Jurgen Klopp has played down the row between Liverpool team-mates Virgil van Dijk and James Milner during Monday night’s shock defeat by Manchester United.
The Reds pair engaged in a heated discussion after Jadon Sancho gave the hosts an early lead at Old Trafford, with Milner stressing to his colleague in no uncertain terms that he had to get out and close the shot down.
Van Dijk’s performance was also subject to strong criticism from fans and pundits alike, with Jamie Carragher questioning the Dutchman’s “intensity” and Sky Sports colleagues Gary Neville and Roy Keane suggesting that one of the Premier League’s most formidable centre-backs may now have lost his fear factor.
Others claimed that the in-game row with Milner was evidence of deeper issues emerging in the Liverpool squad, with the defeat by their fiercest rivals continuing a dismal start to the season that has seen Klopp’s side fail to win any of their opening three top-flight matches after lifting the Community Shield, conceding five goals and sitting 16th in the table with only two points to their name so far - already seven adrift of early pacesetters Arsenal and five behind Manchester City.
Injury-hit Liverpool had not previously lost a League match since December 2021 and now face newly-promoted Bournemouth and Newcastle in quick succession before the first Merseyside derby of the season at Everton’s Goodison Park on September 3.
And Klopp is adamant that there is no rift in his squad - from which he is now missing 10 senior players through injury and suspension - after Milner’s angry rant at Van Dijk.
“I realise now, I didn’t even see it, but I think it [the question] is about an argument on the pitch or whatever, shouting at each other and these kind of things,” he said.
“We don’t have any kind of issues; I have not any kind of issues in the team like this. That nobody is happy after you lose a game is completely normal, but this is not an explanation, not an excuse or whatever. It’s all fine there, in this department.”
