Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has come up with a bizarre explanation after his team crashed out of the EFL Cup following a 1-0 defeat in the second leg of the semifinal tie against Southampton.
The former Borussia Dortmund manager blamed the winds for his team’s poor performance after Shane Long’s injury-time goal took the Saints to the final. The defeat was Liverpool’s third loss in the last seven games and second consecutive defeat at home as their recent slump in form continues with another woeful display at Anfield.
After a quiet first-half, the Reds upped the tempo after the break but Daniel Sturridge missed a couple of great chances to open the scoring before Long hit the winner.
Speaking after the match, Klopp said: “First half, difficult, I’m not sure if you felt it but the wind was really strange.”
“It was difficult to handle. You saw one or two balls when Milly [Milner] couldn’t… the ball stopped in a moment no-one could know about it.
“It was difficult for the football playing side, obviously,” he added.
The German tactician also sounded annoyed with referee Martin Atkinson’s decision to not award a penalty to the Reds after Divock Origi tumbled under Jack Stephens’ challenge.
“I thought in the game it was a penalty but then I saw later he touched the ball before he touched Divock. Didn’t he? No? So that makes it even worse!’ said the Liverpool boss.
He also felt that the referee should have punished Shane Long for handling the ball in the second half when Roberto Firmino’s acrobatic hit the Southampton player.
“The handball was clear. Long, a clear handball. Look, maybe it’s not interesting and I don’t look for excuses or anything but it’s really hard to accept it week by week by week by week. It’s really hard.
“In one of the biggest games that everybody told me against Manchester United, he was two or three yards offside [Antonio Valencia] but nobody really speaks about it. You just have to say after the game, I think okay ‘do I have to speak about, it, is it my job to get to a fine afterwards [by talking about it]’?
“Today, the handball was for me obvious. 100% obvious. And then it’s the next situation but nobody then comes and says ‘sorry, didn’t see it’ or whatever.”
“The show must go on and now it’s the next game again but there’s been a lot of offside goals against us which shouldn’t have been allowed and it’s really rare. That’s how it is. It doesn’t feel good,” he said.