Stephen Dunmoye
Liverpool Manager, Jurgen Klopp has apologised for ‘losing it’ at assistant referee Gary Beswick and vowed to try to contain his touchline behaviour.
The FA on Tuesday charged Klopp for breaching Rule E3 during Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday. He has until Friday to respond and the governing body will then decide a course of action.
It was the first time Klopp has been sent off during seven years in charge of Liverpool.
Eddie Howe, Newcastle’s manager, on Tuesday said his counterpart had to be careful how he acts in the technical area and Klopp recognises he overstepped the mark.
The German went in to see referee Anthony Taylor an hour after the final whistle to discuss a number of issues and tried to explain how he reached the point where he pursued Beswick after Mo Salah was grappled by Bernardo Silva.
According to Klopp, “It was my fault but it was not that it was a boring 0-0 and I stood there and went bonkers. There is no excuse, I don’t want an excuse, it happened and it was obvious as everyone saw it. That he gave me a red card is absolutely OK.
“I know about our role in public and how difficult it is to be a ref. I am a ref five times a week in training and you never get it right.
“In the end we are all human beings. For 99 minutes in this case it was pretty intense and always being the perfect version of yourself is actually not possible and in these moments more difficult.’
Frank Lampard said yesterday managers must know how to behave on the touchline.
However, the Everton boss does not believe there is a link between the behaviour of elite managers and abuse of referees at grassroots level.
“We have a responsibility, I understand that,’ Lampard said. ‘There’s also a microscope put on managers in the modern day and we’re in highly pressurised jobs. The amount of pressure we come under and the decisions that go against you can throw you.
The Liverpool manager apologised for his reaction and said that he understood his public role and the importance to try and keep his cool
The Liverpool manager apologised for his reaction and said that he understood his public role and the importance to try and keep his cool
“We all know the situation. If you try to draw a line between that and someone in a Sunday league game physically attacking a referee, that’s the personal responsibility of the person who has gone and done that, as it would be on the street.
“I don’t draw that line, but I understand the responsibility. I see managers in high-pressure situations handle themselves really well 99.9 per cent of the time.’
West Ham manager David Moyes also defended Klopp ahead of the clubs’ match tonight.
Moyes also said, “We all have great respect for referees. I hope they understand that for 90 minutes we can lose our heads a little bit. It becomes a really emotional game. ‘Sometimes you can change your character from what your true character is. And actually, if you look at the incident he got angry about, he was correct, wasn’t he?”
