London Independent Journalist Miguel Delaney joined The Football Show on Monday to discuss Jurgen Klopp.
Liverpool drew 2-2 with Tottenham on Sunday.
Alisson made a critical error that led to Tottenham's equalizer. Andy Robertson was sent off, Harry Kane wasn't. Liverpool didn't lose, but manager Jurgen Klopp was furious with referee Paul Tierney. Klopp questioned what problem the official had with him because he didn't send off Harry Kane.
Kane's challenge was wild. It deserved a red card. But while the referee misjudged it, the real fault was VAR who didn't suggest that he review it. They did ask him to review Robinson's tackle, which led to Liverpool's red card.
Delaney recognizes the shift in media coverage. Klopp is at the heart of it providing quotes, but it's a larger cultural detail that is putting even greater pressure on referees.
"I felt a lot of sympathy for Tierney," Delaney said.
"For all I would praise Klopp for how he contorts himself when it comes to real-world issues, he can occasionally be quite a sour loser. And I think that was illustrated after yesterday's game. He frustrates me because I remember 15 years ago because I'm half Spanish, you'd see the Spanish press...they'd just be obsessed with refereeing decisions. Everything was all about refereeing decisions.
"It feels like England is there now. We just constantly talk about refereeing decisions all the time."
Jurgen Klopp believes his team should win every game. He's a serial winner and a sore loser. That's not a bad thing when your whole career hinges on your ability to drive a team to victories. But that also means he's more likely to find fault in those things outside of his control than those things within his control.
Delaney notes that Klopp is blaming the referee when the reality of the game shows Liverpool needed to play better.
"It's still operated by humans so it's not going to be 100% correct. There's still going to be flaws there. There's still going to be times when the interpretation is just different. I think that's what happened...it's subjective, it's humans involved. It's win some, lose some.
"It feels like such a frustration after a game like that yesterday, it was so good, one of the games of the season and we're talking about referees. A bigger issue for Klopp yesterday should be that...Spurs won the tactical battle yesterday and created so many chances.
"Klopp should be more fixated on that I think."
Liverpool are without Virgil Van Dijk, Fabinho and Curtis Jones as they come back from Covid absences. Jordan Henderson and Thiago missed the game too. But even while shorthanded, Klopp's side needed to show greater organization at the back. Andy Robertson was too deep for Kane's first goal. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip repeatedly created space for Tottenham attackers.
Diogo Jota, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah are as lethal and as available as ever. But this is a bad omen for Liverpool's upcoming fixture list.
Gerrard is making Aston Villa better | Damien Delaney.
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