The FA have made a telling judgement on Jurgen Klopp in wake of his comments after Liverpool vs Spurs. The boss had a lot to say about refereeing decisions.
Jurgen Klopp was not happy whatsoever after Liverpool drew 2-2 with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. It wasn’t even the dropped points that got to him, either – the result was a decent one, given the absences.
Liverpool lacked Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Thiago and Jordan Henderson for the game. All four are vital first-XI players but the Reds battled valiantly to mostly control the game.
Instead, Klopp – and everyone else – had a problem with refereeing decisions. Liverpool almost certainly should have had a first-half penalty, with the German describing the incident as ‘incredible’ after the game.
Then there were the red card incidents. Andy Robertson saw red for a challenge on Emerson Royal in the second half, which was fair. But it put major questions on the referee’s decision not to send off Harry Kane in the first 45 for a far worse challenge.
“I have no problems with referees – only you,” Klopp told referee Paul Tierney after the game. Before telling Sky Sports: “There were obviously many other things that were influential in this game, but some of these questions are better to ask Mr Tierney.”
Jurgen Klopp escapes FA action
The boss was vocal, then, and didn’t hide his feelings. However, it appears Klopp will get away with it. Usually in these situations, the FA will punish a manager for criticising the referee (some prefer not to speak, for instance). In this case, the FA will do nothing after reviewing the situation.
For us, that’s quite telling. The general consensus in football has been that Tierney got things horribly wrong and there’s utter confusion over the lack of VAR intervention.
Perhaps punishing Klopp would have been a bad look, then, as he went in pretty hard on the referee. He’s getting away with it, though – at least that’s a thin form of justice.
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