GABBY AGBONLAHOR has remarkably claimed his feud with Jurgen Klopp has contributed to Liverpool’s struggles so far this season.
The former Aston Villa forward, 36, slammed Erik ten Hag back in August and subsequently saw his comments ridiculed by Klopp.
Agbonlahor then responded to the Reds head coach as tensions rose between the pair.
Five months on, Liverpool now sit sixth in the Premier League table, seven points adrift of the top four.
And Agbonlahor believes his spat with Klopp has gone some way to derailing the Merseyside club’s season.
Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “Klopp only knew my first name, not my second name! He knew what he was doing.
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“It’s that way of saying: ‘Oh, I don’t know who he is. What’s his name?’
“And ever since… 16 points 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.”
He was then pressed on whether he thinks he rattled Klopp, to which he added: “Yeah”.
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Klopp responded to Agbonlahor’s comments about Ten Hag back in August by saying: “I listened to Gabby…. 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 hit back by posting a picture of him scoring at Anfield in Villa’s 1-0 win at Anfield in September 2014.
He then accused the German head coach of failing to motivate his players following a 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest in October.
Agbonlahor said: “Mr Mentality Monster, Jurgen, five games away from home without a win this season – can he only get them up for home games at a full Anfield?
“Can he not get his ‘mentality monster’ team up for away games? Because today was shocking from Liverpool. Every player apart from Alisson was below a five out of 10 today.”
Liverpool followed up their 3-1 Premier League defeat to Brentford with a 2-2 draw against Wolves in the third round of the FA Cup.
They will look to bounce back on Saturday when they travel to the Amex Stadium to take on Brighton.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
