After Liverpool’s 1-0 defeat at bottom Nottingham Forest, criticism of coach Jürgen Klopp is growing. With Gabriel Agbonlahor and Jamie O’Hara, two ex-professionals find clear words.
“Mentality monster Jurgen Klopp, five away games without a win – can he motivate his team only for games on a packed Anfield road?” asked former England international Agbonlahor talkSPORT. Liverpool showed a “shocking performance” in Nottingham, said the 36-year-old.
After their third defeat in their eleventh Premier League game, the Reds are only eighth with 16 points. The gap to leaders FC Arsenal is already 12 points.
“The media wrote that after beating Manchester City Liverpool are back and finishing in the top four. Many fans say the title race is not over yet, but Liverpool are miles away from that,” said O’Hara.
And the former Premier League pro continued: “I said at the beginning of the season that Liverpool wouldn’t make it to the Champions League. I’m staying with that. Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea, all these teams are better now.”
Strong criticism of Carvalho and Fabinho
Agbonlahor’s criticism of midfielder Fabio Carvalho, who was signed by FC Fulham in the summer, was particularly severe. The 20-year-old Portuguese “doesn’t look like he has Premier League quality,” said the former striker.
Speaking of Brazil midfielder Fabinho, Agbonlahor said: “His legs are gone. His sprints are more of a walk.”
Klopp: Loss feels ‘incredibly bad’
However, Klopp had to do without eight top performers in Darwin Núñez, Diogo Jota, Ibrahima Konaté, Joel Matip, Luis Díaz, Naby Keïta, Arthur Melo and captain Jordan Henderson. In addition, Thiago signed off at short notice with an ear infection.
“We had six games with a limited squad and three high-intensity games in one week,” explained Klopp bt sports and referred to the three victories in the Champions League at Glasgow Rangers (7-1) and in the league against Manchester City (1-0) and West Ham United (1-0): “That’s the way it is, we can’t do it change, we have to fight our way through.”
The defeat in Nottingham “feels incredibly bad,” said the 55-year-old: “To be honest, I have no idea how we lost this game.”
