Jurgen Klopp's Astonishing Rant at Des Kelly Was Wrong for the Right Reasons

29 November 2020 16:15

Jurgen Klopp's infamous interview with BT Sport came off the back of a game that demonstrated everything that's wrong with elite football in 2020.

A rigid, stop-start affair derailed by pernickety VAR calls and littered with players dropping like flies due to injury. No matter your perspective, it was hard not to be frustrated.

But that didn't justify the big German's conduct when he spoke to Des Kelly.

Let's face it: he was disrespectful. Klopp's disdain for the TV camera was evident, and bordered on unprofessional from the minute he took a swipe at Kelly for effectively doing his job.

Despite the perception of the Liverpool boss as the Premier League's answer to one of those cartoonishly huge cuddly toys you win at the funfair, we've seen brief flashes of this aggression come to the surface before. After Saturday's draw with Brighton, it's something the club's PR team will be nipping in the bud.

You don't have to excuse it, however, to acknowledge that Klopp's outburst was a symptom of a rapidly worsening problem within English football. He's not making this stuff up.

This was a guy pushed past his breaking point after watching James Milner become the ninth Liverpool player to suffer an injury this season. Brighton lost Neal Maupay and Adam Lallana in the same game. None of this is a coincidence.

Klopp feels as if he is banging his head off a brick wall because he is not asking for much. Space out games as evenly as possible, and players won't get injured so often. In other words, if a team is playing in Europe on Wednesday night, don't force them to play again on Saturday afternoon.

Yet when he put this to an interviewer working for one of the responsible broadcasters, he is met with a cop-out, pass-the-buck response.

"Actually, we're allowed to do that because of Premier League rules. So take it up with the rules, not us."

'We could help you, but we don't have to, so we won't.'

Bureaucracy over welfare. Welcome to the Premier League.

Kelly wasn't the only victim of Klopp's ire, of course. Where the reporter's hands might be tied by his job, Chris Wilder's position is a little more difficult to defend.

The Sheffield United boss has labelled Klopp as selfish for his frequent calls to increase the substitution limit to five, yet at the same time admits the club only voted on it to 'look after themselves'. Sean Dyche, another of the five managers who still ardently defend the three-sub rule, has admitted he would vote for five if he managed of one of the big six.

The hypocrisy there is genuinely astounding, and if you still can't see it then you may be beyond help.

Klopp isn't calling for five substitutes so he can use them in every game. 'Oh, but he only used two against Manchester City' isn't an argument that works against him. He, and 14 other managers in the Premier League, just want the extra subs as a cushion on which to lean when they have to to pre-empt potential injuries.

And for goodness sake, there is no proof of a competitive advantage in any of the four major leagues which have run with five subs in 2020/21.

If we keep arguing against progress just because we don't like change then Klopp's public flare-up will not be the last we see from a Premier League manager this season.

To reiterate, none of this excuses the condescension shown by Klopp towards a pitch-side reporter.

His conduct left a lot to be desired, and is clearly indicative of the darker side of his personality that we don't normally see bubbling over.

But we can hold it in both hands, and realise that it came from a place of genuine concern.

And more importantly, despite their new-found moral high ground, we can still hold the broadcasters and decision-makers to account. If they keep ignoring the people on the front lines then we may only now be seeing the tip of the iceberg.

Source: 90min