Gabriel Agbonlahor believes that Jurgen Klopp has been "rattled" by his comments after the Liverpool boss got involved in a feud with the former Aston Villa man.
The ex-striker clashed with Klopp at the start of the season after Agbonlahor blasted the United players following their 4-0 defeat against Brentford in August. Klopp didn't like the way he spoke about the Red Devils ahead of Liverpool's trip to Old Trafford and reminded Agbonlahor of the Reds' 6-0 win over his Villa side in 2016.
The pair went back and forth as Agbonlahor defended his comments - and United have since gone an impressive run in the Premier League, winning 11 of their last 15 top-flight matches. Meanwhile, Liverpool have endured somewhat of a tricky campaign, having picked up just 26 points from a possible 45 and sit sixth in the table.
There has been some criticism fired at Liverpool for how they have started the campaign and the Reds received more slack following their recent 3-1 defeat at Brentford. Liverpool will need a strong second-half of the season to finish in the Champions League places and Agbonlahor has admitted that he has got under Klopp's skin.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Agbonlahor reflected on their feud and said: "Klopp only knew my first name, not my second name! He knew what he was doing. It's that way of saying: "Oh, I don't know who he is. What's his name?"
"And ever since... 16pts behind Arsenal now. It's not been the mentality monster season for Liverpool. I'm just saying, he's been rattled and this season Liverpool haven't been the same as they should be." When asked by his co-host whether he thinks he personally 'rattled' the Liverpool boss, Agbonlahor said: "Yeah".
It was a clash that caught the headlines as Klopp lashed out at Agbonlahor. "I listened to Gabby….," said Klopp in August. He lost against us 6-0 in my first season and I don't remember him being a mentality monster on the pitch.
"What he said on that show. I almost phoned in to tell him he has forgotten that he used to be a player. It was unbelievable."
Agbonlahor later responded by telling the Daily Mail : "Every pundit, everyone in the pub, every girl talking to her mates, would say exactly the same things about Man United as I did. Man United fans on the phone-in were saying ten times worse. So for Klopp to say that was a bit strange and to mention the 6-0 was even stranger. Why make it personal? What should I have said? That Man Utd were ‘splendidly unlucky to lose 4-0?’ I just told the truth."
He added: "Why was he defending Man United? And the whole ‘Gabby who?’ thing. [Klopp] pretending not to know my surname. Why?"
