Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool boss urges Sky and BT to fix schedule

Last updated on .From the section Liverpoolcomments2042

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp has previously asked BT and Sky to meet up to discuss the schedule

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says they might struggle to end the season with 11 players and warned "we are all done" unless broadcasters talk to each other about the football schedule.

He was speaking to Sky Sports after his side's 3-0 win over Leicester City.

Liverpool play Atalanta on Wednesday and Brighton on Saturday at 12:30 GMT.

"Everybody tells me it is difficult but it is really difficult for the players. The rest is just a decision on a desk in an office," Klopp said.

In an impassioned interview with Sky's Geoff Shreeves, which was shown by international broadcasters, Klopp said: "If you don't start talking to BT, we are all done.

"Sky and BT have to talk. If we keep playing on Wednesday and Saturday 12:30 I am not sure if we will finish the season with 11 players."

When Klopp was told the clubs had agreed the broadcast deals, he said: "If someone tells me again about contracts I will go really nuts because the contracts were not made for a Covid season.

"You stand here with the facemask, we adapt. Everything changed but the contract with the broadcasters is still 'nope, we have this so we keep this'. What? Everything changed. The whole world changed."

This week will be the third out of four occasions the Reds have played on the Saturday after a Champions League game, although this is the first at lunchtime.

Klopp, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola and Manchester United counterpart Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have all criticised the TV timings in recent weeks.

"I am discussing this completely calm," Klopp said to Shreeves, "but they say I talk about Liverpool. I don't, I talk about the football players out there.

"Yesterday, [Barcelona's Gerard] Pique - massive knee injury - today maybe [Arsenal's Bukayo] Saka, I'm not sure but it looked like a knee injury. He played all three games for England in the international break.

"People tell us to rotate but who? We have offensive players we could rotate but the rest are kids."

Guardiola and Klopp discussed before their recent meeting that five substitutes should be allowed in games as they are in most of Europe's top leagues and now the English Football League.

"Why we change late [two of their substitutions against Leicester were in the 89th minute] is because we have to constantly think that someone will go down with a muscle injury," Klopp said.

"We cannot change early because if the other one has a muscle injury you end the game with nine players."

Klopp has also previously said he was "slightly concerned" about the amount of travelling his players had to do during international breaks.

In the 71 days since Liverpool's season started on 12 September, the Reds have played 15 matches - with two international breaks in that time.

They have played a game - in either the EFL Cup or Champions League - in every midweek outside international weeks since 20 September.

"We will show up there [Brighton] and we will be shaking," Klopp said. "I think about sending the points, that is how it is because we go there and we lose the game."

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2042 comments

  • Klopp is absolutely correct.
    A bit of 'Covid' common sense is needed this year in the TV scheduling.
    Oh yes, and dump those ridiculous meaningless internationals.

    • BLM and all replied:
      Two identical HYS on BBC; one with Klopp taking about players needing to be rested and the other is Pep saying the same thing. Difference is that there are few bitter comments when Klopp mentions resting players. When Pep mentioned it, people make comments about footballers being overpaid etc. A very similar theme to that of Rashford trying to do good like Beckham, and getting slated.

  • Quite simple. Halve the players salaries, tell sky and BT to get stuffed cause you no longer need the £, and take control back. Ah, but of course they want the cash. Sell your soul to the devil, and the devil calls the tune.

    • chriswvtr replied:
      And watch as all the best players and managers go to play in Spain/Italy/Germany/France and our league ends up like the Scottish league.

  • Klopp isn't complaining about playing Wednesday - Saturday, its Wednesday night - Saturday lunchtime that he objects too. When you factor in travel, it means recovery time is compromised which increases the chance of injury and also affects what TV companies are paying for. Surely it's not impossible to make sure that the teams that play Wednesday night, don't have the 12.30 fixture on Saturday?

    • catseye27 replied:
      did not see klopp complaining when winning the club world cup last season, all that travelling etc.

  • Sure, playing 90 mins of football a week isn't exactly taxing, but add in training, sponsorship commitments, travel, pointless internationals etc and you're going to quickly see players burning out.

    I'm not an LFC fan but I'd much rather fewer games with fewer injuries so we can watch the best players at their peak and not shells of them

    • djn replied:
      Spot on. Flog the players and well end up with a worse product with less intensity and entertainment.

  • Klopp is talking a lot of sense. This needs to be looked into it even stop pointless international friendlies.

    • AndyB_MOT replied:
      Or scrap the Champions League? I've just saved him at least six matches and as many as thirteen. Problem solved.

  • So many ignorant comments on here. In what other elite sport do the participants compete so often? There is none. That’s because everyone recognises that if elite athletes compete too often they will either get injured or the performance will suffer. To say ‘they are being paid deal with it’ misses the point totally. You either want quality football or poor football, u can’t have both!

    • Lanesra14 replied:
      100% facts.

  • Football sold its soul when it sold out to the broadcasters, they dictate when games are played. If the club's want the riches, suck up and get on with it.

    Also, fed up listening about the hard life of a footballer, try a 4 hour tennis match every second day and at the end of the tournament board a plane and fly half way across the world to the next one.

    • SteH11 replied:
      They're not complaining about having a hard life.

      It's just a simple reality that football is a high intensity sport. So if you don't allow for a proper recovery time then players will get muscle injuries.

  • The players are too tired and overworked?

    Perhaps that explains why they fall over so easily in the penalty area?

    • CymroBlair replied:
      Like all professional athletes they have a better work ethic than the majority of the population. They are humans not robots

  • I'd be happy paying Wednesday every week.
    Sheffield Wednesday are shite

    • futureistangerine replied:
      good one!

  • He has a very good point. The contracts were made and signed before covid so it is so ignorant and lazy of them to say 'well you agreed to it'. Classic example of not reacting to change by dinosaurs and players are dropping like flies as the consequence.

    • OneinSixtyMillion replied:
      ....but the players also refused to re-negotiate their pre-covid contracts

  • premier league teams have a 25 nan squad plus youngsters. maybe clubs need to look at training methods and pitches before they start complaining. let's go back to knockout in Europe thus eliminating dead rubber games. only having the champions in the champions league would benefit the Premier league as it would be more competitive.

    • Lookathisfacejustlookathisface replied:
      You mention dead rubber games. None qualify for that description more than England v Iceland last week. Should have been called off. Was totally unwarranted on players and travelling in these times.

  • it's all about money money money, back in the 70's every game on a Saturday was a 3pm kick off, Tuesday and Wednesday night game was a 7.30 kick off time, most 1st division clubs played about 55-60 games a season with a squad of about 15 players and only 2 subs a game, the game has changed to much and is now not a working man's game

    • Tony Di Wonderful replied:
      Yes and the football was much slower than it is now. With keepers able to pick the ball up for example.

  • the winter break scenario always baffles me...... won't there be fixture congestion later in the season if there is a 2 week break in the winter?

    • redpirate replied:
      Yes and no - the break will allow players bodies to recover. There may be some congestion but the break allows them to prepare for it.

  • Whether you like it or not, these players are elite Sportsmen. You cannot expect them to perform at 100% without adequate recovery time. Don't give me the "but they are well paid" argument. No amount of wages ever stopped illness or injury.

    • SteH11 replied:
      Thankyou!! So many people are like "try doing my job".

      They're not complaining that their job is hard. They're just saying that without adequate recovery time they will get injured, as we are seeing!

  • how can you play Wednesday then Saturday lunchtime. I understand people will say they are footballers that are paid highly and have no excuses but when the majority your squad is injured you’ll complain and moan about it. The English schedule during December is just crazy compared to other leagues. Bring the 5 subs back and stretch out the December fixtures and cancel Marchs internationals break.

    • 40bob replied:
      I'd gladly swap places for a lot less money

  • What happens when you sell the soul of the game to the TV companies...?

    They won't listen to Klopp or any others in such a predicament because it's not remotely about the "football"

    No real sympathy as all clubs have zero problem taking the TV revenue

    Liverpool have a quality squad so it's not like first team injuries is the difference between survival or relegation like it is for many PL clubs

  • OMG stop yapping you all voted to carry on the road smash of last season so reap what you sew you were warned about fixture congestion

    • Buck Steinburger replied:
      There will not be a better, 100% accurate, 100% relevant comment than yours buddy :-)

  • New rule. Last man standing.

    Players fight to the death in a battle royale format. One game only. The remaining player wins his team the title.

    • Barts10 replied:
      Football has always had a huge element of endurance and dealing with injuries throughout time. Most squads have 30+ players nowadays. Come on 2 games a week!

  • Ways to reduce player burnout

    Scrap meaningless friendlies

    Scrap Preseason tours to Asia

    Scrap meaningless International games (all of them)

    Make the European Tournaments out (as it used to be) so only the very best teams played the most games

    Tell S* where to stick their money and go back to 3pm on Saturdays

    nope, none of the above will happen

    • Henry Hannon replied:
      There were not any pre season tours to Asia due to Covid

  • I’m not sure I agree entirely with what Klopp has said.

    But every other league in Europe is using 5 subs - yet in England we’ve stuck to 3.

    Don’t be surprised if you see a semi-final of Spain, Germany, Belgium and France in the Euros.

    Clubs need to stop being petty - and look at the bigger picture.

    • redpirate replied:
      It was just stupidity not to have 5 subs.

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