‘I’m no Sir Alex’: Jurgen Klopp insists he lacks the ‘skills’ for playing mind-games’ as Liverpool boss fires back at Mark Clattenburg’s claims he was attempting to get in Manchester United’s heads ahead of derby
- Jurgen Klopp highlighted the number of penalties Manchester United receive
- In his Sportsmail column, Mark Clattenburg claimed Klopp is feeling pressure
- The German has hit back, saying the ex-referee’s comments say more about him
- United play Liverpool on Sunday in a crucial battle atop the Premier League
Jurgen Klopp has dismissed Mark Clattenburg’s argument that he has been playing minds by insisting he doesn’t have the skills to pull them off.
Clattenburg wrote in Sportsmail that Liverpool’s manager had tried to take a leaf out of Sir Alex Ferguson’s book and introduce the fact United have had so many penalties in the last year into the pre-game conversation.
The former top referee argued it was because Liverpool are under pressure.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has replied to Mark Clattenburg’s claims he’s playing mind games
The Reds manager fired a jibe at Manchester United over the number of penalties they’re given
Clattenburg believes Klopp showed he’s feeling the pressure ahead of facing Man United
Klopp, however, was nonplussed and said: ‘Am I surprised that somebody is talking about what I said after the Southampton game? No. Am I surprised that Mark Clattenburg speaks about it? No. I’m not sure what he got asked. I’m sure he got asked a lot of things.
‘Meanwhile, long after his career (finished) that’s nice for him that we can talk about him as well. I’m not Sir Alex and for different reasons. When he said, I tried something with mind games.
‘It was directly after the Southampton game, between this game there was another game.
The Reds are on a sticky run of form and lost top-spot in the Premier League on Tuesday
‘I didn’t think for a second about United in that moment. But before this game against Southampton I saw the stats about the penalties and that is what I mentioned.
‘When people like Mark Clattenburg are speaking like they speak, it always says much more about them than it could ever say about me.
‘If he would be in my situation, he would obviously play mind games. I am unfortunately no, I’ve not skills for playing mind games. That’s my problem.’