Jürgen Klopp insists he’s much calmer these days, but the air around him will still have turned blue on Friday night.
In a new documentary from Liverpool due out this month, Klopp reveals that his outbursts are nowhere near as infamous as they were during his formative days in his homeland, Germany.
But given the events of Friday, Klopp may have been forgiven for raging like this young manager in Mainz two decades ago.
First, the Liverpool boss was hit by the news that Mohamed Salah had tested positive for the corona virus.
The Egyptian association published on its official Facebook page that the Reds’ 10-goal top scorer should now enter a phase of self-isolation after the contract with COVID-19.
What had been another chastening week on the injury front after Joe Gomez was forced to undergo knee surgery, was news from Salah of another kick in the gut.
Just a week after voicing his concern about how some national teams are handling their coronavirus logs, Klopp faced news that Salah would now suspend the game at home in Leicester.
“For us it feels safer when we are all together, although we also had a few cases,” said Klopp a little over a week ago.
“Yeah, the problem with this situation is that we don’t have electricity. Not really.
“We’re trying to figure out what the logs are like with all the different FAs, but it’s up to the FA to answer or not, so FIFA isn’t really involved in that.
“That would be of great help, for example if you don’t get a response from an FA, we won’t send a player.
“That would be great because then you would get 100 percent answer. And then you would know that all the logs are in order.”
Losing his strongest attacker in a matter of days left the Liverpool boss frustrated with no end.
But if Klopp thought the Salah situation was as bad as his day, he would be very wrong.
The final round of pairing changes, which fell around 5 p.m., only further darkened the Reds manager’s mood.
As part of the reshuffle, Liverpool will visit Brighton on Saturday 28 November at 12.30pm – one of the most distant days in the Premier League for the Champions.
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It’s the window of time that both Klopp and his Manchester United counterpart Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer have been raging on the European front recently over midweek commitments.
After traveling to Everton for the early Saturday game just days after a Champions League game in Istanbul this month, Solsjkaer said: “The authorities have sentenced us to fail.
“How can I prepare for a kick-off on Saturday at 12.30 after a Champions League game in Turkey on Wednesday evening?”
“It’s an absolute mess.”
Just over 24 hours later, after watching Trent Alexander-Arnold limp in the 1-1 draw with Manchester City, Klopp once again made public his very detailed planning concerns.
“Let me put it this way, the last time we played Everton after the international break was at 12.30,” he said at Etihad.
“Some of my players were in Peru on Wednesday night [for Brazil]So these things shouldn’t be happening. I understand 100 percent the need for television.
“It’s completely normal for us to play on Saturday. It’s the 12.30pm game that is a killer.”
“People may like it and think that it’s a real competition that gives other teams a chance. The only problem is that we hurt the players.”
With Atalanta playing for the Reds at home on Wednesday November 25th, the announcement that the game at Amex will now take place on Saturday lunchtime due to television requirements wasn’t the most welcome news.
Especially when it got so hot shortly after the setback against Salah, which came shortly after the realization that Gomez was facing a tough fight against this season.
Even Gareth Southgate, who oversaw events at Wembley on Thursday night when England played off a sterile, Ireland-friendly team behind closed doors, accepts that something has to be given.
As suggested by Southgate himself, Klopp didn’t understand Gomez’s recent injury too well.
Who should play in the center-back against Leicester? Choose your duo in our short survey HERE.
When asked ahead of Thursday’s victory whether the Liverpool manager accepted the apparent freak nature of the defender’s knee problem on a phone conversation between the pair, Southgate remained cautious.
“Well, unfortunately the injury was so unique that we know it was just a result of the number of games,” he said.
“And wherever he’s been, there’s a chance that would have happened.”
If an already overworked Gomez hadn’t been for a meaningless friendly game on international service, he would have had the week off like the rest of his teammates.
That would have given him the much needed time to rest the tired muscles that were unfortunately giving way instead.
Klopp, 53, may be very mature these days, but that didn’t help much this week.
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