Jurgen Klopp was displeased with Aston Villa’s time-wasting during Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Liverpool, describing the visitors’ delay tactics as ‘obvious’.
In a match which saw 10 minutes of stoppage time being played at the end of the second half, the home fans at Anfield voiced their displeasure over how long Emiliano Martinez kept the ball by counting the number of seconds for which the Villa goalkeeper held it before playing to a teammate.
Football writer Andrew Beasley tweeted a prophetic stat during the first half that Unai Emery’s team had more yellow cards for time-wasting in the Premier League than anyone else, while even Sky Sports‘ live web commentary (15:35) hinted at ‘signs of game management already’ when Leon Bailey stayed on the turf at one point before half-time.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Klopp accepted that the delay tactics weren’t the reason for Liverpool dropping points but still voiced his frustration over how blatant it had been from some of the Villans’ players.
The Reds manager said: “I think it’s an important thing to talk about, but I’m a bit afraid that again you’ll make not the best of it, because it’s then ‘Klopp said, Klopp said’. I think the problem is obvious.
“Last week, you saw Sevilla against Juventus, 2-1 up, ball boys – gone. Wow! But we say that’s smart and that’s allowed, do it like that and it’s fine.
“I think in the whole season in general we saw it a bit too often. It’s not always time-wasting, it’s very often a rhythm break as well when your opponent is really going for it and all of a sudden a player goes down and you’re scratching your head.
“I think today it was obvious. 10 minutes is okay, you just had the feeling that in these 10 minutes it would have been worth another five. It’s nothing to do with the result today or in general our season, but it would be cool if we could talk about that as well.”
Klopp’s initial caution was noteworthy, given how he was serving a touchline ban for previous comments made about officials (Sky Sports), and the refereeing team must’ve been relieved he wasn’t at ground level yesterday considering some of the downright abysmal decisions they made.
Villa will claim they were within their rights to delay at various intervals, and Liverpool’s overall performance deserved nothing more than a draw, but the long stoppages throughout the game were still an unwelcome sight, with John Brooks often too weak to intervene when he needed to.
You can catch Klopp’s comments on the Villans’ delay tactics below, courtesy of our footage on Twitter:
Klopp on Aston Villa's timewasting tactics 🤷♂️#LFC
🗣️"I think the problem is obvious… I think today it was obvious. 10 minutes is okay, you just had the feeling that in these 10 minutes it would have been worth another five." pic.twitter.com/nGPixfMA9h
— Empire of the Kop (@empireofthekop) May 20, 2023
Klopp should put his own team in order before moaning,The number of times various Liverpool players committed fouls time and again,when VIlla were breaking was crazy,wastes time, causes injury to players,breaks up game ,.,ref gave no punishment,let big mouth sort that out before going on about every other team.