Jurgen Klopp believes Sean Dyche is trying to draw attention away from Burnley’s tough tackling by claiming Daniel Sturridge cheated during Liverpool’s win at Turf Moor in midweek.
Liverpool’s Joe Gomez will be sidelined for around six weeks after suffering a fracture to his lower left leg following a challenge from Ben Mee — one of a number of slide tackles that left Klopp unhappy on Wednesday night.
Dyche has defended the physicality his team displayed and questioned why his counterpart failed to mention an alleged dive from Liverpool striker Sturridge during the encounter.
In his press conference on Thursday, Dyche had this to say about Sturridge: “He never even got touched, nothing near him and he went down and actually got a free-kick for it.
“I watched Liverpool as a kid, I was a Liverpool fan growing up, and they had a fantastic side of skill, will, demand and a physical edge.
“Now if that’s gone or you’re saying our lads are not allowed to make those tackles that they did last night and it’s been replaced by cheating then I am absolutely happy to be old fashioned.
“There is no way I would not want to see good, proper professionals, challenging in that manner like ours did last night. No way.”
And Klopp issued a stern response on Friday ahead of Liverpool’s trip to Bournemouth on Saturday.
“Daniel Sturridge is not a cheat,” Klopp told reporters. “I’m not sure whether he (Dyche) spoke about the challenge of Bardsley on Moreno.”
“What can I say? Sometimes a striker expects a tackle and tries to avoid it by jumping.”
On Alisson’s role in the win over Burnley, Klopp added: “Alisson played a big, big part in the game. Burnley’s goal should have been disallowed. It was offside and both hands on the ball. At 2-1 up he made a brilliant save.”