Jurgen Klopp got plenty off his chest in his latest press conference, and that included Liverpool’s “absolutely insane” schedule that has contributed to the tightest turnarounds.
With the pressure off and only weeks left in charge at Anfield, Klopp felt free to speak his mind as he previewed Tottenham‘s visit on Friday, and no one was safe.
TNT Sports got the brunt of it, with Klopp insisting he will not be a subscriber moving forward as he called the scheduling of 12.30pm kickoffs after a Wednesday game “a crime.”
Continuing, the 56-year-old went on to acknowledge an “absolutely insane” stat that “says the quickest turnaround in the whole world is Liverpool FC.”
So what is this stat? Well, Opta put together a graph of the average time between games of Premier League teams in all competitions this season, with Liverpool at the top with just 116 hours.
Average time between games – Premier League Teams 2023/24!
[via @OptaAnalyst] pic.twitter.com/yoh9lfY9nq
— City Chief (@City_Chief) May 3, 2024
Man City (121 hours) and Aston Villa (123 hours) follow closely behind but having played one and three games fewer, respectively.
With Liverpool having played the most games on that list, which at the time was 53 – two matches ago – it is bound to lead to a quicker turnaround, but you can certainly see where Klopp is coming from.
The average of 4.8 days between games does not lend itself to competing at a high level consistently in all competitions for the whole season, and scheduling does not help.
As Klopp said: “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!’”
Since 2017/18, no team has had more Saturday 12:30pm kick-offs in the Premier League than Liverpool’s 37, and that includes the most recent at West Ham – which followed a Wednesday evening fixture.
That game against the Hammers could have easily been shifted to Sunday, which would have occurred had Arsenal progressed to the Champions League semi-final – which will only add to Klopp’s frustration.
On scheduling, he said: “[The Premier League] is 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.”
With the loudest voice advocating for change leaving in the summer, you wonder if Arne Slot or others will pick up from where he left off.
Soccer2day 