Jürgen Klopp saw his side draw 2-2 in their Premier League opener against Fulham this weekend. The German had another unusual excuse for his side dropping points, an excuse that inspired us to look back at his top five funniest excuses.
Klopp’s side went behind twice against Fulham, with both goals coming from Aleksandar Mitrović.
After the game, Klopp said that the pitch at Craven Cottage was too dry.
This led to an amazing response from the Fulham social media team, who simply tweeted:
The Craven Cottage turf looking absolutely lush yesterday. 💦#FFC pic.twitter.com/9QEc20kGeM
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 7, 2022
With yet another classic in the history books, let’s take a look at the top five excuses used by Klopp.
5. The Wind
Not a fan of the British weather, Klopp blamed his side’s League Cup semi-final defeat against Southampton on the heavy wind that evening. This is despite his side having a massive 83% possession in the game.
Here’s what he had to say:
“First half, it was difficult – the wind was really strange, it was difficult to handle.
“You saw one or two times when the ball stopped in a moment when nobody knew about it.
“That was difficult for a football-playing side.”
4. BT Sport
Taking a step away from the weather conditions, Klopp took aim at BT Sport.
In January 2018, Klopp saw his side lose 3-2 to West Brom at Anfield in the FA Cup.
On the game, and BT Sport’s involvement, Klopp said:
“What I heard was that the actual extra time in the first half should have been ten minutes. It was only four.
“I heard that television said it’s not longer than four minutes.
“Of course that’s not possible, you can’t cut match time because there is something else to broadcast.
“I don’t know what was on afterwards, maybe the news or something. It was ten minutes and so you need to play ten minutes longer.”
3. Pep Gets it Easy
Liverpool and Man City has been the main battle between in English football over the past five years, with Klopp and Pep Guardiola at the forefront.
While not directly admitting the quality of Pep’s side, Klopp suggested other teams were too kind to Pep’s teams:
“They don’t have the same respect for us that they have for Man City, for example.
“Against City, you watch it and wonder what they are doing. A week later they play us, and they are thinking, right, let’s try.
“City deserve that, but it makes a big difference because we have to be 100 per cent concentrated all the time.”
Pep vs Klopp
Years: 5-7
Prem: 4-1
Carabao: 4-1
FA Cup: 1-1
Champions League: 0-1This was never a debate, was it? pic.twitter.com/qy2BKllKhw
— Terry J (@FCBTerry) May 29, 2022
2. The Wind, again
Derby day is a stressful time for both sides, and maybe the stress of a 0-0 draw away at Goodison Park got the Jürgen.
The former Dortmund manager blamed the wind yet again for his team’s failure to take three points away from Goodison:
“It was a very difficult game for different reasons against a wild opponent.
“I know people don’t like it when I say it, but the wind came from all different directions.
“It didn’t help any football play, especially when the ball was in the air, which it was a lot.”
1. Cold Feet
There’s nothing worse than sitting in the stands during the winter months, hands, and feet frozen.
Well, apparently football players have it just as bad as us.
After a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Man City, Klopp suggested Alisson could have done with an extra layer or two:
🗣 “Maybe he had cold feet or something?” 🥶
Jurgen Klopp’s explanation for Alisson’s second mistake that led to a goal pic.twitter.com/3fS1Q8vBZJ
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 7, 2021
We’re only one game into the new season, who knows what Klopp will come up with as the season goes on.
