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Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool win over Burnley would have been like the 'wild west' with blue cards

Jurgen Klopp believes both Liverpool and Burnley would have been down to seven men each at one stage under IFAB's 'blue card' plans

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 10: Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp  reacts to getting yellow card during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Burnley FC at Anfield on February 10, 2024 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images)
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp reacts to getting yellow card during the Premier League with Burnley at Anfield(Image: Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images)

Jurgen Klopp believes the argumentative nature of Liverpool's 3-1 win over Burnley would have been "like the wild west" with the implementation of the mooted 'blue card' idea.


Earlier this week it was revealed that football's lawmakers, IFAB, have proposed trials that would see players given blue cards for dissent and tactical fouls. Under the 'sin-bin' style plans players given the sanctions would spend 10 minutes off the pitch before returning and it's an idea that was panned by Klopp in his Friday press conference.


The Reds boss was cautioned for his reaction to seeing Diogo Jota taken down during the victory over Burnley. And in a game that saw seven bookings handed out alongside yellows for both managers, Klopp criticised the IFAB plans once more, using the win against Vincent Kompany's men as an example for why the idea should be scrapped.


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"Is there any chance not to accept [the yellow]? I am not sure," Klopp said. "Did anyone see the situation when Diogo got wrestled down? Is that a possible penalty? Is it or not? I want to know from my position.

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"For me it happened in the box and it was a penalty. But then the fourth official tells me, 'we are checking'. But we had no chance at that moment because it was not 'clear and obvious' and something he saw was not enough for a penalty. That clicked slightly in my head and I was a bit [annoyed].

"But imagine this game today with the blue cards, that would have been the wild west! Honestly. The cards would have flown, for a moment there would have been seven players on the pitch because everyone was in the sin bin with the blue card."

Klopp also reserved a word of praise for Andy Robertson, who played over 90 minutes for the first time in four months before being replaced late on by Kostas Tsimikas.

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He added: "All of them [played well] but Robbo especially because whenever we've worked together he's never been out for long and he is super important.

"He played a top game, had now the situation where he is now back but also since he's been back we've had these different types of training sessions because we play all the time, so we had no real sessions where he can feel the game again.

"All the guys coming back from injury needed these sessions, so he needed it, the three sessions this week, big pitch, 11-v-11, to feel the situation again and on top of that we forced him a bit to ignore the fact that he doesn't have rhythm and bring himself into a kind of rhythm and that is what he did."

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