Football
Who has the most excuses after a bad result? Klopp is not even in the top ten
The Athletic examined almost 500 post-match interviews with Premier League coaches after a draw or defeat in the previous season. The aim was to find out which coach makes excuses most often and what managers make excuses for after a bad result.
The Athletic examined almost 500 post-match interviews with Premier League coaches after a draw or defeat in the previous season. The aim was to find out which coach makes excuses most often and what managers make excuses for after a bad result. The study was dominated by Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel.
The Chelsea boss scored 59.7%, narrowly beating Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and former Norwich coach Daniel Farke. Of the 19 interviews examined, Tuchel attempted to shift the blame 11 times.
According to Tuchel, the coroner’s office was to blame for the loss three times, the referee twice, luck twice, an individual player twice, fatigue once and even the pitch at Stamford Bridge in the 4-2 loss to Arsenal in April.
Mikel Arteta was just behind the German. His favourite target was refereeing decisions, which he pointed out after games against City, Crystal Palace and Tottenham.
However, he saved his best excuse for after the defeat to Southampton, when he bemoaned football’s scoring system and said that if basketball was played, his team would have won “very comfortably”.
Daniel Farke narrowly edged out his successor Dean Smith for bronze. Rafa Benítez, Frank Lampard, Eddie Howe, David Moyes, Sean Dyche and Ralf Rangnick round out the top ten.
Klopp outside the top 10
Jürgen Klopp has built a reputation as a coach who often makes excuses after his team loses. The history of his excuses is very bizarre. According to him, the wind, the dryness on the pitch, the conspiracy of the TV announcers or Alisson’s cold feet were to blame for the defeat.
But this analysis only includes interviews of the past season. Liverpool have only drawn or lost nine games this season, so the sample is small. In a clash of the top two, however, he has complained a little more than City manager Pep Guardiola.
At the other end of the table we find both Leeds managers Bielsa and Marsch.
The most common excuses
The most common excuse is poor refereeing decisions. There were 67 excuses against their decisions last season. Dean Smith complained about the referee 11 times. Sean Dyche six times and Brendan Rodgers five times.
The second most common reason after the umpires was the managers blaming the players. This category only deals with claims that the team did not follow instructions or pointing out an individual error that cost his team the game.
Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard was particularly fond of giving this reason, blaming his players in half of his excuses. Complaints about injuries or the coronavirus also play a big part.
The best excuses according to TheAthletic
3. Mikel Arteta, Southampton 1::0 Arsenal:
2. Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool 1::1 Tottenham:: “Tottenham played too defensively”
1. Graham Potter, Brighton 0:0 Norwich:: “Our fans were telling us to shoot and that distracted us.”
Source: TheAthletic
