English Premier League
Jurgen Klopp brutal response to Jordan Henderson question: “I don’t like saying this”
Jurgen Klopp brutal response to Jordan Henderson question: “I don’t like saying this”
Jordan Henderson has spent the majority of the season at Liverpool on the bench, but Jurgen Klopp has rejected claims that this choice has contributed to the Reds’ difficulties.
In response to questions over Jordan Henderson’s position in his Liverpool team, yJurgen Klopp has reacted furiously.
The Reds’ last two Premier League games, which they lost both, saw Henderson play just 33 minutes. In reality, only 10 of Liverpool’s 20 matches in the Premier League have begun with the captain at the helm, as Klopp has increasingly looked to others for his starting lineups.
However, the Reds have had trouble without their skipper starting, winning just three games in that time. Prior to Monday’s Merseyside Derby, Klopp has been criticised for his recent poor performance, but the German has already strongly reacted.
“I don’t understand why we are talking about one player, I mean it. Everybody knows how much I respect him. I don’t like saying this but it’s true, you are not able to deal with these kinds of things,” he fumed.
“One player becomes the subject, ‘Henderson is this, Henderson is that’, Hendo is not our problem. Never was and never will be. When he is fit and in good shape he played 98 per cent of the games we had.
“He played all these games because he’s a very, very, very important player for us. There’s nothing…I understand that you have to think about subjects, but I cannot answer this question. Yes he’s important and how much did we miss him, a lot.”
Jordan Henderson has been used as a substitute at Liverpool FC majority of the this season (photo by Getty images)
Klopp insisted that Liverpool’s problems this season have not just been down the absence of Henderson. Instead, he pointed to wider issues with his team, with the Reds’ hopes of finishing in the European qualification spots fading.
“It’s not just him, that’s the key. If we missed it from Hendo but not from the others, we wouldn’t miss it that much. This is a team story and if you want a manager story [that’s OK] but nothing else,” Klopp added.
“But not individual players or members of staff, that story doesn’t work. Definitely not. In our best periods, it’s easy to have a press conference because you ask about players scoring, we have a laugh and it’s nice
Some of you make massive things of what I say and it is not my intention. It’s difficult to talk all the time about [poor form]. I can explain absolutely everything, but not to you [journalists]. People can write what they want.
“That’s the problem, I can’t explain everything to you. I explain it to the boys and we go from there. We hope for a better result and a much easier press conference.”
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