Jurgen Klopp hopes the Premier League might soon change the ruling on the number of subs from three to five – given the spate of muscle injuries this season and the fact that literally every other major league on the planet has seen common-sense in the matter.
The boss has given a lengthy and very interesting interview to the Mail in which he discusses a whole host of things – but also explains how he’s recently had a meeting with Premier League managers and been able to persuade a host of them to come over to his way of thinking!
We can’t imagine he would’ve got Sean Dyche, but this is promising – considering you need 14 clubs with a ‘YES’ to get something through.
He also said that clubs must agree that teams who’ve just played in Europe cannot be involved in the early kick-off – as it’s simply wrong on Player Welfare.
“These are the two things we have to talk about. We have to talk to the broadcasters. People need to understand football players. People say: ‘Oh, but they earn this much.’ It’s not about that. They earn that much because they are so special,” he began.
“There are actors who are brilliant but will never be James Bond. But as a James Bond, you earn more than others. With football, it’s the same. So many people play football and the best of them earn more. But that doesn’t make them more robust for everything in life. On Wednesday we had a meeting between all of the managers and it was so important…
Asked if it went well, Klopp continued:
“Yes. Before the season, some people thought it would be an advantage for us, the people who said we should stick to five substitutions. But it was never — and I can promise you this, I’m a Christian — it was not for one second about having an advantage. All the other countries did it. Italy — Juventus, Inter Milan, they have the biggest squads, but still the other clubs said, ‘We need five subs.’
“Yesterday six managers changed their minds. We need it. For the players, not the clubs. December and January in a normal season is brutal. We know that. But this year, for the Champions League and Europa League clubs, October is like December. November is like December. December is still December, then January, then February.
“We all agree we want to play, 100 per cent. But it’s little adjustments. We have to vote this afternoon, pretty much. Let’s bring us all together and vote. We need to get the broadcasters round the table. Sky, BT, whoever — they have to talk to us.
“Whatever happened before, whatever contracts were signed before, they were signed for a non-Covid period. Wednesday night and Saturday 12.30pm, this should not be possible.
“Sports science says you need at least 72 hours to recover. We play before breakfast pretty much when the mind is coming back from whichever country in the world we have been in.”
You can’t argue with anything he has to say, really. We just hope that the noise he and others are making regarding the situation results in actual positive change.
Liverpool play Atalanta in the Champions League next Wednesday night, then have the longest away trip in the Premier League to Brighton on Saturday lunchtime next weekend…
God knows what kind of team we’ll see at the Amex!
hes right in everything he says, its about time the tv companies, the fa, the pfa, and clubs got together to sort all of this out. if all the big european leagues, and uefa have 5 subs, why is the fa the only one not to have it. player welfare should be taken into account for the 5 subs rule. games on tv should be scheduled to make sure any team plaing on wednesday or thursday, should have 72 hours break before the next game, as per sports scientists. if the players welfare isnt looked after, as is happening now with the amount.of games being played, the injuries will keep mounting up, and we will soon be watching u23, u21,and u18’s playing in the first teams. lets see some sense from evertone involved. sort this mess out now, not tomorrow, next week or next month, sort it NOW.