Jurgen Klopp has blasted Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville for his recent comments in which the latter hailed Manchester United starlet Hannibal Mejbri’s cameo in Thursday night’s Anfield showdown.
The home side Liverpool ran out convincing winners with a 4-0 scoreline against their arch-rivals who were left outclassed on the road to Merseyside by Jurgen Klopp’s high-flying title challengers.
In the final stages of the game, the visitors brought on the youngster Hannibal Mejbri and his feisty cameo earned him cautions from the referee but was subject to praise from ex-United star Gary Neville.
Klopp, however, was not impressed by Neville lauding Mejbri’s intensity late on in the match with the Liverpool boss admitting that Neville was right in acknowledging that the young midfielder went too far with his aggressiveness.
Speaking ahead of Liverpool taking on city foes Everton in Sunday’s derby clash, Klopp sounded out the caution in his pre-match presser for Hannibal crossing the line with his style of play in the dying embers of a game in which United could not keep up with Liverpool.
“He had to apologise for that. Rightly so.
“I understand where he is coming from. You want to see some aggression. But there is a difference between aggression and kicking players. That makes no sense.
“Aggression in football means you are ready to hurt yourself, not the other player. That is aggression in football.
“I don’t blame the kid, he came on late and the game was quick and obviously wanted to make an impression. He was a bit late here and a bit late there, all good. Aggression in football is fine but you cannot sort your own problems by hurting the opposition players. That is what I have never understood.
“I have played 325 professional football games and without aggression and physicality I would have played none. It was my only strength that I had, so I am completely fine with that, but it’s about staying respectful, that’s all. Things can happen in football, it is a high-speed game but not these kinds of things where you don’t care about the other (player).”
