Former Liverpool star Steve McManaman has defended Jurgen Klopp after the Reds boss was hit with an FA charge.
Klopp was sent off during Sunday's victory over Manchester City after reacting angrily to a decision from referee Anthony Taylor not to punish a Bernardo Silva foul on Mohamed Salah. The manager revealed he spoke "calmly" with the official after the game, but that did not stop him being hit with a charge.
The former Borussia Dortmund boss has until Friday to respond to the charge, which related to "improper" behaviour according to the wording of an FA statement. And, while defending Klopp for his reaction to the events in the days since Sunday's win, McManaman has provided some words of warning.
"He’ll have to control himself but I don’t think the focus, in his press conference I think he understood it’s not acceptable, he apologised for it," McManaman said on Amazon Prime Video ahead of Liverpool's clash with West Ham. "We’ll have to let due course in if he gets banned and what not.
"He’s been here seven years now, he’s been in trouble once or twice so I think he knows what it means to be Liverpool manager. He has a reputation and a part to play in front of this crowd.
McManaman spent more than a decade as a Liverpool player, coming through the academy and playing more than 300 senior competitive games for the club. Speaking ahead of Liverpool's league game at home to West Ham, he went into more detail about how he expects Klopp to interact with the Anfield faithful.
Do you agree with McManaman? Have your say in the comments section
"I think the 50,000 fans crammed in tonight will be hoping yes [they can win again]," he added. "They were back to what they do best [against City], their intensity was excellent, they closed them down and the crowd were up for it.
"They’re generally up for it anyway, particularly when you’re playing Manchester City and have Pep Guardiola patrolling the sidelines. They’re their closest rivals in recent years, people knew they had to get a result which they and they have to go again tonight. I hope that the crowd are behind them."
Klopp, meanwhile, spoke about Sunday's events before he was charged by the FA. "I explained after the game, in this moment you could not bring me in this mood. No chance," he said. But the whole game led to that maybe a little bit. The way it went, the way it was a very, very intense game with a lot of decisions which both managers didn't understand on both sides.
"For me it was like, I don't know, in Germany we say, 'the one drop that made the bucket overflow.' I'm not happy with my reaction but that's the way it was and everybody saw it.”
