Jurgen Klopp was spotted shouting at Virgil van Dijk in the second-half of Liverpool’s meeting with Brighton and Hove Albion at the weekend.
The German played down the moment post-match, explaining that his prized Dutch centre-half had been guilty of straying too far from Solly March at one point in the tie.
“Don’t know 100 per cent, we have conversations quite a lot of times,” the 54-year-old told reporters (as covered by the Daily Mail via TEAMtalk).
“So, there is never one explanation, you cannot now make a massive story of that because I said before we didn’t defend the half-spaces right. That’s the problem.
“When the guy on the ball is not under pressure, you cannot have a high last line, so then the last line drops in that moment and all of a sudden we put pressure on it and then they have to push up again.
“So, these kind of things, we have clear rules, clear moments for when we do what. It’s not an easy one.
“Now I know it [what the exchange was about], it was the one where [Solly] March was pretty much the only player up-front for Brighton and Virgil was too far away.
“In that moment it was about that but yes, a normal coach-player talk.”
The Reds succumbed to their fourth draw in the English top-flight this term with the Seagulls arguably the better side for much of the home encounter.
To be completely fair to our backline, they were put under heavy pressure throughout the game without the reassuring protection offered by injury absentee Fabinho.
On several occasions, our midfield – particularly Curtis Jones – was guilty of losing possession and handing control of the middle of the park to Graham Potter’s men following Naby Keita’s withdrawal from the clash.
Whilst a conversation will have been had about Van Dijk’s positioning in the second-half, it’s a rare mistake that will likely not arise again in the near future – particularly if we have our No.3’s services back available in time for our upcoming meeting with Atletico Madrid.