Jurgen Klopp 'furious' at Liverpool legend for questioning key staff member

Jurgen Klopp is reportedly ‘furious’ with former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann over his criticism of assistant manager Pep Lijnders.

The Merseysiders have endured a very disappointing campaign, with a horde of injuries combined with lacklustre performances seeing them sit in 10th place in the Premier League table.

They are currently 11 points adrift of the top four and have already lost seven matches this season, while the 28 goals they have conceded is as many as 18th-placed Everton – who they face on Sunday.

Hamann has been critical of Liverpool’s performances for most of the season but has taken particular umbrage with assistant manager Lijnders.

Remarkably, the German’s ire has centred on the Dutch coach’s decision to write and release a book – titled ‘Pep Lijnders: Intensity – Inside Liverpool FC – at the start of the season, which he partly blames for the club’s dire form.

‘The alarm bells should have been ringing for Liverpool fans when the current assistant manager wrote a book while still employed by the club,’ he tweeted in September. ‘How he was allowed to do it I’m not too sure.’

Hamann has frequently reiterated – and, indeed, retweeted – that message in the months since, writing in January: ‘The only question is whether the club benefited from it and the simple answer is no. His job is not to educate other coaches while he’s getting paid by Liverpool.’

According to The Athletic, Hamann’s constant barbs towards Lijnders have incensed Klopp and prompted several digs at his compatriot in the press.

While the Liverpool boss knows it is part of the job to deal with criticism directed at him, he does not like seeing his coaching staff being critiqued.

The Athletic’s report claims Klopp is also furious with suggestions that the role of Andreas Kornmayer – his head of fitness and conditioning – has been questioned within the club.

That prompted him to refuse to answer a question from journalist James Pearce after Liverpool were beaten 3-0 by Wolves earlier this month – which, in turn, saw Hamann slam the Liverpool manager.

‘I found it very strange and petty and what he has to realise is that James Pearce and his family get bombarded with abusive messages since that incident because Klopp didn’t answer a question,’ Hamann told talkSPORT.

‘It was a perfectly good question to ask him and I think the least James deserves is an apology. Liverpool is a club that is based on respect and I think someone has to tell [Klopp] that this is Liverpool Football Club and you can’t do this.

‘We have campaigns against bullying and you can’t have the Liverpool manager behave the way he did. I feel nobody at the club has the bottle to tell him, which I think they should. The way things are going at the moment, these things don’t help him and they certainly don’t help the club, which is above everything else.’

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