Jurgen Klopp continued his tirade against the Premier League‘s broadcasters over the scheduling of matches this season by engaging in a heated discussion with BT Sport interviewer Des Kelly after Liverpool‘s 1-1 draw against Brighton.
Liverpool were left frustrated at the Amex as Pascal Gross’ 93rd-minute penalty, awarded for a foul from Andy Robertson on Danny Welbeck after referee Stuart Attwell had consulted his pitchside monitor, denied them of all three points.
The reigning champions also had two goals chalked off too with a marginal Mohamed Salah offside and a clearcut Sadio Mane one ruled out either side of Diogo Jota’s seventh goal in his last eight games. Despite the result, Klopp lauded his team’s performance as “very good” and instead directed his ire towards BT Sport and Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder.
When asked by Kelly whether James Milner had suffered a hamstring injury after being substituted late on, Klopp replied sarcastically: “Yeah, congratulations.”
After Kelly responded, “What me personally?”, Klopp added: “Oh no, but you work for them [BT Sport]. Yeah, hamstring. Surprise. And they had injuries as well. Because it’s a tough time. But ask Chris Wilder how we can avoid that.”
While Klopp’s criticism of BT Sport was in regards to the kick-off time after Liverpool’s midweek exploits in the Champions League, his comments about Wilder centred around his decision to vote against Premier League managers being able to call upon five substitutes.
“When we had the talk between the managers, a week ago, I think, it was 55 if not 60 [per cent] for five subs. Since then nothing has happened because you need at least 14 votes, but Chris Wilder or whoever says constantly that I’m selfish,” Klopp said.
“But they [Sheffield United] have now three subs and one point if I’m right. So there’s no advantage or disadvantage.”
What other managers have said
Wilder responded to Klopp’s complaints by saying that Sheffield United need to look after their own interests after a 1-0 defeat to relegation rivals West Brom on Saturday left them rooted to the foot of the table.
“As Jurgen made a good observation, we are just on one point, it’s not the time to talk about it,” Wilder told Sky Sports. “Everybody has that right and there are 20 votes in this league. Nobody is looking after Sheffield United right the way through, so we have to look after ourselves.”
He added: “By the way, there are a few more managers in there who have looked after their own club. That’s enough from me.”
While Wilder is likely to have support from other managers of clubs currently at the wrong end of the Premier League table, Klopp’s concerns over the welfare of his players have been shared by those in charge of clubs competing in Europe, albeit their dissent has been less vociferous.
West Brom boss Slaven Bilic decided to take a neutral stance when speaking after his team’s first win of the season against Wilder’s side at the Hawthorns.
“We’re all selfish. It’s not selfish in a negative way,” Bilic said. “You have a job, it’s your responsibility to do the job and part of that is finding ways to suit your team and how they can affect your club better.
“Klopp is also selfish, he’s looking at it from his point of view, or the big clubs – he’s not the only one of course. He’s very vocal, and I respect him for that. He’s not hiding, he has his opinion. At the same time, I agree with Chris Wilder – we’re looking at what is best for us.
“Scott Parker said it best – the decision should be made by the authorities, by the Premier League or the FA. Maybe I’m not going to agree with it, but I’d have to go along with it.”
Jose Mourinho was asked about Klopp’s comments over this season’s congested fixture schedule on Wednesday and he suggested that the Liverpool boss should accept that the situation is unlikely to change regardless of his protestations.
“Klopp arrived by 2014 or 15. I arrived in 2004 so what he knows from 2014-15, I know since 2004 and nothing changes. We have to adapt to it and that’s the way it is,” he said in midweek.
However, Mourinho voiced his opinion on the matter in strong terms at the start of the campaign, describing Tottenham’s schedule in September as “inhuman”. However, Mourinho stated he would stop “moaning” about the issue soon afterwards.
Klopp isn’t the only manager to have taken BT Sport to account over the 12.30pm Saturday kick-off slot; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also aired his views on the subject in no uncertain terms after Manchester United’s 3-1 win over Everton earlier this month.
“How can you expect players to perform to the best of their ability when you send them out at 12.30pm? Absolute joke,” he raged afterwards. “Our players were set up to fail today with the schedule. I pushed my club to really fight the kick-off time on this one to give us at least half a chance, but it was quashed.”
Pep Guardiola is another to express his exasperation at the situation, saying after Manchester City’s 1-1 draw against Liverpool this month: “I don’t understand. I don’t know who is in charge to decide these things but I don’t know how they don’t understand when all the leagues around the world except this league have five substitutions, to protect the players, to protect the footballers, to protect the physicality of playing every three days.”
Follow i sport on Facebook for more Liverpool news, interviews and features
More on Liverpool
- The conversation that convinced Werner to reject Liverpool and sign for Chelsea
- Meet the £11.75m star signed by Liverpool to act as Robertson’s understudy
- ‘The Kop went wild!’: Remembering when Liverpool last won the title
- Barnes exclusive: ‘Could I have played in this Liverpool team? Great players fit into any era’
- How Liverpool’s homegrown champion normalised his own brilliance
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3lkjJIc
Post a Comment