Was Klopp right to criticise Lovren?
Dejan Lovren was probably already feeling pretty bad after Liverpool's 4-1 defeat to Tottenham last weekend. A calamitous defensive performance resulted in two early Spurs goals and his substitution after just 31 minutes, a method of damage limitation for both the team and Lovren's own professional dignity. The Croatia defender would have been well advised to avoid social media on Sunday but really he didn't need to fire up Twitter to have his spirit crushed. His manager did a decent job of that.
"The first goal was a little throw in and we are not really there," Jurgen Klopp said after the game. "It was just really bad, bad, bad defending. The second, a counter attack, when the ball passes Lovren it is already too late. If I am involved in this situation on the pitch, then Harry cannot get the ball. It wouldn't happen if I was on the pitch, but I am in the middle of the technical area in trainers."
Klopp isn't known for singling out players for criticism, but his rivals are. Jose Mourinho did a similar thing to Ander Herrera after Manchester United's defeat to Huddersfield, though that was less of a surprise. Luke Shaw and Henrikh Mkhitaryan will testify to their manager's willingness to merrily throw his players under the bus when required.
But is it a good idea? Is there ever a good place, time or reason for a manager to single out one of his players for criticism in the media? ESPN FC spoke to a number of former Premier League players and one current Football League manager and they unanimously agreed that it can only create divisions within a squad, had few potential benefits and was the quickest way to lose a dressing room.
"I've only done it once... by mistake," says the manager. "It was after a game and a journalist asked me to explain why we conceded some goals. I just said you'd better ask them and named the players. I apologised [to the players] straight afterwards."
The same manager said that singling out a player could only ever be a diversionary tactic, something reserved for when you have made a mistake and know it very well but don't want to take the blame. That's something that Steve Nicol, who has been on both sides of the debate as a player with over 500 club appearances to his name and a manager with New England Revolution in MLS, agrees with.
"It's an absolute no-no," Nicol says. "You can criticise the team as a whole, but individuals? No. As soon as you do that, you've lost the player. It's a public humiliation. You'd be better off sticking them in the stocks and passing out rotten tomatoes. I can't think of a single scenario when it would help anyone."
It certainly didn't help Darren Bent. While playing for Tottenham in 2009, he missed a simple chance that prompted manager Harry Redknapp to declare after the match that "my missus would've scored." Bent forced his way out of the club a few months later.
"It was the worst two years of my career," Bent said just after he signed for Sunderland. "Even last year, when I was the club's top scorer, I never actually felt wanted. I didn't feel Redknapp wanted me there. It's massive to have the support of your manager and that's not been the case for the past two years."
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Another former Premier League player called such tactics "spiteful and cowardly" and that when it happened to him, he lost the desire to play for that manager. "We'd lost in a cup game, and suddenly it was all over the press that, 'This guy gave us nothing.' It was humiliating. I didn't want to come out of the dressing room. My brother had to come and get me.
"I scored a few weeks later, but I didn't celebrate because I thought I was being used as a scapegoat [for the team's results]. Every time we didn't score, it was because of me." Like Bent, he left the club shortly afterward.
A manager could use the excuse that when a microphone is put in front of their face after a game, emotions are running high and things are said that they might not mean. But as we know, managers like Mourinho are fond of a carefully calculated postgame statement, which means such an excuse probably won't wash.
Of course, there are more constructive ways to dish out criticism.
"When I was coaching and managing, if I wanted to have a go at a player it would be in private in my office and on Mondays or two days after the match so emotions are cooler," says Paul Mariner, former Arsenal and England player who also managed in MLS. "We used to have a committee of senior players that we would talk to, to tell them our thoughts and get feedback from them on all aspects of the team. Training, tactics, travel, meals: you name it. Communication was the key but [it was] never aired in public."
There are precious few examples of this sort of behaviour actually working. The most high-profile is probably David Beckham at Real Madrid, who was criticised by not only his manager Fabio Capello but Real president Ramon Calderon, too. Capello doubted Beckham's commitment to Real after he agreed a deal to play for LA Galaxy at the end of the 2006-07 season, but the former England captain worked hard in training and the Italian manager ultimately admitted he was wrong. Beckham was recalled to the team and Real won the title.
But for that a player needs to have an extremely strong mentality and a bloody-minded, "I'll show them" attitude. Whether Lovren, Herrera or any of the other players "thrown under a bus" have it remains to be seen. But one thing seems clear: history and consensus does not seem to be on the side of the managers.
Source: espn.co.uk
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