Tony Pulis has hit back at Jürgen Klopp following their confrontation at Anfield last Sunday, saying he apologised for playing at least three longer balls than Liverpool during the game.
Klopp had refused to shake the West Brom manager’s hand having been upset by Pulis’s tactics in the 2-2 draw at Anfield and went on to say Albion “only played long balls”.
He added: “We had some words in the game and sometimes it takes more than a few seconds to cool down. Usually I shake hands. It was not a friendly game.”
The Liverpool manager was also upset by a Craig Gardner tackle on Dejan Lovren which has put the Croatian out for a month, sparking a touchline feud between Klopp and Pulis that erupted when the defender’s replacement, Divock Origi, salvaged a point for Liverpool with a deflected 95th-minute equaliser.
Pulis was unrepentant before the home meeting with Bournemouth and said: “I think it was disappointing but he’s got his opinions and he can say what he wants. We apologise we actually played three longer passes in 99 minutes than Liverpool did in that game.”
Klopp led his players towards the Kop in celebration as if they had won, leaving Pulis unimpressed by the German’s behaviour after the game.
“If I had a team that was worth £200m playing against a team that was worth less than £20m and we never won that game I’d be doing my best to divert it away from the fact that I had 10 times more value on the pitch than my opposition number had and couldn’t win the game.
“I’m just stating the facts. Forget all the spin, that’s the facts. I don’t know the feller, I don’t want to say anything else. They were the facts. We’ve got a big game Saturday, a game that we think will be more difficult than the Liverpool game.”
