Jurgen Klopp has sensationally hit out at football pundits Gary and Phil Neville after they both criticised goalkeeper Loris Karius, in a press conference ahead of Wednesday’s game against Middlesbrough, he said:
“In my first press conference I spoke about English media, and the pundits, the former players, forgot completely how it felt when they get criticised. Especially the Neville brothers. I have to say the one who was a manager, he obviously should know that too much criticism never helps but he’s not interested in helping a Liverpool player I can imagine. But that makes the things he says not more sensible. He showed he struggled with a job to judge players, why do we let them talk about players on television?… Obviously the Neville brothers don’t like Liverpool. If they can cause bigger problems than we already have I think they’ll try it, that’s all. He’s not interested in helping a Liverpool player. By the way you can tell him I’m not on Twitter. So if he wants to tell me something Twitter doesn’t help.”
However, Klopp has received some positive news in that Brazilian magician Philippe Coutinho is targeting a return for the fixture against Manchester City at Anfield on New Year’s Eve as he said:
“This is still my hope – to return for this game. The rehab is going really well. I can now walk without crutches and I am working well with the medical team. So I’m pleased with how I am recovering.”
The Reds are sorely missing the presence of their forward in recent weeks, with Liverpool’s attack looking less powerful against West Ham on Sunday with Roberto Firmino in particular missing his teammate, who is sidelined by an ankle ligament injury.
Concerns over that lack of depth may spark Jurgen Klopp into making moves to bring some forwards to the club in January, as he confirmed:
“If you look at our bench yesterday, we were very experienced in defence, not so much in offence. If it stays like this then we will have open eyes.”
Daniel Sturridge is also absent with a muscle problem and is not expected to return to action until the Merseyside derby next Monday at the earliest.
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