Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp laughs off 'soft German' jibe
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp laughed off Sam Allardyce's "soft German" jibe, joking he had been called much worse.
Sunderland boss Allardyce made the comment after Klopp reacted angrily to a challenge from Jeremain Lens on Mamadou Sakho in Wednesday night's 1-0 Liverpool victory at the Stadium of Light.
Klopp stood by his claim that Lens should have been sent off rather than shown a yellow card for the tackle.
The Reds boss was in a jovial mood ahead of Saturday's clash with West Ham, and said with a chuckle: "Maybe hammer is more my second name than soft."
Responding to Allardyce, he said: "It's absolutely not a problem. A lot of people have said worse things about me. Soft German, I think it's the first time somebody said this about me, so (that's) cool.
"If you see the situation again then you know that I was not too wrong in judging this moment. Mama is still alive and everything is okay but, in my opinion, situations like this had to be judged differently than other things.
"If you compare yellow cards in a game and think, 'this is yellow', then what's this? That's all I want to say. But I had no arguments with the bench of Sunderland."
Had things worked out differently, Klopp could have been in the home dugout for Saturday's clash at Upton Park.
West Ham co-owner David Sullivan revealed this week he approached Klopp in the summer about becoming Hammers boss but the German wanted a break after leaving Borussia Dortmund.
"In the summer I was not available," said the German.
"I was sure I needed a few days for myself without thinking too much about football. That's what I did.
"I'm a lucky guy so there was a lot of interest from different clubs. If West Ham will talk about this then they can do it. It's a really good club but it was the wrong time for all the clubs, so nothing to do with West Ham or what I think about West Ham."
Liverpool could potentially have striker Daniel Sturridge back for Saturday's match.
Sturridge declared himself fit and available on Boxing Day but, because of the England man's history of injury problems, Klopp was determined not to rush him.
Neither James Milner nor Divock Origi will be fit and Klopp must wait on midfielders Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson.
Allen missed the Sunderland match through illness while captain Henderson was substituted in the second half because of pain in his heel.
It is a potentially worrying development for Henderson, who revealed earlier in December that he has a chronic condition.
Klopp said: "We have to wait a little bit. It was something with the heel but it could be good for him, that's what we all hope. Something like a final pain and then it goes in the other direction.
"Hendo is a real tough guy. Yesterday he tried and we saw it's not perfect, so let's change. Now we have to wait a few hours more or maybe a day or two and then we'll know more."
