Klopp won’t change me blasts Ben
BEN MEE just loves defending and, after repelling Brighton, he rebuffed Jurgen Klopp’s attacks on Burnley.
Liverpool manager Klopp had accused the Clarets of being overly physical last week and centre-half Mee was in the eye of the storm after a challenge, while perfectly fair, left Joe Gomez with a fractured leg.
But Mee insists Burnley will not change their style because of Klopp’s carping.
“I don’t think there was anything wrong with my tackle,” said Mee. “It was unfortunate what happened. I send my best wishes to him. Anyone who knows football knows it wasn’t a malicious tackle. I hope he recovers soon.
“Nobody wants to see players getting injured ever, but you play hard, you play fair.
“Tackles are part of the game. That’s how we play and we’re not going to change for someone saying we shouldn’t tackle. I don’t see the problem.
“I’ve seen Liverpool make tackles and get the crowd up and things like that. For me, you can play fair, but also play hard.
“We’re not good enough to let people play around us, we need to get about people. We’re in a fight and we want to get out of it.”
Mee felt Burnley looked more like their old selves against Liverpool and continued that against Brighton as they recorded a huge win to climb out of the bottom three.
The victory, courtesy of James Tarkowski’s scrappy 40th-minute goal, which was offside, was their first since September 30.
It was also only their third clean sheet in their last 18 league games at Turf Moor. Mee said: “It was nice to get back to doing what we do and getting the points. It’s sometimes difficult when you haven’t won for a while and we showed a bit of nerves and tension, but getting over that line and getting the points was the main thing.
“Hopefully it will bring confidence and belief to the lads.”
Jurgen Locadia missed a great late chance for Brighton but skipper Bruno backed the Dutch striker, who has managed just two goals since joining from PSV Eindhoven in January.
“He had an impact,” said Spanish full-back Bruno. “Scoring would have been important for the team, but it would have been important for him as well in terms of confidence. He was unlucky.
“He held up the ball well, he was sending the ball to the midfielders to switch play and after that he was getting into the box.”
BURNLEY (4-4-2): Hart 6; Bardsley 5, Tarkowski 7, Mee 6, Taylor 5; Gudmundsson 6 (Lennon 72, 4), Cork 6, Westwood 6, Brady 6; Wood 6, Barnes 6 (Hendrick 84). Booked: Tarkowski, Bardsley. Goal: Tarkowski 40. NEXT UP: Tottenham (a), Sat PL.
BRIGHTON (4-1-4-1): Ryan 6; Bruno 6, Dunk 7, Balogun 6, Bernardo 6; Propper 6; Knockaert 6 (Locadia 63, 4), Bissouma 5, Gross 6 (Stephens 79), March 6; Andone 5 (Murray 63, 6). NEXT UP: Chelsea (h), Sun PL.
Referee: M Atkinson (Yorkshire).