Jürgen Klopp wonders why Gary Neville has a platform to criticize Liverpool players

Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius made some bad individual errors during Liverpool’s 2-2 draw against West Ham United, and they weren’t his first of the year. Karius has struggled in his first season in England, and has been regularly criticized by television pundit brothers Gary and Phil Neville. On Monday, Jürgen Klopp fired back.

“He showed he struggled with the job to judge players,” Klopp said, “so why do we let him talk about players on TV?” He was referring to last season, when Gary Neville struggled as Valencia manager and Phil was his assistant. Both have since returned to England to work in media, rather than find full-time coaching positions.

In November, Karius talked about Gary Neville’s criticisms, to which Gary responded with an Instagram post pointing out that Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher’s criticisms were even more harsh. On Sunday night, Phil commented that Karius should “keep his mouth shut” while he’s struggling.

With all this going on, Klopp has done the smart thing by hijacking the story to make it about himself instead of his struggling player. Now the news cycle is about crazy things Klopp said, not Karius’ words and on-field mistakes.

Carlos Tevez’s winner for Boca Juniors against rivals River Plate. (r/soccer)

The Champions League Round of 16 draw has been made. Here are the results and analysis of all eight ties.

The Europa League draw was kind to the English teams.

A bomb exploded outside Besiktas’ stadium on Saturday, targeting police officers. Thirty-eight people were killed. (Guardian)

Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to win the Ballon d’Or. Here’s the leaked France Football cover. (Mirror)

Some former FA chiefs and a member of Parliament are trying to outlaw The FA in its current form. This is the kind of thing that regularly gets Nigeria suspended by FIFA. (Telegraph)

The MLS offseason schedule gets wild, quick. (@wvhooligan)

Jose Mourinho was “scared” when Henrikh Mkhitaryan went off on a stretcher, but his injury is minor. (ESPN FC)

Sergio Ramos has a leg injury and might miss Real Madrid’s first Club World Cup game. (Marca)

Aurelio De Laurentiis is still extremely salty about Gonzalo Higuain. (Football Italia)

Barcelona might sign a 34-year-old. A good one, but still. (Sport)

Abigail Shaw on “good” and “bad” fans, a thing that isn’t real. (Unusual Efforts)

Henry Cooke on the misunderstood art of diving. (Vice)

Matt Stanger on the young English manager making a name for himself in Norway. (The Set Pieces)

Seattle Sounders won MLS Cup and Roman Torres was their MVP.

Pep Guardiola helped bring Jamie Vardy back to life.

Manchester United beat Tottenham Hotspur in a crucial top-four battle. (The Busby Babe)

Barcelona coasted to an easy win over Osasuna. (Barca Blaugranes)

Real Madrid had a tougher time, but Sergio Ramos bailed them out. (Managing Madrid)

Bayern absolutely thrashed Wolfsburg. (Bavarian Football Works)

Juventus triumphed in their local derby against Torino. (Black and White and Read All Over)

La Liga: Villarreal vs. Atlético Madrid (2:45 p.m.) — Both teams are in a tight battle for the top four.

Serie A: Roma vs. AC Milan (3 p.m.) — Italy’s second- and third-placed teams square off.