Jurgen Klopp's blunt response after Roy Keane called Liverpool "bad champions"
When Jurgen Klopp disagrees, the Liverpool manager isn't afraid to make his opinion heard.
Whether in press conferences, TV interviews, in-house club videos or with rival managers on the touchline, the Kop boss doesn't mind fronting up. Nor does Manchester United legend Roy Keane.
So when Keane went in on then-Premier League champions Liverpool after a 4-1 thrashing by Manchester City at Anfield in February 2021, no-one expected Klopp to take it lying down.
Keane destroyed Liverpool and Klopp on Sky Sports after the match. He slammed the German for making excuses, labelled Liverpool "bad champions", and accused the Reds of getting carried away by their own hype.
"We spoke before the game - they are making a lot of excuses," said Keane. "To me they've been bad champions.
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"You can lose a game of football but...I can't figure this group out. Looking at them, even during the week, Brighton were comfortable, you can get beaten in a game - there's a way to be beaten. But I don't see that.
"I think maybe they've believe the hype over the last year or two. We spoke about there would be some sort of drop off but they're playing for a big team in Liverpool. Almost if they won the league last year and got a big carried away, believe their own hype they're going to beat teams.
"In my mindset when you've won a league title you're next challenge is 'can we do it again'. I never got the impression from this squad/group, from their interviews, even from the manager last year when they won it were they saying 'what's the next step for Liverpool?'. No. Almost let's enjoy this.
Liverpool players look dejected during their humbling loss to Manchester City in 2021 (David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)"Obviously it was a long wait, 30 years, but I never heard any of the players come out and say 'I want to do it again'. That's the key. Now they're talking about trying to get in the top four...from winning the league last year. The top four is now where our targets are?
"They're a huge club. They have to deal with setbacks [Virgil van Dijk]. Is that not part of the game. If players were fit the whole time it would be fantastic. You could look at Man City and say they're missing their two best players.
"They've come to Liverpool - who have a strong team, I know the two centre halves are missing but they still had their best attacking players on the pitch. [They] still had their best goalkeeper available, they still have international players in available. And after the game I think Klopp said the keeper's feet were cold!"
Klopp's response came shortly after. But it wasn't the kind of fiery riposte you expect from the German. However, you couldn't miss his point.
"We will go again!" he declared. "If you didn't see a really good football team that will win football games again, I don't know exactly. That really hurts tonight, but we will go again.
"If you are only really united when we are winning, there is something wrong with you. We will go again. This is a tough moment in a tough season - I saw a lot of good things tonight and we have to go again and again and again."
And perhaps looking back, it was Klopp, rather than Keane, who was right about that day.
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Liverpool climbed from their mid-table slumber after that thrashing to finish third in the Premier League in 2020-21. Given where they had been, it was more than respectable.
The following season they won both domestic cups, reached the Champions League final - losing narrowly to Real Madrid - and finished one point behind champions Manchester City, having reached 92 points with only two defeats to their name in the league all season. They did "go again".
Last season saw an undoubted drop off, no doubt, but now, after a summer refresh, a new-look team looks to be in the title mix once more.
*An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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