Sean Dyche has called out Jurgen Klopp for commenting on the “dangerous” play issued by some of his players during the club’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool at the weekend.
The Burnley boss claimed that his side stuck to the rules of the game, pointing to the lack of cards handed out by referee Mike Dean.
“My disappointment is he’s name-checking players,” the 50-year-old was quoted as saying by Goal.
“The implications of what he said about challenges are wrong. I think it’s inappropriate and it’s not something I would do myself.
“My worry is he’s questioned that teams shouldn’t do everything within the rules to win the game, which we clearly did because there wasn’t a single card given out.”
Both Klopp and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have since faced criticism for their post-match comments regarding the nature of the tackles favoured by their respective opposition.
As all fans are more than aware of when it comes to VAR and officiating in general, just because a controversial moment in a game isn’t spotted by an official, it’s not necessarily an indication of its legality.
Certainly, a handful of grappling challenges issued by Dyche’s men on Saturday looked far from being within the rules of the game.
We can respect the desire of clubs with an objectively poorer squad to try and level the playing field but it’s difficult to swallow such heavy-handed tackles and label it ‘football’ when it bears a closer resemblance to other more rough and tumble sports.
Just because the Ref did not hand out cards does not mean that the game was ideal. That logic is about as good as saying that because the bull does not give out milk his horns are useless.