Former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor has taken his little glitch with Jurgen Klopp one step further with a curt, ungracious response after the latter criticised his recent hack job on Man United on talkSPORT.
Agbonlahor has lashed back at Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp after the latter castigated the former England star for his brutal assessment of Manchester United’s 4-0 defeat to Brentford last weekend.
The former striker lambasted Erik ten Hag’s side following last Saturday’s debacle in the capital after the Reds scrambled up one of their worst performances ever in their grand history. Amazingly drawn and quartered in record time, they were 4-0 down by half-time and could not even muster up any sort of positive response even after the interval.
This is the second defeat in as many games for Ten Hag, one that is appreciably light years away from the ideal form that United would want to take into Monday night’s much-anticipated showdown with Liverpool at Old Trafford. And, possibly as a gesture of goodwill and a sign of encouragement to their rivals ahead of the match, Klopp in his pre-match press conference on Friday lacerated Agbonlahor for his comments about United.
The German in particular took great offence to Agbonlahor’s comment about United, criticising him for lacking a strong mentality. The Liverpool gaffer took it a step further to reminisce about the former Villa man’s lack of mentality from when he was part of the side that lost 6-0 to Liverpool back in February 2016.
Klopp said: “It was not a nice week for United after Brentford. We forget how good Brentford are.
“I watched the first-half and then listened to the radio, talkSPORT. Gabby Agbonlahor, he lost against us 6-0 in my first year.
“I couldn’t remember him as a mentality monster on the pitch. But what he said about United on that show, I was close to calling in and telling him, ‘You have forgotten completely that you have been a player’.
“It was unbelievable. If ex-players are going already like this, you can imagine how everything else is going.”
Klopp’s comments prompted a response from Agbonlahor. He has requested that the Liverpool boss should not advise him on how to be a pundit and that he would be open to chatting over a drink.
“Mate, I woke up and I’ve never seen my phone blow up as much as it was,” Agbonlahor told Jamie O’Hara on talkSPORT. “I was like ‘what’s happened? Jurgen Klopp has done this’.
“When I’ve seen it and I’ve seen the clip, I’m thinking ‘come on, Jurgen’. It’s a bit too much, isn’t it?
“It’s great for the show that he’s listening to our show, all managers should be. For me, I’ve got bosses at talkSPORT who I answer to. If my reaction to Manchester United being 4-0 down was too much then I’m sure I’d have heard about that.
“I don’t need Jurgen Klopp telling me how to be a pundit, he should concentrate on being a manager. He wouldn’t take advice on being a coach from me, would he? So I’m not going to take advice from him.
“It’s all settled now though. Simon Jordan sorted him out for me – my good friend Simon, I owe him a drink. It’s very strange but Jurgen, if you’re listening, I’m available for a chat any time. We’ll catch up in Liverpool and have a drink, no problem.”