystal Palace at your favourite kick-off time at the weekend.”
Klopp did not take kindly to the line of questioning. The German replied: “That’s brave. That’s really brave, you made a joke about that.
“We have two sessions. It’s fine to recover and then we go again. Crystal Palace played tonight and that’s absolutely fine. It’s just not good. You don’t understand it as well even when you work in football. Why should I try to explain again? You make just completely ignorant (comments). But it’s good. Football is entertainment and I understand.”
Buckland then insistd he wasn’t trying to be disresectful, to which Klopp said “you already have”.
The Liverpool boss has been criticised for his reaction to what appeared to be an incredibly light-hearted joke after a game the Reds had won 2-0, and Lineker believes Klopp overreacted.
“Jurgen Klopp last night at the end of the game dismissed the presenter as arrogant,” the Match of the Day presenter said on The Rest Is Football podcast.. “He didn’t know what he was talking about. Just because he made a really, really mild joke about the fact that Klopp doesn’t like a 12:30 kick off.
“I must say I don’t think the presenter did anything wrong there. I think Klopp was just obviously stroppy about something and it was really weird.
“He said how could you joke about something like that? And I was thinking what a 12:30 kick off? It’s not a hill to die on that one, when you look at the things going on around the world at the moment. But I understand managers are under pressure.”
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