Eamon Dunphy feels Jurgen Klopp's "self-indulgent and reckless" decision to announce his Liverpool departure led to his touchline spat with Mo Salah on Saturday.
As Salah prepared to come on as a sub in a damaging 2-2 draw at West Ham on Saturday, he and Klopp were seeing arguing with each other on the touchline. Salah looked particularly animated during the disagreement and afterwards he added fuel to the situation by telling reporters in the mixed zone that there would be "fire" if he speaks.
The clash was another touchpoint in a disastrous end of the Klopp era at Anfield, with dreams of a farewell quadruple long since gone, and just the Carabao Cup to show for the German's final season.
According to Dunphy, Klopp's decision to announce his imminent departure as early as January has unsettled the squad, and feels it contributed to his argument with Salah on Saturday.
Mo Salah and Jurgen Klopp had some words on the touchline during Liverpool's draw with West Ham 👀 pic.twitter.com/AfkVgWuChO
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 27, 2024
Eamon Dunphy slams Jurgen Klopp decision
"That decision to announce his departure mid season was self-indulgent and reckless," writes Dunphy in his column for the Irish Mirror.
"And so instead of Liverpool being free to concentrate on a title chase, all the attention instead has focused on who was coming in to replace their manager. That creates uncertainty in players and it leads to the drama we saw on Saturday when Mo Salah and Klopp argued on the sideline."
The crux of Dunphy's piece is on the greatness of Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, who the former RTÉ pundit now places alongside Alex Ferguson in the "Mount Rushmore" of managers.
Apart from his massive trophy haul, Dunphy adds that Guardiola differs from Klopp in that he would never have allowed the Salah situation to happen.
🔥 “It’s gonna be fire if I speak”, says Salah.
🎥 @j_castelobranco x ESPNpic.twitter.com/ho1B9cE8QG— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 27, 2024
"You rarely get this with Guardiola."
"You rarely get that kind of thing with Guardiola," he writes. "The players certainly know who the boss is. Erling Haaland, Kevin de Bruyne, Jack Grealish have all been dropped. No one is safe from the axe.
"And that goes a long way to explaining why they have remained so hungry for success year after year."
In fairness, Guardiola is regularly seen arguing with his players during and after games, with a recent example occurring when he took De Bruyne off in the 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield back in March.
However, Dunphy may have a point in that such situations are normally shot down quickly by Guardiola, and they rarely spill over into the post-match narrative, like the Salah/Klopp argument has done.
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