Micah Richards has criticised Jurgen Klopp's behaviour towards Scott Parker after Liverpool thrashed Bournemouth 9-0 on Saturday.

Parker, who was today relieved of his duties as manager of the Cherries, was unfortunate enough to face a rampant Liverpool team in what proved to be his last game in charge of the club.

The Reds were winless from their opening three Premier League matches and had been criticised in the press for their complacent start to the season.

However, they put that right in emphatic fashion on Saturday, bringing down the hammer on Bournemouth to equal the league's biggest ever winning margin.

In truth, there wasn't much the newly-promoted side could have done.

As Parker had eluded to in a press conference prior to the opening day of the season, the Bournemouth squad isn't really up to standard to be competitive in England's top-flight.

Marry that to magnificence of Liverpool on the day, as well as their burning desire to make a statement and, well, it was only ever going to turn out one way.

After the game, Klopp walked over to his opposite manager and put his arm around him, appearing as if to console him about the result.

To many, it looked like a moment of sheer class from German, who will have been in a similar position to Parker as a young manager before.

View the moment for yourself below...

Micah Richards, though, doesn't concur with the above assessment.

The former Aston Villa and Man City man turned television pundit instead found Klopp's actions 'patronising' towards Parker, even though he believes his intentions were still good.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live's The Monday Night Club, Richards said:

"Patronising. If I've just lost 9-0 - and I've had some absolute shockers, I remember one against Chelsea and one against Liverpool - if a player put his arm around me, I'd tell him where to go. That's the last thing you want.

"Klopp's not doing it to be patronising, he's doing it to be nice, but still, you don't want someone to put their arm around you when you've just lost 9-0. Not a chance.

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"I would have just had a word afterwards. There's cameras on you 24/7 and if Scott Parker reacts then it makes it something a lot bigger than it needs to be. You don't want someone's arm around you when you've just lost 9-0, come on."

It's a fair point, maybe you wouldn't want your opponent being quite so touchy feely after being on the end of such a vicious drumming.

But in fairness, everyone - including Parker - must have known that Klopp only wanted to show his support for the young manager.

We're sure over the coming days, when Klopp is asked about Parker in his mid-week press conference, he'll have only generous words for the young Englishman.

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