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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has renewed his criticism of the Premier League kick-off times, an opinion echoed by Pep Guardiola and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Klopp was enraged in his post-match interview after his team drew 1-1 with Brighton at the start of Saturday at 12:30 pm following Wednesday night’s 2-0 Champions League loss to Atalanta. .
The match saw James Milner forced out with a hamstring injury, and the midfielder joined players like Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold in the club’s treatment room.
Klopp was angry that his team had been selected for the early televised start, while also reiterating his view that the Premier League should allow five substitutes to protect players from injury during the condensed winter schedule.
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His views echoed those of Manchester City manager Guardiola, who called the current situation a “disaster” earlier this month and called for the return of five substitutes.
“I think we’re going to fight [for its return]”Said Guardiola BBC Radio 5 Live. “All the other clubs and countries play five substitutions because they understood that the situation is completely unusual in terms of a pandemic.
“There is no rest, there is no rest and everyone is at home. All the other countries do it, but here it seems that he likes to be special, different. That is not good because we do not protect the players and we should.”
Guardiola’s Manchester United counterpart Solskjaer has made similar points, lamenting his team’s schedule following their 3-1 win over Everton earlier this month.
“The start time set us up to fail,” Solskjaer said, as reported by BBC Sport. “We have been to Turkey, we have played a lot of games this season, we came back on Thursday morning and we played on Saturday at lunch, it is an absolute disaster.”
Pressure increased on the Premier League to look at their match schedule and the return of five substitutes following Klopp’s passionate interview with BT Sport’s Des Kelly on Saturday.
Here is the full transcript of what the Liverpool manager said.
Des Kelly: James Milner, hamstring, right?
Jurgen Klopp: “Yes, congratulations.
DK: “Not me personally?
JK: “No, but you work for them. Hamstrings, surprise, and they also had injuries. But ask Chris Wilder how we can avoid it.
DK: “Maybe you are shooting at the wrong target. We are broadcasters, we abide by the Premier League rules and the Premier League makes the rules. Shouldn’t you talk to the Premier League?
JK: “I don’t know how often I have to say it, but you chose the 12:30 start, not you personally, but you did! We at 12:30, between now and New Years, there is one more Wednesday and then Saturday at 12:30.
DK: “But you’re saying that we chose 12:30, it’s a Premier League slot.
JK: “I already told you a couple of times, these are difficult times.
DK: “I know these are difficult times, the stadium is empty! Of course it is. Broadcasters support the game.
JK: “Yes, if we play at 5:30 or 3:00 pm, it’s exactly the same.
DK: “That has different ramifications. Your CEO should be with other CEOs to discuss this. If you come here and test with the stations, it won’t change anything.
JK: “I just say it like it is.
DK: “You are saying it is criminal.
JK: “Yes. After Wednesday, Saturday 12:30 is really dangerous for the players. You don’t do that often.
DK: “Who can say that the broadcasters don’t care and that’s the problem? That’s not the problem.
JK: “Why did you choose us against Crystal Palace then, if you care?
DK: “I did not choose him, but every election is chosen by the Premier League.
JK: “It is such a special season, we agreed at another time. Yes we did it.
DK: “No no no. If it is about the welfare of the players, why did the Premier League clubs block all five substitutes?
Manchester United returned to winning ways in the Champions League with a 4-1 win over Istanbul Basaksehir at Old Trafford.
A Bruno Fernandes brace put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team on course for a third straight victory, with Marcus Rashford and Daniel James also on the score sheet.
MEN Sport will bring you all the reaction and analysis of United’s victory and the preparation for the Southampton game this weekend. You can have it all delivered directly to your inbox by subscribing to our daily newsletter. Just enter your email address in the registration box at the top of this article, or just follow this link. It’s free and only takes a few seconds.
JK: “That’s very interesting, but when we had the manager talk a week ago, I think it was 15-5, maybe 16-4, for five backups now. Since then, nothing happened because you need 14 votes because Chris Wilder constantly says I’m selfish, so I think all the things he’s said show that he’s selfish, but it’s not too important. I was in a similar position to him when I was in Mainz when it came to staying in the league. If you can’t do five subs, for example if we had five subs today, I take out Robbo and bring in Kostas to save Robbo, not to improve our game, just to save him and that’s the situation. It is not about changing tactics, or system, all these kinds of things, it is not like that. It is just to save the players. From now on, we’ll see what happens.
DK: “We agree with you and I understand what you are saying, but actually you are doing it in a strange way. You are attacking the broadcasters, rather than getting the support you need at the Premier League meeting.
JK: “I only go through the stations with Wednesdays and 12:30 and seven executives have a similar problem and they all agree. I want to stop doing it because it doesn’t help, but the problem is who signs the contract. Yes, our shareholders or whatever did that, that’s true. It’s a problem, but this season it’s a bigger problem because there is no preseason, because of the intensity and all these kinds of things. Not well. We have had this space three times, I talked a lot about it. Look who else had it three times: nobody. Choosing a team is a problem for me.
DK: “We can’t change it, but you have to change it through the boardroom that we talked about. But we could probably go on forever. ”
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