West Ham striker Michail Antonio believes it would be “ridiculous” for Liverpool to part ways with under-pressure manager Jurgen Klopp.
Former Borussia Dortmund boss Klopp let his team to the Premier League title in 2019-20, as well as a second-place finish and two cup wins last season. However, with the Reds down in ninth place after a humbling at Brighton, there have been calls from some quarters for the Anfield club to look elsewhere.
Klopp picked up a valuable win in midweek as his team edged past Wolves to book their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup. There is still pressure on the 55-year-old, though, and Antonio has come to his defence.
“Wow, that is ridiculous!” Antonio told The Footballer’s Football Podcast (via the Liverpool Echo) when asked about speculation over Klopp’s future. “You can’t. That’s ludicrous.
“Getting rid of him would just be stupidity,” he continued. “He won the Premier League with Liverpool. At the end of the day, so many managers have been there and they haven’t done it.”
Liverpool lost just twice last season, finishing a single point behind champions Manchester City, but one of those losses came against Antonio’s West Ham. They have already suffered six league reverses this season, though, and defeat to Chelsea on Saturday would make it three league losses in a row for the first time since February 2021.
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After the midweek cup win, Klopp laid down the gauntlet to his players for their return to league action. The likes of Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz remain sidelined through injury, but summer signing Darwin Nunez could be in line for a return.
“Yeah. I don’t think it will be right after one game to say that will be the team for the next eight weeks,” the German said. “But the door is open to everyone. Whoever fights has a good chance to play.
“We are not in a casting show but we have had this game and then four days to train. And after the Chelsea game another five or six days to train until the next game.
“In the past we won a lot of games so why would you make drastic changes. But I am not blind to who shows up in training.”
Liverpool played Chelsea four times last season – twice in the league and once in each cup final. All four games ended all-square after 90 minutes, but the Reds prevailed on penalties in both the Carabao Cup final and the FA Cup showpiece at Wembley, while the league meeting at Anfield ended 1-1 with Chelsea playing more than half of the game with 10 men after Reece James’ red card.
