Gabby Agbonlahor has renewed his feud with Jurgen Klopp by aiming fresh digs towards the Liverpool manager.
The pair’s war of words started at the beginning of the campaign after Klopp defended Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, who was the subject of one of Agbonlahor’s scathing rants.
Klopp said: “I watched the first half and then drove home and listened to TalkSport and Gabby. He lost against us 6-0 in my first year and I could not remember him as a mentality monster on the pitch … but what he said about United.
“I was close to calling in and telling him: ‘You forget completely you have been a player.’ It was completely unbelievable. And if ex-players go in like this then you can imagine how everything else is going.”
Now Agbonlahor has aimed a fresh dig at Klopp, by claiming that the pair’s feud played a part in his side’s poor form this season.
Speaking on talkSPORT, the former Aston Villa and England striker said: “Klopp only knew my first name, not my second name! He knew what he was doing. It’s that way of saying: ‘Oh, I don’t know who he is. What’s his name?’
“And ever since, [Liverpool are] 16 points behind Arsenal now, it’s not the mentality monsters season as it was before.
“I’m just saying he’s been rattled and this season Liverpool haven’t been the same as they should be.”
Liverpool have been playing desperately below their brilliant best this season and are currently in sixth place, seven points behind fourth placed United and a huge 16 points adrift of leaders Arsenal.
Their last outing was the 2-2 draw at Anfield against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup, where they again performed way below par and were lucky to come away with a replay.
After the match, Klopp said: “Good start in the game, dominant, played well, tried to create, had half-chances, good moments.
“Twenty, 25 minutes around about – I don’t know exactly when they scored – before they scored they had maybe one counter-attack and then they had this scrappy situation where it was not 100 per cent clear around the goal.
“We win the ball there and then Ali kicks the ball in their feet and then we are 1-0 down.”
Up next for Liverpool will be an away trip to the Amex Stadium to face Brighton on Saturday.
