Former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan claims that Jurgen Klopp has shown a “negligent” attitude at Liverpool and “not looked at the bigger picture”.
The Reds have been struggling in the Premier League this season with Klopp’s men currently sitting ninth in the standings, 15 points adrift of leaders Arsenal and eight points off fourth-placed Newcastle United.
There has been criticism of the summer recruitment at Liverpool after losing Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich, while others have blamed their issues in midfield.
A number of players have underperformed this campaign but Jordan reckons it’s poor planning from Liverpool boss Klopp which has led to their current position.
Jordan said on talkSPORT: “I realise that of course the religion of Klopp means if you actually criticise Klopp, then people are going to pile on about this potential hatred that you or I have for Jurgen Klopp.
“Which is of course absolute nonsense, because I think he’s one of the elite managers of his generation. I think he’s an outstanding manager.
“But I think he’s been negligent, I think he has not looked at the bigger picture, one of the great things about elite managers is they know when to revitalise, to recalibrate, to re-energise, to change up.
“He hasn’t done it, now you can make the argument that they’ve lost some players and [Sadio] Mane was a situation.
“But Graeme Souness made an interesting point yesterday, it’s one I repeatedly make and it’s nice to hear a football manager – albeit a previous one – talking about the amount of juice that top managers have.
“Are you sitting there seriously saying to me that Klopp hasn’t got the leverage to go to the Liverpool board and say, ‘give me some more money for players’.
“Because I think he has, and Graeme made the point yesterday, that can you imagine that Jurgen Klopp hasn’t got the juice to go to the board and say, ‘I need more support’.
“So I think they’re all in this – none of us saw it. Again, referring to Souness, but Graeme talks about this aging midfield. I didn’t hear him say that at the beginning of the season.
“There was an expectation that Liverpool were going to rival Man City and Liverpool were going to push them. The Charity [Community] Shield did nothing to diminish that argument.
“So all of a sudden all these people can see the vision after the vision hasn’t arrived. Because now they’re all going, ‘aha look at the midfield’.
“But none of you said that at the beginning of the season. But the guy that should have said it, and the guy that should know it, is Jurgen Klopp.
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“Because part of his job is not to make Liverpool burn brightly and blaze away and then fade away, his job is to keep them at that standard for as long as he possibly can.
“And I wonder and I was trying to ask Graeme again yesterday, about this style of play, because whilst Man City are… they’re quite economical in how they use their players because they’re so good at retaining the ball.
“Liverpool are a very different side, very dynamic, which means you’re going to burn through certain players much quicker because of the nature of the style you play.
“And surely the Messiah Klopp must know this. I will absolutely back him to fix it, because he has the tools to fix it, I don’t think he’s tired – I’m not interested if he’s tired.
“What is he tired from? Carrying his Brink’s-Mat bag of wages back and forward. That’s why you get paid £10million-a-year to be an elite manager, now be one.
“You’ve got to fix this problem, If you think you’ve got an excuse with the current squad to take three points out of Fulham, Brighton, Leeds, [Nottingham] Forest and Everton, then that’s not an excuse.
“You beat Man City, I expect you to have trouble with Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, but I don’t expect you with this squad of players or whatever malaise you’ve currently got, to have trouble against Fulham, Brighton, Forest, Leeds and Everton.”
Jordan added: “What was your recruitment thinking? No-one will ask those questions because he won’t like those questions.”
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