Jurgen Klopp has publicly addressed the manner of Arsenal’s celebrations immediately after their 3-1 win over Liverpool at the beginning of February.
Following the final whistle at the Emirates Stadium, Mikel Arteta replicated his opposite number’s traditional fist pump gesture, while Martin Odegaard was criticised by Jamie Carragher for borrowing the official club photographer’s camera to snap pictures of the team’s post-match glee.
Many Reds fans wouldn’t have been impressed by what they witnessed that evening, but the manager has dismissed the whole affair as a storm in a teacup.
Speaking on Friday after his own celebrations of Liverpool’s comeback win over Luton in midweek, Klopp said (via Liverpool Echo): “You can make of my celebrations what you want. I heard the discussions – that Mikel over-celebrated the win against us. That definitely did not come from me. Everybody can do whatever.
“I didn’t invent fist-pumps and I don’t have the copyright on it and I don’t want it. You do what you do for yourself and your people and what the outside world thinks about it.
“I couldn’t give a s*** to be honest, and you can write that exactly like that. This is for us and nobody else. Who likes it, likes it, and who doesn’t like it, doesn’t like it.”
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While the manner of Arsenal’s celebrations immediately after their win against us may have been hard to stomach at the time, Klopp is right to dismiss it as a triviality when there are far greater concerns in his in-tray, such as the abundance of injuries afflicting his squad.
Rather than getting provoked into an angry reaction that evening in north London, Liverpool responded in the best possible manner by winning their subsequent three games to strengthen their position at the Premier League summit.
The 56-year-old has been in management for long enough to know not to get drawn into a needless war of words over what happened at the Emirates, instead focusing his energy on getting the perfect response from his players on the pitch.
Frankly, there are much bigger problems in modern football than how players and managers choose to celebrate a victory. As he enters the final three month of his reign at Anfield, Klopp will literally keep his eyes on the prize(s), starting with the Carabao Cup final at Wembley tomorrow.