Jurgen Klopp regrets giving piggyback rides after Liverpool’s fourth goal against Arsenal
August 14, 2016
Liverpool came back from 1–0 down to take a 4–1 lead over Arsenal in the 63rd minute of their Premier League opener. As the goals piled up, the excitable Jurgen Klopp couldn’t resist getting in on the celebrations, with Sadio Mané even jumping on his back for a ride after scoring the fourth. The party quickly got out of hand, however, as Arsenal scored twice to make it 4–3 and give Liverpool a scare until the final whistle.
With the benefit of hindsight and reduced adrenaline levels, Klopp realized that he might have overdone it.
From Sky Sports:
“OK, I have a big, big part [to play] in the excitement in the last half hour, because it’s not allowed to celebrate the fourth goal when there is still half an hour to go,” Klopp told Sky Sports. “I knew it in the moment, but it was too late. I had Sadio [Mane] already on my back. For this moment we switched off the machines for a second.”
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger was full of excuses after using a comical starting XI due to a number of injuries only Arsenal can achieve and his refusal to add enough reinforcements in a timely fashion.
“It’s not pleasant but we have shown in the past that we have the mental strength to bounce back. We have to not panic.”
Uh, you sure about that, Arsene?
“We played a very good first half and we were unlucky to concede just before half-time because the free-kick looked very harsh.
“We didn’t recover properly and we paid for the lack of experience at the back and the fact some players are not ready physically to last 90 minutes at that level.”
So, harsh free kick (referee’s fault), lack of experience (i.e. too many injuries, i.e. bad luck), and players not fit enough (players’ fault). Glad he’s taking responsibility for making the same mistakes year after year.
No one had it worse than Arsenal captain for the day Petr Cech, though.
Not a good day for Petr Cech. He concedes four goals and he's just smashed his car up in car park at Emirates. #AFC pic.twitter.com/9GHxeZ9Ozw
— Joe Prince-Wright (@JPW_NBCSports) August 14, 2016