[ad_1]
An incredulous Jurgen Klopp couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Or rather, what it was not.
Standing at his desk after his first press conference on Friday at the club’s brand-new AXA Training Center, the Liverpool manager was stunned.
“Nobody wants to ask me about the managers meeting? I can’t believe that,” Klopp said as he left the screen.
It was clear that the Reds boss had something to get off his chest from the meeting held earlier that week, but the question never came.
In the nine days since then, the most unlikely of Premier League fights has begun.
In the red corner, Klopp, the now long-time champion of a return to the five subcategory rule.
In the red-and-white corner, Chris Wilder, the Sheffield United manager who disagrees with his Liverpool counterpart.
Apparently all season to date, Klopp has raged against the decision to revert to the traditional three-substitute rule.
It’s a point of view where he’s not alone, but given his high-profile stature, few have made as many starters with his insistence that five substitutes should return for the benefit of the players.
Klopp has accused Premier League CEO Richard Masters of “lack of leadership”, has questioned Wilder’s opposite stance and brought the fight to the doorstep of the broadcasters themselves with passionate pleas on both Sky Sports and BT.
The well-being of the player is the only reason for this ingrained point of view, he argues.
As tension simmered in the guts of Amex Stadium after the 1-1 draw with Brighton, Klopp once again aired his opinion and the reason he formed.
“I can explain it to you one last time,” he said with an air of resignation in his tone.
“In this period, five substitutions are not for tactical changes. If ever in a game, a coach is lucky enough to use it for tactical reasons, he will be an exception.
“If we had five substitutes today, then Andy Robertson would have taken off 100 percent. He had Kostas Tsimikas on the bench so he could have played 15 or 20 minutes or whatever.”
Then came the answer to Wilder, a manager who had called the Reds boss a “world-class politician” who was “selfish” on the subject.
“Whatever Chris Wilder says, I’m not just talking about Liverpool,” Klopp said. “He’s only talking about Sheffield United, that’s true.
“He admitted it to the coaches meeting, but I’m talking about footballers.”
Wilder had said earlier that week: “He is a world-class manager and a world-class politician, who cares about Liverpool. That’s all he cares about.”
“I was never going to say what about Sheffield United bringing back their fans or Newcastle or Man City or Man United or anyone else. He’s a world-class politician.”
The fairness argument that supporters are allowed to re-select grounds could only have some merit.
But at a time when so many in the country have been forced to make life-changing sacrifices, allowing some a short 90-minute respite a week really hurts the integrity of a league that is fortunate enough to even be able to continue right now. ?
Whatever your take on that particular issue, Klopp’s willingness to fight centers on the extra substitutes and the help he provides to all clubs during nine months of soccer that has been reduced by eight.
“Brighton lost two players with muscle injuries today and they play one game a week,” he said, referring to the injuries suffered by Adam Lallana and Neil Maupay.
“Now the most difficult moment of the season is approaching, by the way, also for Sheffield United, and then they will see it.”
In a tete-a-tete that appears ready to run, Wilder was once again asked about Klopp in the wake of his team’s 1-0 loss at West Brom on Saturday night.
This time Wilder said: “Today’s result is being discussed today and as Jurgen said, a good observation, we are still at that point, as he pointed out.
“Everyone has that right to do [defend their own club’s view]. There are 20 votes in this league and everyone takes care of themselves until the end.
“Nobody is taking care of Sheffield United in the right way now, so we have to take care of ourselves. I’m not really going to go into the details of what was said (at the coaches meeting).”
However, those who believe that the idea of being able to make five substitutes in a game for tactical purposes lose the point spectacularly.
At a time when muscle injuries are said to have increased by as much as 23 percent over the same period last year, the facts are stark.
In total, there were 133 muscle injuries during the first nine days of this Premier League. That number has only risen since then with three more on Amex on Saturday lunchtime alone.
Sadly, that will only get worse as games continue to be thick and fast for teams during a festive period that is always packed, even without the tight schedule of a season that started a month later but still ends in May.
That’s why the rest of Europe has allowed for more change, giving managers more opportunities to preserve tired muscles that are on the verge of breaking point.
Whether Wilder likes it or not, English football must surely address this again.
[ad_2]
