West Brom manager Tony Pulis hits back at Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp over long-ball jibes

Jurgen Klopp accused West Brom of only playing long balls

 

WEST BROM boss Tony Pulis has hit back at Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and rejected claims his team are long-ball merchants.

 

The German accused Albion of relying on long-balls to claim a 2-2 draw in last weekend’s ill-tempered clash at Anfield.

Klopp also refused to shake Pulis’s hand after angering the Baggies coaching staff with his extravagant celebrations after Divock Origi’s late equaliser.

He later claimed: "This game was not a game to lose. The opponent played only long balls,"

But Pulis said today accused Klopp of diverting attention from his own team’s performance.

 

"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 then Liverpool played in that game. Sky TV came out with that stat.

"So as a football club we apologise to Liverpool for playing three more longer passes than they did!

“There’s always a bit of spin put on things these days.

 

Jurgen Klopp celebrates as Liverpool score a late equaliser

"But 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 and couldn’t win the game.

“I’m not annoyed, I’m just stating the facts. Forget all the spin - that’s the facts.

“That was the value of our team on the pitch.

“I don’t know the fella (Klopp) and I don’t want to say anything else.”

 

Meanwhile, Pulis has reacted with surprise to Chelsea’s decision to sack Jose Mourinho for a second time.

The West Brom head coach said: “I was surprised and disappointed in some ways.

“He is and has been one of the top managers in the world without question.

“A great manager, great personality and he's a big loss to the league. You want foreign players to be coming into this country and you want the best foreign managers to be coming into this country.

“It makes it the best league in the world. I was disappointed and I'm sure there will be lots of other people who will be disappointed.”