Jurgen Klopp is thoroughly embracing his final moments in front of the press, and he did not hold back on his assessment of broadcast issues, fixture intensity and which channel he won’t watch again!
The visit of Tottenham on Sunday is Klopp’s penultimate home match in charge of Liverpool, and with his side all but out of the title race, the weight has clearly lifted.
When previewing Sunday’s clash, the manager was not short of a few digs in the direction of TNT Sports – formerly BT Sports, whom he has had plenty of run-ins with – having failed to help with fixture congestion.
What Klopp had to say was simply brilliant, and here is his every word…
Players are overworked and it’s not changing
“In general, I think it’s an interesting subject, on the way out I could not be less interested in what you make of it, but seeing Aston Villa lost last night 4-2 would mean if they really go out no English team is in any European final.
“If you make of the fact that English teams are not in the final, if you make of that that we all underperformed – that might be in moments, us definitely against Atalanta.
“I watch a lot of football all over the world, the Premier League is the best league in the world. It’s not overrated, the players are overworked. Easy as that.
“You can talk about that until everybody realises, but somebody obviously needs to help the people.
“You cut off one game, League Cup semi-final, but next season there are three more Champions League games for the top teams, and the discussion you all allow is like, ‘what is that? Only cut off one game?’
“Now everybody has a reason to say ‘we cannot cut off these games, it’s important’, you can sort that situation out, but you cannot sort it out all the time.”
“Advice from an old man on the way out”
“I had a discussion the other day with colleagues from my favourite TV channel (sarcasm intended) which I definitely will never watch again, TNT [Sports].
“It’s always a conversation that I have, saying that ‘yeah but they pay you, they give money to football’ – I don’t see it like that.
“I see it exactly the other way around, football pays them. They broadcast it, they deliver it, but it’s not that TNT or Sky is not doing extremely well, they can pay all of you.
“You have to become a partner of football again, not just the squeezer.
“That’s a little advice from an old man on the way out.
“I will watch a lot of football but not all because people can survive without matchdays from time to time.
“City, Arsenal, that they are out in the quarter-finals [of the Champions League] is just not a reflection. That we are out at the quarter-finals is just not a real reflection of quality.
“It’s just a reflection that we couldn’t deliver on the day we had to.
“Yes, in other countries they have really good teams, no doubt about it, but it’s a sign. Years ago I think we had four English teams in quarter-finals and then we take it and say, ‘That’s the Premier League, let’s make more of it’.
“But you have to change that approach.
“You always think when I speak about it, it’s because of our last situation. No, it’s a general problem and nothing to do with our current schedule.”
TNT have lost a subscriber!
“That they dare to give Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday 12.30 is a crime. I was actually waiting for Amnesty International to go to them.
“It’s just somebody who sits there and decides that, and I would like to meet or be part of the meeting where someone says, ‘Liverpool 12.30’ and the whole room bursts into laughter, ‘Again!’
“I would like to be there.
“This morning I got sent the stats that says the quickest turnaround in the whole world is Liverpool FC.
“And we sit there, and I’m the same, and tell them ‘you have to do more, fight more, you have to go for it’.
“In the whole world, we have the quickest turnaround between games, that’s absolutely insane. But they are still happy to collect subscribers, you can take me off that list!”
And he finished off by saying: “If you are ever looking for a pundit, I speak English and I could do it!”
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