The Times:
Exclusive: What Klopp told Allardyce in touchline row
Jürgen Klopp told Sam Allardyce to “calm down — it’s Christmas” during the Liverpool manager’s latest touchline spat.
Klopp yesterday shrugged off being described as a “soft German” by Sam Allardyce, his Sunderland counterpart, and has refused to back down after the altercation.
Klopp remains adamant that the tackle by Sunderland’s Jeremain Lens on Mamadou Sakho in the 86th minute was worthy of a red card during Liverpool’s 1-0 victory at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday.
Lens was cautioned but the challenge prompted Klopp to harangue the match officials and led Peter Krawietz and John Achterberg, his assistants, to berate the Sunderland bench.
Allardyce later complained about the “foul and abusive” language used towards him by Klopp’s coaching staff. The Times has learnt that the Sunderland manager took exception to being told to “f***ing sit down”.
Klopp, however, is understood to have played the role of peacemaker, telling both Allardyce and his own backroom team to “calm down — it’s Christmas”. Allardyce responded publicly afterwards, claiming that Klopp was “a soft German” if he considered Lens’s tackle worthy of dismissal.
But the Liverpool manager was unfazed by Allardyce’s words. “It’s is absolutely not a problem; a lot of people have said worse about me,” he said. “Soft German? Yeah, I think it is the first time. [If] you see the situation, you see it again, then you will know that I was not too wrong in judging this.
“Mama [Sakho] is still alive and everything is OK. Situations like this have to be judged differently. I had no arguments with the bench of Sunderland. I’ve nothing else to say.”
Liverpool travel to West Ham United tomorrow and Klopp confirmed earlier reports that the east London club attempted to lure him out of his management sabbatical in the summer. That effort failed and David Gold and David Sullivan, the co-owners, opted for Slaven Bilic instead.
“I’m not sure I should say too much about this, but in the summer I was not available for anybody,” Klopp said. “I was sure I needed a few days without thinking too much about football. I am a lucky guy so there was a lot of interest from different clubs. If West Ham want to talk about this they can do it.
“It is a good club, a really good club, but it was a wrong time for all the clubs who were interested. It had nothing to do with West Ham or what I think about West Ham. Everything is OK. ‘The Hammers.’ Maybe that is more my second name than soft!”