'Players are overworked': Klopp tears into TNT Sports over English European struggles

Jürgen Klopp launched an extraordinary rant at footballing authorities and broadcasters in a press conference ahead of Liverpool's Premier League clash with Tottenham Hotspur.
The outgoing Liverpool manager specifically called out TNT Sports - referencing his side's quick turnaround between games and frequent 12.30 kick-offs - saying that players in England are overworked and play too many matches. 'I watch a lot of football all over the world, Premier League is the best league in the world. It's not overrated, the players are overworked,' he said. 'Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday 12.30 is a crime. I was actually waiting for Amnesty International to go to them.'
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#Klopp #TNT #Liverpool #Media #EPL #News

[@souldoc70]

It’s crazy that only epl teams have games on Saturday 1230 after midweek games.And Liverpool has the most number of those matches

[@urbanapache2]

By far...the most.

[@AllInTheGame01]

Bundesliga just got a 5th CL spot ahead of the PL! Klopp truly needs that sabbatical, looks exhausted & fed up with everything!

[@marvinbrando722]

Do you really believe he will fight the English media ? Every single foreigner in the PL, needs to say that that league is the best. Otherwise, the journalist / media machine will destroy that person

[@sachinshah4594]

Bundesliga also has winter breaks. Exactly the opposite happens in PL, it is the busiest period. European playoffs start from mid Jan/Feb. Definitely gives an edge to those who get a break.

[@iangbland]

Fantastic. Hope for his last press conference he just puts his legs on the table, hands behind his head, and just lets out everything he’s bottled up, scores being settled AOTS.

[@BSultimate]

The intensity in the premier league is unmatched so drop the league to 18 teams and drop the league cup

[@marvinbrando722]

Lol 😂😂😂😂😂😂 hahahahaha hahahahaha

[@tonym4130]

Also drop the likes of the nation league

[@barrygeorgeisabenefitcheat8287]

@@tonym4130 yes such a waste of time that 'competition'.

[@JuliusSeizure-tw6mi]

Don’t need to do either, just have a longer schedule to fit these games in. You have to think about the other teams who play professionally in England. Dropping the League cup is a bad idea, why wouldn’t you just play your u18s then if people didn’t take it seriously?

[@ngyonghuei6577]

The Premier league will miss Klopp. As usual he is the pioneer in questioning integrity of football and protecting the welfare of footballers. But majority of so called the football fans will laugh at him but when other managers follow suit, everyone agrees. The 5 subs was the classic example.

[@dirtyfunkymonkey]

He is correct

[@RogueSeraph]

He's not wrong, the amount of useless competitions nowadays is awful for the players, it's just too many games. Who cares about the Carabao Cup? Who cares about the Nations League? We already have the Euro and the World Cup for what purpose was the Nations League created?

[@stuckonautomatic]

He has a point. Liverpool 55 games so far, Bayern only 45, Leverkusen 47, Dortmund 45. The money argument doesn't work either. If someone pays me 1 million to jump 5 metres high, I still won't be able to do it. Likewise it's impossible to always perform on the highest level when your workload is 20% higher than that of the European competitors. There's a reason why France abolished the league cup or why English top clubs don't bother too much if they're eliminated.

[@DJLDomino]

But you don't have to take the £1m, especially if you can't do what's being asked of you. You could just take £500k (still a very large sum of money) and jump a more achievable 2.5 metres. The more money players and managers demand, the more money clubs need, the more they in turn demand from the TV companies, who then need more advertising revenue and this require more football. Less football = less money and the players and managers need to decide what they are willing to compromise: money or their fitness.

[@ericthekop9624]

Love it.

[@zitoScine]

Klopp and Pep both say this. They’ve been the two top teams in England in the last 6 years, so they know what they both know what they’re talking about.

[@MattieBennett]

One possible solution… teams who qualify for the UCL/UEL should not compete in domestic cup competitions. If this happened: - Teams in the UCL/UEL would play a maximum of 53/55 games - Teams not in UCL/UEL would play a maximum of 50 games (if they reach both domestic finals). This would level the playing field in terms (somewhat) of the number of games and also give ‘smaller’ teams an opportunity to win a trophy and qualify for Europe.

[@JuliusSeizure-tw6mi]

As much as I would love to see underdogs win in cups; it would ruin the achievement of it as it would be diluted

[@MattieBennett]

@@JuliusSeizure-tw6mi Yeah, that’s a huge downside to it. Thankfully I don’t have to make these decisions for real!

[@JuliusSeizure-tw6mi]

@@MattieBennett Personally I think we should start the season earlier like first week of August and finish in late may and just space the games out and get rid of the winter break, because I’m not sure what else you do

[@sirbaconbutties7071]

English premier league teams need to stop paying massive transfer fees for mediocre players from Europe.

[@nonnayoubuzinnes1669]

Brilliant from Klopp👏👏👏👏 I hope he lets rip on Howard Webb and the MC cheaters before he goes.

[@DJLDomino]

Rubbish. The drive in the number of games is down to the ever increasing salaries of both players and managers, along with transfer and agent's fees. Would they be willing to accept lower wages for less games? Also, why should the football league suffer so that Liverpool and Man City can go for quadruples every year? How about accepting that fighting for four trophies is really, really, really hard and will probably cost you in the long run? Why not just try and win one or two?

[@SigmundAnschutz]

Klopp didn't have to play the first XI in worthless cups like the FA and EFL ...its FSGs fault Liverpool has a championship level bench and he couldn't rotate

[@i.m1981]

That makes no sense as how many English teams have been in finals in the past few years?

[@musayibghani3986]

They've done it despite the fixture congestion. If it was purely on quality the epl teams would dominate the Ucl.

[@davethoroughgood]

You could go back to pre sky and earn £3k a week? Or you can stay as it is and earn £500k a week

[@marvinbrando722]

What about the past years ? What about those years doing great in Europe? Stop with the excuses and start working again.

[@marvinbrando722]

What a ridiculous guy.

[@i.m1981]

Try working 6 days a week for 12 hours a day, just to pay for your kids food and your rent/mortgage. You don't hear the grafters who do this moaning, they just get on with it. Doing a job they hate. Luckily I'm not in that situation anymore but millions of people are.

[@goattm2]

So who are these people who work 6 days a week, 12 hours a day? You just made that up.

[@llRoBoBinHoll]

He’s just explaining that overworked people (just like those people who work 12 hours a day) will perform less. In football it the drop may be more apparent than in some remedial job though.

[@BSultimate]

Comparing football to an actual job (even with the martyrdom hours you are quoting) is intellectually dishonest

[@AM2K2]

Proper bloke down the pub opinion which completely misses the point - if you want the best 'viewing product' the players must be rested. No one is asking for sympathy.

[@Sk-zw7bb]

He’s talking about corporate greed overriding quality of football. Are you seriously that thick?

[@jimbxbjones]

old man yells at cloud

[@conor-m]

He's softly speaking to the journalists in front of him.

[@jimbxbjones]

@@conor-m hey siri, what is a metaphor?

[@SuperMarc281]

All he does is moan! 😂 Just leave now.

[@gamrdude]

Look at you in the mirror and ask yourself what you have achieved. Stop being so arrogant to someone who achieved something in life.

[@TC8787-yq7og]

Imagine working 90 hours a week just to afford a mortgage and a holiday and having to listen to this dogshit because they have to play a few games of footy

[@purpleaki06]

Not this old boring irrelevant argument again.

[@TC8787-yq7og]

@@purpleaki06 cryarse footy players on 90 grand a week crying about having a few games a week, who’s arsed

[@ErickSvvv]

Boohoo! I won't miss his rants, that's for sure.

[@user-hu8yy6xo5g]

Hii