KOP BOSS HANDLES WITH KAR

I HAVE to hand it to Jurgen Klopp, he’s got some balls.

I thought he would stick with Loris Karius against Middlesbrough, especially after he went so aggressively for his keeper’s critics beforehand, and didn’t expect to see Simon Mignolet back in goal at the Riverside.

Yet, he showed he has the mind-set that all top managers possess – he’s prepared to make cold, hard decisions, no matter the emotions involved. And he’s prepared to do the opposite of what everyone is expecting.

It was the right time to take Karius out of the firing line, even if he’s not made as many mistakes as his critics are saying.

I know, too, that he’d have done it in the right way, by speaking to the lad and saying he’s right behind him, still backing him, but just wants to give him a break from it all. That’s good management. Sometimes you need to be unflinchingly loyal, but sometimes you have to judge the situation and work out what the long-term implications can be.

Fergie did it with David De Gea, he took him away from all the noise on a couple of occasions and it worked in the long run.

I like how Klopp got Liverpool to react against Boro after a bit of an indifferent spell. They weren’t horrendous against Bournemouth and West Ham and should have won both games.

With all the noise surrounding them, the players may have been a little less confident or sure about their game-plan and whether it is really effective in closing games out.

Yet, they did it with a touch of steel against Boro, did the job efficiently in the second half with no fuss.

This Liverpool team is still a long way from being perfect – they need to be more consistent and find a way of closing games down when in control. But they have something – and it starts with the manager.

Klopp knows keepers will always take stick because they will always make mistakes, no matter how good they are.

Sometimes pundits’ comments can be malicious, but most of the time it’s a genuine opinion, even if it’s not always fair. When Jamie Carragher says it about Liverpool, or me too, then maybe they can accept it a little bit more. Gary Neville not so much.

You know what, I’m not interested in what Gary Neville says about Liverpool. Whether he’s right or wrong, I honestly couldn’t care less. That’s because I still have the club in my blood – and he’s got United in his blood.

I think most Liverpool fans feel the same, and Klopp probably does, too. It’s just that he needed to divert the spotlight away from the performance of one of his players. Again, good management. In the end, though, the only true sign of good management is results. And if Liverpool beat Everton at Goodison, then no one will be looking at who is in goal.