Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has surprisingly come to the defence of struggling rivals Manchester United and manager Erik ten Hag, issuing a stinging rebuke against Gabriel Agbonlahor in the process.
Former Aston Villa stalwart Agbonlahor now works as a radio pundit for talkSPORT and, like many others, certainly did not hold back in his criticism of United after their humiliating drubbing by Brentford last Saturday in which they were 4-0 down after just 35 minutes, having also been beaten at home by Brighton on opening weekend.
And ex-players being content to voice such savage assessments is clearly something that irks Klopp, who recalled Liverpool’s demolition of a Villa side spearheaded by Agbonlahor in his first season at Anfield back in February 2016 as evidence that the ex-England forward was no “mentality monster” - a moniker attributed to the successful Liverpool teams of recent times.
Coming to United’s defence before his side visit Old Trafford on Monday night, Klopp told reporters: “You forget in these moments how good Brentford is, to be honest. It was that bad, I drove home after watching the first half at the training ground and listened to talkSPORT.
“Gabby, he lost against us 6-0 in my first year. I couldn’t remember him as a mentality monster on the pitch. What he said about United on that show, I was close to calling in.
“I was close to calling in and telling him, you forgot completely that you have been a player. It was unbelievable. If ex-players are already like this, you can imagine how everything else is going.
Just woke up by the beach what have I missed?
— Ga11agbon (@ga11agbon) August 19, 2022
“Now you just have to ask yourself, how would you want to react in a situation like this?”
Responding to Klopp’s criticism, Agbonlahor, who retired from football in 2019 at the age of 32, tweeted simply: “Just woke up by the beach what have I missed?”
