Jurgen Klopp has pleaded with Liverpool supporters to stop singing his popular chant at matches. ‘I’m so Glad (That Jurgen is a Red),’ sung to the tune of The Beatles’ ‘I Feel Fine’, became a terrace favourite last season as the Reds challenged for an unprecedented quadruple, and has remained a constant at Liverpool matches ever since. The song was once again sung frequently as the Reds’ defeated Tottenham Hotspur 4-3 on Sunday. But having seen his side throw away a 3-0 lead, only to score a last-gasp winner through Diogo Jota, Klopp took issue with the chant echoing around prior to his side’s initial collapse.
Jurgen Klopp said: “I have to say now, I love all of them but my song, don’t sing it!” he said after the game. “If you want to sing it, sing it after the game in the bars, wherever. Because it is always like it is closing the game. We are 3-0 up and I hear ‘I’m so glad that Jurgen is a Red’. It is not over! It would be really nice if you could leave it for later and now it’s like 4-3, everyone is happy and we had in the final part of the game, the atmosphere was like an explosion that no one will forget that game ever. Let’s keep going.”
Meanwhile, while Klopp was delighted with his side’s ‘exceptional’ start to the game as they raced into a 3-0 lead after just 15 minutes, he was disappointed with how Liverpool lost control of the match to Spurs.
Jurgen Klopp said: “The start to the game was absolutely exceptional again, it was some of the best we’ve played this season for sure. Being 3-0 up against a pretty defensive set-up of Tottenham and the way we scored the goals and the way we played offensive and defensive was absolutely exceptional. Then it is the problem of being 3-0 up that early, we are not the first team who misunderstand that. It shouldn’t happen but it happened anyway. Not immediately but the first goal of Tottenham is the first moment when we don’t defend properly and we are not in the counter-pressing situation, that is why we end up with the long ball and it is not offside. Virgil slips which can happen but we shouldn’t have a situation like that. They score and they are brilliant in these situations. Half-time, I told the boys the positive stuff but of course they have pick up rhythm because if we play the way we started the game then they have no way to defend us really. It’s tricky with the five at the back and they are flexible, but unfortunately we couldn’t pick up rhythm again. It was not bad, more of an even game than it should have been. We shouldn’t have conceded. Credit to Tottenham, they have one goal, hit the crossbar. It’s hectic when you create these situations and it’s difficult to deal with. The team who is 3-1 down starts believing more and the team 3-1 up starts doubting a bit and then all of a sudden, the game is open. Then they score the second and the last minute, more or less, the free-kick on the side, [the referee] misses a foul on Mo, their defender (Ben Davies) slips but we are not allowed to play on. There is the foul, a free-kick goes in and it’s a goal. All the Tottenham strikers were on the pitch could we have defended better. It’s really difficult, the ball is in the air and it’s chaotic to sort properly. So then it’s 3-3 and it doesn’t feel great but then Diogo had a different idea and finished it off for us. That’s the best part of the whole afternoon. You could see around the 3-0 and I was millions of times super positive about the atmosphere and it was great but the 3-0 was not the result for a sensational atmosphere. Pretty much everyone misunderstood it. Everybody. The atmosphere was better after they scored the 3-1. Between 3-0 and 3-1 it was like ‘Sorry, what is going on?’ Nobody knew.”
