Sam Allardyce makes ‘rubbish’ claim about Jurgen Klopp during his press conference today
Sam Allardyce has suggested that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is wrong to complain about time-wasting in the Premier League.
Klopp has long been a vocal critic of teams employing time-wasting tactics to see out games. But when the point was put to new Leeds United boss Allardyce via Football Daily today, the 69-year-old dismissed it as ‘rubbish.’
“Who complained [about time-wasting]?” asked Allardyce.
“Well, we had Jurgen Klopp,” replied the reporter.
“Well he time wastes,” Big Sam hit back with a smile.
“Erik ten Hag.”
“He time wastes. They all time waste when they get to the last five minutes and they’re winning 2-1. Don’t be daft! Rubbish that is.”
Allardyce barking up the wrong tree
Allardyce is entitled to his opinion and he’s been around the block a fair bit, so he does speak with a certain amount of authority. But we can honestly say that in almost eight years of Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, we can count the time-wasting incidents from his teams one hand.
Of course they’ve done it at specific times. The 4-0 win over Barcelona springs to mind, with James Milner shielding the ball from Arthur Melo of all people in the corner at the Kop end. But that isn’t really the point Klopp and others are making.
More, it’s aimed at teams who put things in place to slow the game down week after week after week. And not towards the end of games either, constantly throughout them.
Arsenal and Newcastle are two teams who have really taken this to the extreme this season. The tactics of both when coming to Anfield this year have left a lot to be desired.
Obviously, they’re designed to frustrate and that’s exactly what they do. But the officials simply have to crack down on it at some point.
Opposition fans may point to the fact that Alisson Becker was booked for taking his time over a goal kick on Saturday against Brentford. This was merely a sign of refereeing inconsistency, though. Alisson was booked for perhaps the only time he’s ever delayed his kick in his five years at the club. Visiting goalkeepers come to Anfield and get away with doing the same relentelessly through the 90 minutes.
So, Allardyce may think Klopp, Ten Hag and the like are talking ‘rubbish,’ but we think they’ve got a point. And a pretty big one at that. Either way, it’s good to see it finally being discussed. Hopefully the powers that be will start to do something about it.
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