Rio: Klopp uses Sir Alex tactic to paper over Liverpool ‘creaks’
Rio Ferdinand claims Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is using the same media tactics as Sir Alex Ferguson employed at Manchester United.
Klopp has deflected attention away from his players and their performances in recent weeks with a series of complaints about the fixture list, TV scheduling and the five substitutes rule.
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His post-match interview with BT reporter Des Kelly after the weekend draw with Brighton was a case in point.
And Ferdinand believes Klopp’s antics are straight out of Ferguson’s playbook.
He said: “Sometimes he’d (Ferguson) do a team talk after a game and be as calm as you like and then he’d go out for an interview and we’d see him on the TV screen and he would be going bananas about a decision no-one had even thought about.
“But that took the spotlight off someone else or something else that could derail us.
“He controlled the narrative and I think that’s what Klopp is doing very well at the moment.
“Maybe sometimes he’s talking about stuff outside of that (game) which can take away from the performance or the little creaks that happen within the 90 minutes.”
Peter Crouch concurred: “Sir Alex Ferguson, over the years, always talked about international football and the fixture list (after games).
“Mourinho too. All the best managers do it and they’re trying to get an edge.
“They all want to get one up. I think it helps in the dressing room (that mentality) ‘of everyone is against us because we’re the best and ‘nobody is going to give us any help’.
“I think that helps in the dressing room of you versus us.”