Liverpool boss has praised rival ahead of Sunday’s Merseyside derby and feels his counterpart did an underrated job while in charge of .
Lampard takes his struggling Everton side to Anfield in what is a must-win game for both teams for vastly different reasons; the home side are looking to keep pace with Manchester City in the title race while the visitors are fighting for survival.
But Klopp feels Lampard is capable of keeping Everton up and has praised the job he did at Chelsea, believing he was unfortunate to be sacked by the west London club.
In an interview with Sky Sports, an unprompted Klopp suddenly decided to praise Lampard, saying: ‘I have to say, I really thought that Frank did a really good job at Chelsea. I liked how they played.
‘Chelsea, at that time, a club with massive expectations so you can be first, second, third and then all of a sudden if you don’t win the Champions League or whatever with the old ownership then you were out of the job.
‘And Thomas [Tuchel] obviously went there and it was a good decision for Chelsea, but I really liked what Frank did at Chelsea.’
Chelsea had been ninth in the Premier League table when Lampard was sacked in January 2021 after a run of just one win in their last five matches.
Tuchel was appointed and immediately kickstarted a recovery, with the Blues finishing fourth in the Premier League and beating Manchester City to win the Champions League.
Despite Lampard’s struggles in his second season with Chelsea, he was widely praised for his maiden campaign in the Stamford Bridge dugout after integrating a host of young players into the side – such as Mason Mount and Reece James – and dealing with a transfer ban.
The last time Lampard visited Anfield he was involved in a heated, expletive-laden row with Klopp on the touchline and says he regrets the incident – though still gets along well with Klopp.
‘It was well meaning at the time, a bit misguided from my point of view,’ said the Everton boss.
‘But I can’t preach to my players [about] staying on the right side of the line and then say it is fine for me to get it wrong. I have seen Jurgen since then and everything is fine. We all get things wrong but move on because we understand the passion of the game.’
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