Klopp told to stop with ‘excuses’ and face up to Liverpool’s problem

Jurgen Klopp has been told to stop making “excuses” by Frank Leboeuf, after the Liverpool boss pointed towards Manchester United’s penalty tally.

Klopp admitted he was angry after Monday’s 1-0 defeat to Southampton in which Sadio Mane was denied two penalties.

After the game, which ended the champions 12-match unbeaten, an irked Klopp showed his annoyance.

“Manchester United had more penalties in two years than I had in five and a half years,” Klopp said. “I’ve no idea if that’s my fault, or how that can happen.”

But former France and Chelsea defender told ESPN that the German needs focus on his own team and stop with the “excuses”.

“I’m really fond of Mr Klopp, I don’t understand what he’s trying to do,” the 52-year-old told ESPN.

“He doesn’t need to find excuses. This season is a big mess.

“I don’t know what it’s going to mean to be a champion of the Premier League this season because of all the things we see and all the things we’re going through.

“For the penalty excuses, I played from 1996 to 2001 for Chelsea and I kept on hearing that Manchester United had penalties more than anybody else so it’s a long story.

“But I don’t think Manchester United got all those trophies because of penalties more given to them than others.

“So don’t go there. Don’t go to try and find something special. Everybody is doing badly and suddenly doing great and they’ll go back to bad or average – it’s what it is this season.

“Liverpool is struggling because of injuries, because of the pandemic because of the tiredness of some players – just go there! Don’t try to find something else.

“It’s not Mr Klopp. Mr Klopp is over that.”

Solskjaer dignified in response

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did respond to Klopp’s comments ahead of the Carabao Cup semi-final with Man City.

The United manager afforded himself a laugh.

“And that’s a fact, probably,” he said. “That’s probably going to be my answer – that’s a fact that we’ve got more than them.

“But maybe they should… well, we’ve had… I don’t know how many penalties they’ve had. I don’t count how many penalties they have.

“So, if they want to spend time on worrying about when we get fouled in the box then I don’t spend time on that.”