Jurgen Klopp has reignited his feud with BT Sport interviewer Des Kelly over the absence of Liverpool duo Alisson Becker and Fabinho against Watford on Saturday afternoon.
Klopp has previously locked horns with Kelly over BT Sports’ decision to schedule Liverpool for the 12:30pm kick-off. The Reds were in the midst of an injury crisis, with James Milner picking up a hamstring injury and Klopp clearly upset about it.
Though his argument with Kelly today was less fiery than in November 2020, Klopp was clearly discontented once again with BT Sport putting his side down for the lunchtime kick-off after the international break.
Quoted by the Mirror, Klopp once again used his interview with Kelly on BT Sport as a platform to share his displeasure, with the 12:30 scheduling forcing Liverpool to play without both Alisson Becker and Fabinho.
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“It’s not that we thought ‘oh let’s see’, if we would’ve played tonight we could’ve given it a try but we play at 12:30 so there was no chance.”
“Who was it the idea to bring us at 12:30? Was it Watford? If you [BT] wouldn’t have said it we would’ve had to reply, ah yeah thank you for your help, really, thank you, thank you very much.”
Klopp is, of course, blaming the wrong person by taking it out on Kelly, but he’s never going to be given the opportunity to speak to the BT Sport higher-ups face-to-face, so he’ll have to settle for this.
The TV channels and the Premier League alike clearly have no interest in helping clubs deal with these kind of problems. Klopp’s frustration is absolutely justified and you imagine he won’t be the only manager to feel the same.