Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is said to be ‘furious’ with Didi Hamann after the ex-Reds midfielder criticised assistant manager Pep Lijnders in a series of tweets. The Merseyside giants have endured a turbulent season to date and find themselves well adrift of the Premier League’s top four with just eight wins from their 20 matches since the start of the campaign.
Liverpool were comfortably beaten by Wolves in their last outing and will face a tough task in overcoming the challenge posed by Everton on Monday night, with the Toffees seemingly on the rise after recruiting Sean Dyche following the sacking of Frank Lampard last month. Klopp has appeared to struggle to cope with the pressure at times in recent months, with his increasingly prickly comments to reporters suggesting that he is feeling the heat as the possibility of Champions League qualification continues to slip away from Liverpool’s grasp.
Klopp has also taken issue with Hamann after the 49-year-old, who tasted European glory with the Reds in 2005, hit out at Ljinders on Twitter for his decision to publish a book on the trials and tribulations of last season. Liverpool played a total of 63 matches over the course of the campaign and came agonisingly close to winning an unprecedented quadruple but were ultimately forced to settle for two trophies after winning the FA Cup and Carabao Cup.
Hamann tweeted in September: “The alarm bells should have been ringing for Liverpool fans when the current assistant manager wrote a book while still employed by the club. How he was allowed to do it I’m not too sure.”
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He followed up with another tweet criticising Ljinders last month, which read: “The only question is whether the club benefited from it and the simple answer is no. His job is not to educate other coaches while he’s getting paid by Liverpool.”
Klopp is said to have been left furious with the views of his compatriot, according to The Athletic, and previously took aim at the former Reds midfielder when quizzed on comments he had made before facing Rangers in the Champions League back in October.
The Liverpool boss was informed that Hamann had suggested that his side were in need of a new spark and sarcastically replied: “Oh great, he’s a fantastic source, well respected everywhere. That [playing for Liverpool] doesn’t give you the right to say what you want especially when you have no idea.
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“I actually think Didi Hamann doesn’t deserve that you use his phrase to ask me a question. Do me a favour and ask your own question. Try to ask a question without the word spark, that’s the challenge now.”
Klopp’s sensitive reaction to Hamann’s comments may well have been sparked by the former midfielder’s decision to question whether or not Liverpool would reap the rewards of changing their manager in an interview with talkSPORT prior to the Rangers fixture.
He said: “At some stage, I think we will have that discussion about the manager and I’m not sure how far we are off that. He said that he still feels that he’s the right man to do it, but I see little things like Jordan Henderson midweek seeing his number going up and reluctantly taking his armband off and coming off, shaking his head.
“This is something that we haven’t seen at Liverpool for five years. Maybe these are little signs that people have little problems with the team or even the manager. The dynamics at Liverpool are no different to anywhere else and if the results aren’t there then the manager will come under pressure.”
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