Jurgen Klopp: I don't have the skills for playing mind games

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp

It is, arguably, the greatest rivalry in English football, not least because of its long, proud history of managers engaging in intriguing mind games — one which Jurgen Klopp insisted that he is not attempting to add to.

The Liverpool manager talked openly after his team’s recent defeat at Southampton about the modest number of penalty awards granted to his team in comparison to Manchester United.

Klopp had, accurately, claimed that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side had been awarded more spot kicks in the past two years than Liverpool had in five-and-a-half years of his command.

It was a point that was picked upon by former referee Mark Clattenburg who, writing in a national newspaper, accused the German of hypocrisy and playing “mind games” in the build-up to the United game.

And so he should, given the proud tradition that these two clubs have in that department over the years with Alex Ferguson and, to a lesser extent, opposite numbers such as Kenny Dalglish masters in that dark art.

Lest we forget, Ferguson is a manager who drove former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez’s and Anfield legend Kevin Keegan to public “breakdowns” with the way he manipulated the media.

But if Clattenburg was correct and Klopp was intending to influence Sunday’s official Paul Tierney with his comments, it was not a point that the combative Liverpool manager was prepared to concede. “Am I surprised that somebody is talking about what I said after the Southampton game? No,” said Klopp.

“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, so 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 and I didn’t think for a second about the United game 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 not, I don’t have the skills for playing mind games. That’s my problem.”

Which, of course, is precisely what a manager would say if he were playing mind games although Solskjaer was not prepared to get into the topic, even given Klopp’s reputation for antics on the touchline that can best be described as “animated.”

“I don’t think it’s my place to give the officials any advice,” said Solskjaer. “They know what they’re doing and it’s not something I think about at all, I’ve got loads of respect for Jurgen and haven’t experienced that at all.”