Jurgen Klopp busted out arguably his most bizarre excuse during his spell as Liverpool manager after his side failed to beat 10-man Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg on Thursday night.
Without Mo Salah and Sadio Mane due to AFCON commitments, Liverpool were easily stifled by Arsenal, who had Granit Xhaka sent off in the 24th minute.
The first clash between the two sides had been postponed due to COVID-19 cases at Liverpool, which later turned out to be FORTY false positives.
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Klopp admitted that only Trent Alexander-Arnold had the virus and he missed the FA Cup win over Shrewsbury Town as a result.
But still, after the drab showing last night, Klopp said his players' levels dropped despite not actually having any symptoms.
🗣 "It's strange, even without symptoms, the boys came back and it's not exactly the same."
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) January 13, 2022
Jurgen Klopp noticed a difference with his players returning to the Liverpool squad pic.twitter.com/uSrBsh1IKO
didn't recover from a virus they never had, klopp working on a placebo effect excuse https://t.co/JT47WjzTma
— Joe (@jbaseball44) January 13, 2022
No way Klopp used the Placebo effect as an excuse 😭 https://t.co/EZS9HD3xqk
— @Zz 🇰🇷 (@Hokag_ye) January 14, 2022
"It's strange, even without symptoms, the boys came back and it's not exactly the same," Klopp said on Sky Sports.
"I don't think there's any explanation for that but we have to consider that as well."
Klopp has been ridiculed for his comments, especially given some of the excuses he's used before in his tenure in English football.
add to the list of excuses pic.twitter.com/OY5NiJvxkQ
— Sa8 (@Sa8_City) January 13, 2022
In February, prior to the 4-1 defeat to Manchester City at Anfield, Roy Keane made a point of criticising the German when he said, "There's been plenty of excuses from the manager."
Following that game, Klopp had blamed "cold feet" for Alisson's two costly mistakes.
In the past, he's used the weather on a whole host of occasions - claiming wind, snow and heat has had a negative effect on his side.
There was also the time he said BT Sport ordered a game against West Brom to finish earlier than he wanted, while he also had a complaint regarding the stadium Real Madrid used last season for their Champions League defeat.
Klopp has so many excuses that he even has a thread dedicated to some of the best ones he has come up with.
Klopp. A thread. pic.twitter.com/eW7zHcHl35
— the doctor (@ruiningfootball) January 31, 2019
— the doctor (@ruiningfootball) January 31, 2019
— the doctor (@ruiningfootball) January 31, 2019
— the doctor (@ruiningfootball) January 31, 2019
— the doctor (@ruiningfootball) January 31, 2019
— the doctor (@ruiningfootball) January 31, 2019
— the doctor (@ruiningfootball) January 31, 2019
— the doctor (@ruiningfootball) April 9, 2021
Featured Image Credit: Image: Sky Sports
Topics: Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool, Arsenal, Premier League
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