LAST UPDATE | 14 Sep 2022

JURGEN KLOPP WAS less-than-impressed with Chelsea’s new American owner Todd Boehly’s suggestion that the Premier League should introduce a US-style All-Star game between teams in the north and south of England.

The Blues’ new co-controlling owner, who also owns shares of Los Angeles teams the Dodgers in Major League Baseball and the Lakers in the NBA, told a New York conference he has already floated the idea with Premier League counterparts.

“Ultimately I hope the Premier League takes a little bit of a lesson from American sports,” said Boehly. “And really starts to figure out, why don’t we do a tournament with the bottom four sports teams, why isn’t there an All-Star game?

“People are talking about more money for the pyramid, in the MLB All-Star game this year we made 200 million dollars from a Monday and a Tuesday. So we’re thinking we could do a North versus South All-Star game for the Premier League, for whatever the pyramid needed quite easily.”

Boehly was talking at the SALT thought leaders conference in New York, lifting the lid on Chelsea’s sacking of Thomas Tuchel as well as revealing bold plans for the Blues’ future.

And Klopp, speaking after Liverpool’s Champions League win over Ajax last night, was surprised by Boehly’s suggestion when asked about it during his post-match press conference.

“He doesn’t wait long. When he finds a date for that he can call me,” he said. “In American sports these players have four-month breaks. Does he want to bring the Harlem Globetrotters as well?

Maybe he can explain that. I’m not sure people want to see that – United players, Liverpool players, City players, Everton players all together. It is not the national team. Did he really say it?”

Meanwhile, Klopp admitted the last-gasp 2-1 win over Ajax is only the first step on the road to regaining their form.

Mohamed Salah’s first goal in eight European matches was cancelled out by Mohammed Kudus in the first half and it needed an 89th-minute Joel Matip header to register Liverpool’s first points in Group A after last week’s 4-1 defeat in Naples.

It has been a mixed season so far and, with no match now for three weeks – Sunday’s match at Chelsea has been postponed because of policing issues associated with the Queen’s funeral – Klopp has time to regroup ready for their return after the international break.

“I think if we put the two games, Napoli and tonight, next to each other, you don’t recognise properly that it’s the same sport,” he said.

“It was all different. The start was different. The middle was different. The finish was different. The way we played, the way we defend, everything was different. Much higher intensity, much more aggression, braver, more ready, everything was better.

“The story of the game is typical, not for our season so far because normally we are 1-0 down, more for the situation we are in.

We did a lot of good stuff and played a really good game, we had something like 25 shots, which is good against a strong side full of confidence, absolutely convinced about the way they play, and we caused them a lot of problems.

“And then, 1-0 up, you concede with the first chance of the opponent the equaliser. The reaction was OK – not perfect but OK – and at half-time we told the boys that after the goal our pressing was not as convincing as before.

“I think nobody was surprised it was a set-piece (for the winner) because our set-pieces were really good tonight and I have no idea why we didn’t score earlier from them because pretty much each set-piece was a threat.

“The face of Joel showed exactly how we all felt in this moment. It’s the first step, nothing else, not more.”

Sunday’s postponement, coming on the back of the wholesale postponement of the football calendar last weekend, means Liverpool have two matches to fit into an already-crowded schedule with a World Cup in the middle.

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