West Ham United manager David Moyes admits he wants to see Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp on the touchline on Wednesday night, despite his recent red card against Manchester City. Ahead of the game, Moyes spoke about Klopp and the red card and said that he wants his opposite number to be pitchside for the game and can understand why he got so frustrated.
David Moyes said: “Firstly, I hope he [Klopp] is in the dugout opposite because part of this job is that you want to play against the best and you want to go and compete against them. Jurgen is up there with them all and what he has done with Liverpool over the years. His actions are part of it. If you were in the position, you would probably feel the same but we’ve all got great respect for referees, the work they have to do. I hope in a way they understand that 90 minutes or a bit longer, we can sometimes lose our heads here or there a little bit. If you keep talking about it and bringing it to the attention, then we have to answer the questions. If you don’t ask us any questions about the referees or talk about it then we try and forget about it.”
Moyes was later asked whether Klopp’s angry outburst at the officials was a good example to set in the Premier League as a way for managers to respect those controlling the match. The Scot felt that in a pressured game environment, it is hard to not get caught up in the moment, adding that if they did not react to decisions and incidents, they would be criticised for it.
David Moyes added: “I don’t think you should really be asking me a question about Jurgen Klopp because I can’t speak for Jurgen Klopp. If you ask me a question about managers, yes, I am really keen to talk about that. For 90 minutes or so, it becomes a really emotional game. Sometimes, you can change your character from maybe what your true character is, but I think if we stood there and did nothing, I think our supporters, the public, you, would probably the questioning why not. Actually, I think if you look at the incident why he got angry, he was correct wasn’t he?”
