Liverpool drew 1-1 with Crystal Palace on Monday. The Reds were far from their best and lost a man early in the second half when Darwin Nunez decided to headbutt a Crystal Palace player.
Following the game, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, whose side have had some bad injury luck in the last month or so, suggested there may have been a witch in the building this week:
“The week was crazy. I’ve experienced a lot of weeks, but that was like we had a witch in the building,” Klopp said.
“Honestly, everyday somebody else pulled up for the craziest reasons.”
Jurgen Klopp after Crystal Palace draw:
“The week was crazy. I’ve experienced a lot of weeks, but that was like we had a witch in the building.
“Honestly, everyday somebody else pulled up for the craziest reasons.”
— Josh Barker (@JoshBarker979) August 16, 2022
A slightly odd take on Liverpool’s injury issues to say the least, but Klopp is no stranger to weird post-match excuses after his side have failed to win a game. Here are some of his best.
Jurgen Klopp’s best excuses as Liverpool manager
The wind
An oldy but goldy, Jurgen Klopp has blamed the wind on a number of occasions since he joined Liverpool.
Everton beat Liverpool 2-0 back in February of 2021, the Toffees’ first victory over the Reds since 2010.
After the game, Klopp said: “You just cannot play football in this heavy wind,” Klopp said.
His excuse after that 2-0 defeat to Everton was the same one he used in the March 2019 derby, when he said “the wind was coming from all directions.”
To be fair to Klopp, though, he has been blaming the wind since all the way back in 2015 when he first arrived at the club: “The English game is not faster than the German game. Perhaps there are a few more sprints. But there is a different style of football here, partially due to the weather. The wind can be quite extreme in England. We are not familiar with that in Germany and you have to keep things simple.
“Players who are not from the UK have to get used to the winds. I have to adapt my style of football as a result as well. Often, you are forced to keep things simple. And there are a lot more duels for the second ball here, and more duels in general. That makes the game even more intense.”
Klopp’s blaming of the wind has become so well known that the parody Twitter account of ‘God’ even tweeted about it in 2019:
Sorry about the wind Liverpool! #MyBad
— God (Not a Parody, Actually God) (@TheTweetOfGod) March 3, 2019
God
Speaking of God, Klopp appeared to blame the almighty after a loss vs Manchester City last year:
“I am convinced now that God is a Man City fan and that he will do everything to stop us,” Klopp said after their defeat in February 2021. “You can’t win against God.”
The ball
Liverpool were knocked out of the FA Cup by Chelsea in March of 2020. The Reds lost 2-0, with Chelsea’s opening goal coming from Willian.
After the game, Klopp suggested the ball was to blame: “The first goal, we lose a ball, what was it 18/19 yards in front of the goal? The specific characteristic of the ball and Willian’s shooting technique made life really difficult.”
Yes Jurgen, because it had nothing to do with Adrian just not being a great goalkeeper.
Too hot to handle! 🔥
Willian’s venomous strike is right at Adrian but goes straight through the keeper 🙈 pic.twitter.com/tiuUVSLdpf
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) March 3, 2020
Injuries to opposition players
Liverpool faced off with Manchester United in February of 2019. The game ended 0-0 and, somewhat bizarrely, Manchester United lost three players to injury inside the first half.
This was obviously a major blow for United, yet Klopp somehow tried to make United’s injury issues into a reason why Liverpool did not win: “It’s difficult. It was a strange game. We started really, really well, exactly as we wanted to start. Then the injury crisis started as well.
“That obviously cost us our rhythm. It was like: ‘What’s going on now?’ “United played with a completely new midfield, pretty much a new three up front. We lost the rhythm and couldn’t get it back.”
Snow
Liverpool have also tried to use the weather to their advantage in the past, though it did work out too well.
In January of 2019, the Merseysiders faced off with Leicester at Anfield in snowy conditions. At half-time during the game, the Reds’ ground staff cleared snow from the end which the Reds were attacking, leaving the other end relatively untouched.
Klopp explained that “there was not enough man power to clear all the pitch”. But it did not matter anyway as Liverpool drew 1-1 and Klopp still blamed the snow: “You saw that the ball didn’t roll really. If you then have the ball pretty much for 70 to 80 percent of the time it makes life really uncomfortable. The only problem is if it stays on the pitch and that was actually the case.”
Referees
Officials are well known for getting things wrong, but Jurgen Klopp hit out at Kevin Friend even after he awarded Liverpool an offside goal in February of 2019 vs West Ham.
The German’s issue was that he thought Kevin Friend was aware Liverpool’s goal was offside, so he tried to give West Ham the advantage in the second half: “We had good moments and we score the goal which was offside… the referee must know that at half-time.
“It explains the second half because I think the referee knew and you saw there were a lot of strange situations, not decisive, just rhythm breakers. There were so many situations where it was 50-50 or 60-40 but it became a free kick for the other team.”
Alisson’s cold feet
Liverpool were smashed 4-1 by Manchester City in February of 2021. Alisson was far from his best that day, but maybe the Brazilian just had cold feet?
“In the second goal he just mishit the ball,” Klopp said after the loss to City. “There’s no real reason, maybe he had cold feet. It sounds funny but could be.”
Manchester United’s penalty record
Liverpool fell to a 1-0 defeat vs Southampton at St Mary’s in January of 2021.
Following the game, Klopp was frustrated at the decision not to award a penalty for a foul on Sadio Mane, so he decided to blame Manchester United’s penalty record:
“I hear now that Manchester United had more penalties in two years than I had in five-and-a-half years. I’ve no idea if that’s my fault, or how that can happen,” the former Dortmund boss said.
