Klopp on Tottenham criticism: “It’s a positive”
Jürgen Klopp made some ill-received comments about Tottenham’s style of play and acknowledged they were not appropriate, but that it was actually a compliment.
On Saturday, Liverpool and Tottenham ended their match in a 1-1 tie, and Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp made his thoughts loud and clear about the way that Tottenham play.
Spurs frustrated the Reds by holding them to a tie which felt to Klopp like a loss. Klopp said he just didn’t like “that kind of football” and insinuated he could not coach that kind of defense, though we’ve seen that is not the case either, as Liverpool is perfectly capable of playing good defense. Tottenham just did a good job of playing the game on their own terms.
After criticizing Tottenham for not allowing his team more opportunities, he later backtracked a bit on his comments, saying they just sort of came out before he thought better about it.
“No, no. It’s what I think. It’s just not what I should say,” said Klopp with a bit of a laugh. “Because it’s not appropriate.”
“I thought it was all fine. You say what you have to say, these kinds of things, and then all of a sudden, one of you guys, I’m not sure who, asked, ‘and don’t you have to say how great Tottenham defended?’ And there was like the moment it clicked,” he laughed.
Klopp said that he would not be able to coach in the way that Tottenham did and that he meant it as a compliment...albeit a backhanded compliment.
“The main message is that I couldn’t coach that. That’s a positive,” said Klopp.