Defends Sturridge over cheat accusations:
Jurgen Klopp says”Daniel Sturridge is no cheater” after the Liverpool striker was criticised by Burnley boss Sean Dyche following the controversial PremierLeague meeting between the sides in midweek.
Jurgen Klopp was unhappy with Burnley’s “aggressive” style of play in the wake of the 3-1 win at Turf Moor, urging Premier League referees to give his Liverpool players more protection.
He was no doubt aware by that point of the seriousness of Joe Gomez’s injury after the England defender was stretchered off following a challenge from Ben Mee in the first half.
Gomez will miss up to six weeks after fracturing his leg in the incident.
“It’s a bit of dangerous play, I stick to that opinion,” said Klopp on Friday.
Dyche earlier defended Burnley’s tackling, stating that he believed only Phil Bardsley’s challenge on Alberto Moreno could be viewed as “questionable.”
And the Clarets boss said he would rather see that in the game than players diving to win a free-kick – calling Sturridge a “cheat” for doing so.
“Daniel Sturridge is no cheater,” Klopp retorted ahead of his side strip to face Bournemouth.
“I think what Sean tries to do there is to bring up another subject. So that people could talk about that. But I’m not sure he spoke about Bardsley’stackle on Moreno.
“What do we talk about? We all have our interests. The referee didn’t judge it really because it was a normal situation. This can happen when a game is really hard, and sometimes a striker expects a tackle. And you try to avoid that by jumping.
“He wants to discuss Daniel, I can’t avoid that. But on the other hand, I said what I had to after the game, different opinions are allowed.”
Although Klopp admits Mee did not set out to injure Gomez. He says being aggressive means “being ready to hurt yourself and not the opponent”.
