Richard Keys tears Jason McAteer to shreds over Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp and Everton manager Sean Dyche
Richard Keys believes Everton boss Sean Dyche was more deserving of a nomination for Premier League manager of the season than Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp.
The former Sky Sports host’s verdict came after Jason McAteer stated his adamant belief that Klopp deserves his nomination despite Liverpool’s title bid coming to nothing and the fact that he simply met expectations in the Premier League this term.
Dyche wasn’t nominated for the award despite comfortably keeping Everton in the Premier League with an eight-point deduction. Pep Guardiola, Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery and Adoni Iraola were nominated along with Klopp.
Keys believes Dyche and Wolves manager Gary O’Neil were better shouts than Klopp, who will leave Liverpool in the coming weeks.
“I find it difficult to justify Jurgen Klopp’s nomination, I have to say,” said Keys, as shown in a video clip on the beIN SPORTS Twitter account on Tuesday night (14 May). “Why on earth is he in the top five?”
Andy Gray chipped in to simply say: “Sentimental.”
McAteer then replied: “No, because of where we were last season. You can’t say he’s not done a phenomenal job as well. He’s rebuilt a team, the whole midfield had a lot of surgery to be done, he’s done it, finished third, Champions League, hung in there all season. Why would you not say that he’s done a good job?”
Keys replied: “I think he’s done a good job but I wouldn’t say it’s any more than that.
“I think someone like Gary O’Neil, someone like Dyche, someone who has had to work at their season to get something out of it.”
McAteer then asks Gray and Keys if they think Liverpool have overachieved this season. Gray said: “No. Far from it. Liverpool? No.”
Keys also disagreed with the idea that the Reds have overachieved, adding: “Looking back, Jason, at our pre-season predictions, all three of us said we thought Liverpool would finish third, so he’s only done what we expected him to do and no more.”
Jurgen Klopp definitely nominated for Premier League award just for sentimentality
Keys and Gray are spot on here and it’s good to see McAteer being held to account for his utterly biased thinking on live television.
Liverpool fans will fight to the death for their club, which is something that a lot of fans of other teams can admire and there are obviously a lot of Evertonians who’d do the same.
But a lot of them just don’t know when to stop, do they?
Klopp has been a great manager for Liverpool, there’s no denying that. But giving him a nomination for a Premier League manager of the season award this season is nonsensical.
If Arsenal win the league, it’s Arteta. If they don’t, it should be Emery for the work he’s done at Aston Villa.
Away from those two, obviously Guardiola’s going to be there but then you have to look at Dyche and maybe Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner.
Klopp has done exactly what’s been expected of him without pulling up any trees in the Premier League at all thanks to their title bid dying off a while ago now.
In other Everton news, Farhad Moshiri is considering a major decision on the 777 Partners deal.
For more Everton news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.