Sturridge is not a cheat, says Klopp
JURGEN KLOPP has jumped to Daniel Sturridge’s defence after Sean Dyche accused the Liverpool striker of cheating. Burnley’s manager was irritated by Klopp’s comments about perceived overzealous tactics after Liverpool’s 3-1 win at Turf Moor — and claimed Sturridge’s play-acting was a bigger offence. Liverpool’s Joe Gomez suffered a fractured leg following a tackle from Ben Mee, an injury that rules him out for 10 games, but Dyche changed the narrative by referring to how easily Sturridge had gone to ground. But ahead of today’s lunchtime game at Bournemouth, Klopp replied: ‘Daniel Sturridge is no cheat. What Sean tried to do there is to bring up another subject so somebody could speak about that. ‘I’m not sure if he spoke about the challenge of (Phil) Bardsley on Alberto Moreno?’ Dyche did call the tackle ‘questionable’. Klopp continued: ‘What do we talk about? We all have our own interests and aims. ‘After that game they are talking about one situation where a player goes down without contact. I don’t know if the referee even judged it? ‘It was a normal situation which can happen. Sometimes a striker expects a tackle and tries to avoid it by jumping. ‘I can’t avoid it if people want to discuss Daniel. But on the other side, I said what I had to say about that after the game, and different opinions are allowed obviously.’ Gomez has vowed to come back ‘stronger than ever’ and Klopp was keen to stress that he absolved Mee of blame. He felt the worst tackle of the game, was Bardsley’s on Moreno. ‘Being aggressive is the readiness to hurt yourself and not the other player,’ said Klopp. ‘I understand 100 per cent that Mee did not want to injure Joe. Maybe that was the cleanest tackle of all.’