West Ham captain Mark Noble has taken aim at Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp over his criticism of Diego Simeone's tactics.

Klopp moaned about Atletico Madrid's style of play after being dumped out of the Champions League this week.

Noble wrote for the London Evening Standard: "Obviously we know Adrian well from his time at West Ham and I was gutted for him after he made the error which led to Atletico scoring in extra-time.

"What really disappointed me, though, was the criticism of Atletico, the way they put plenty of players behind the ball and defended for their lives. Yes, that's just what Atletico did do but so what?

"We've seen what happens — and I've been on the wrong end of things — when teams go there, open up and play expansive football. They get walloped, just like Barcelona, who lost 4-0 at Anfield last year.

"I don't understand that criticism. The game at the highest level is about winning and nobody remembers the teams who played well in the last 16 but lost.

"In my career, there have been times when we've sat back, dug in, counter-attacked when we could — and emerged victorious, only for the opposition to complain that we made it really difficult for them. I've felt like asking them: 'What did you want us to do? Just open up and let you win the game so you're happy?'

"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that in football. We all love playing one and two-touch football and pushing the full-backs on but when you're playing against a team who are much better at that than you are, you have to find another way — and Atletico did just that."