Jurgen Klopp simply couldn’t wait to get his hands on Christian Benteke after Liverpool’s defeat to Southampton at the weekend.
After the Reds threw away a two-goal lead on Sunday, Klopp angrily confronted Benteke who, after coming on for Daniel Sturridge with twenty minutes to play, spurned a decent chance which would have pushed Liverpool to a 3-1 advantage.
Benteke sulked away from Klopp who played down the exchange in a post-match press interview.
“Sometimes we have to talk with players, that’s my job,” Klopp said.
“They go to the national teams now and I don’t want to make phone calls with all of them, so I had a few words, it’s okay. Nothing else.”
The German’s actions came in for some criticism on Match of the Day 2 that night as pundits Alan Shearer and Danny Murphy ridiculed Klopp’s decision to confront his striker publicly.
“I understand that he’s not his player, I don’t think he fancies him. He didn’t sign him,” Shearer said.
“I understand all of that but I wouldn’t take too kindly If I was a player and he came on to the pitch in front of 32,000 and let his feelings be known.
“No problem if he wants to give him a telling off, or whatever it is, but do it in the dressing room, in the four walls in front of the rest of the players, not in front of all the fans.”
“I couldn’t agree more, If you’re going to give someone a telling off then do it inside,’ said Murphy.
“Sometimes he’s great Jurgen Klopp, he’s been a breath of fresh air but sometimes he’s overly animated on the touchline and it doesn’t always go down well with everyone.”
