REUTERS – Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce has apologised to Juergen Klopp for suggesting the German’s tactics were to blame for seven Liverpool players suffering hamstring injuries.

“I got asked a question by a friend of mine, Alan Brazil, on talkSPORT. ‘What do you think the injuries are down to?’,” Allardyce told British media.

“I gave an opinion of the question that Alan asked me, which was perhaps the high-pressing game in all the games that they have had created that little bit more fatigue and that was maybe a cause of why they have picked up so many hamstrings.

“But if Juergen is listening, I didn’t mean to upset you or criticise your club in any way, I was just giving what I could see as maybe one of the reasons why we get injuries.

“I had no intention of trying to wind him up. Alan asked me to talk about Sunderland, he threw the question in at the end and maybe I should have said, ‘It’s not for me to answer, it’s for Juergen’. I don’t know.”

Klopp and Allardyce clashed previously on the touchline over a Jeremain Lens tackle on Mamadou Sakho during Liverpool’s 1-0 Premier League win over Sunderland last week which led to Allardyce labelling the former Borussia Dortmund manager a “soft German”.

Sunderland, who are second from bottom in the league, travel to take on holders Arsenal in the FA Cup on Saturday.

(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru. Editing by Patrick Johnston)