Jurgen Klopp makes frank Henderson admission following red card

Jurgen Klopp admits he was ready to substitute captain Jordan Henderson prior to the midfielder’s second yellow card against Watford, however he refused to criticise the skipper for his actions.

Henderson received his first yellow at the beginning of the second-half for a push in the back of Isaac Success, who almost tore the shirt of the Reds midfielder in the same encounter.

His second yellow came just a few minutes from time when he collided with Etienne Capoue, with his replacement Fabinho readying himself on the sidelines.

“I think they were both yellow cards, but things like this happen,” said Klopp.

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“You play in a defensive midfield situation and I don’t know how many challenges Hendo had today or situations where he had to be closing the player or space.

“Twice, he was there with a hand. He made a tactical foul.

“With the second one, I didn’t like too much because we wanted to change in that situation. Fabinho was ready and then he (Henderson) got it.”

The German manager seemed to sympathise with the Englishman, however, as he insisted it’s a situation that will soon be forgotten.

“Things like this happen. It’s nothing serious. The only not-so-nice thing is that he cannot play against Everton. That’s already accepted, so nothing to say about that.”

Though there were few complaints from Liverpool’s end despite Henderson’s sending off, referee John Moss’ judgment was called into question early in the second-half as Andy Robertson appeared to make contact with Will Hughes as he went down inside the area.

The referee waved the calls off and Klopp accepted he didn’t see the incident well enough to add to the conversation.

“I haven’t seen the situation (a second time), I only saw it with my eyes (as it happened) but I saw they were quite excited about that.

“He (Watford manager Javi Gracia) spoke even after we scored the third to the fourth official about it, but I didn’t see it to be honest. I have no clue.”

The boss added he believed there was a call for a penalty for a challenge on Sadio Mane: “I thought in the first half, although I’m not sure, that when Sadio went in it looked like it could have been a penalty as well.

None of my players moaned in that situation, so that’s probably not a good sign that it was one!” He joked.

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Source: anfieldhq.com