Klopp delivers humorous Liverpool response to proposed rule change
By Danny Wright
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has reacted humorously to FIFA Technical Director Marco Van Basten’s radical plans to change the rules in football.
Van Basten proposed to abolish the offside rule and introduce sin-bins as he looks to remove yellow cards from the sport.
In an interview on Sky Sports, the former Dutch international and triple Balon D’Or winner said that the exclusion of the offside rule would “resemble handball where nine players, plus the goalkeeper, pack the penalty area and [the defence] is like a wall”
Klopp made a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ comment when he was asked about his views on the removal of the offside rule from the game.
Ahead of Liverpool’s match against Swansea on Saturday, Liverpool Echo journalist James Pearce covered the pre-match press conference on his personal Twitter account.
Klopp’s comment comes after Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United last week where Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s late equaliser in the 84th minute only came to fruition as Antonio Valencia was in an offside position on the right wing as the play developed.
Pictures showed that the linesman, who was just a few feet away from the Ecuadorian, was well out of line with the Liverpool defence.
Van Basten also proposed to replace penalty shoot-outs with players dribbling at the goal from 25-yards out and attempting to score, but some of his more practical plans include cutting out time wasting and allowing only the captain to speak to the referee.
In other Liverpool news, deal rejected as club hold out for £20m transfer.
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