“I couldn’t remember him as a mentality monster on the pitch.”
Jurgen Klopp has criticised Gabby Agbonlahor for his comments about Manchester United after the Red Devils lost 4-0 to Brentford last weekend.
The Liverpool manager is preparing his team to face the Red Devils at Old Trafford on Monday, and at his press match press conference, he was asked about his rival’s terrible start to the season.
Klopp surprisingly jumped to the defence of Man United, and instead took aim at the team’s critics, namely pundit Agbonlahor.
Jurgen Klopp hits back at Gabby Agbonlahor over Man United comments.
On talkSPORT last weekend, Agbonlahor said that Man United’s new manager Eric ten Hag should ‘pack up’ as the team are a ‘shambles’ and ‘like strangers’ on the pitch.
“I’ve been hammering United and people are saying I’ve got an agenda against Manchester United,” the former Aston Villa forward said. “No, I’m speaking facts that real Manchester United fans will agree with.”
On Friday morning, Klopp revealed that he had listened to the radio as the pundit made the comments, and he wasn’t impressed.
The German reminded Agbonlahor that he was part of a Villa team that lost 6-0 to Liverpool at Anfield. Klopp also said ex-players turned pundits should have more empathy and understanding.
“It was obviously not a nice week for United after the Brentford game,” Klopp said in his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“We forget in these moments how good Brentford are. I watched the first half here and then drove home and listened to talkSPORT (on the radio) and Gabby… Gabby? Agbonlahor? He lost against us 6-0 in my first year.
“I couldn’t remember him as a mentality monster on the pitch… What he said about United on that show, I was close to calling in and telling him, ‘you’ve forgot that you’ve been a player too’.
“It was unbelievable. And if ex-players talk like this, then you can imagine how everything else is going.”
"I listened to Gabby Agbonlahor, he lost against us 6-0 in my first year… I couldn't remember him as a mentality monster on the pitch."
Jurgen Klopp has hit back at Gabby Agbonlahor after his criticism of Man United last week.pic.twitter.com/R7PCr8QRv8
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) August 19, 2022
Klopp looks ahead to Man United game.
Klopp also spoke about Monday’s match between Liverpool and Man United, with both teams looking for their first win of the season. The Reds boss said he doesn’t know what to expect from United, but he anticipates a tough game.
“Now you just have to ask yourself, how would you want to react to a situation like this? And of course, you would want to fight back, that’s completely normal, that’s what we expect,” Klopp said.
“United can change nothing or everything, so it is tricky preparation wise, but it’s early and we don’t have a lot of info anyway. It’s tough but it’s fine. United away will never be easy.”
“I would prefer to play them after they won 5-0, that’s how it is. We drew twice, so is it better to play us? I don’t know. We have to deal with all the situations. The whole world will watch it, let’s see how these heavyweights deal with the situation.”
