Antonio Conte Tottenham Jurgen Klopp Liverpool
Antonio Conte has reignited his feud with Jurgen Klopp after Liverpool beat Tottenham on Sunday.
The Reds defeated Spurs 2-1 thanks to a first-half brace from Mohamed Salah, with Harry Kane pulling one back for the home side after the break.
It was a highly disappointing result for Tottenham who were hoping to get three points against an out-of-form Liverpool side, while Conte was aiming to get one over on Klopp after previous comments the German manager made.
Back in May, following a 1-1 draw between the two sides – which ultimately proved costly in Liverpool’s title campaign, Klopp slammed Conte’s brand of defensive football.
He said: ‘I am sorry, I am the wrong person to ask about because I don’t like this kind of football.
‘But that is my personal problem. I think they are world class and I think they should do more for the game.’
In the build-up to Sunday’s game, Conte said he held no grudge against his counterpart, but as he began his post-match press conference that no longer appeared to be the case.
‘Before I answer the [first] question, Jurgen was happy with the way that we played tonight?,’ the Italian asked reporters.
‘Yeah? It was important to know his opinion. Jurgen is a really good coach but at the end tonight we are talking about a defeat and I’m happy with the game that we played at Anfield. The final result was 1-1 and it was better.’
Tottenham’s performance continued their recent trend of struggling in the first-half before dominating play in the second, something that has yielded impressive results like their comeback wins over Bournemouth and Marseille but also infuriated fans and pundits.
Conte defended his tactics and team selection agains Liverpool however, calling the result ‘unfair’.
‘It is difficult to explain the defeat tonight, we deserved much more but also after the first half in the dressing room I was happy with the desire and what we did,’ he added.
“We put a lot of pressure on Liverpool and were 2-0 down but we didn’t know why. In the second half we played really well. Their goalkeeper made good saves and we hit the post and the crossbar. I think the result is unfair.
“It is difficult to explain this type of game. For sure the performance was good. We are managing a situation with many, many injuries and we need to find new solutions.
“This type of performance against a team like Liverpool gives me satisfaction as it shows the hard work works.”
MORE : Jurgen Klopp tells Darwin Nunez what he must improve on after Liverpool beat Tottenham
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Klopp previously criticised Conte’s negative tactics.
