Ah the festive period and the fixture congestion that accompanies it. Happy Holiday season everybody! Ahead of the their big time clash at Liverpool, which kicks off in a matter of minutes, Chelsea manager Antonio Conte hit out at the schedule makers, espousing his idea that his side was going into this headliner fixture at a disadvantage to Liverpool, given the quicker turnaround from UEFA Champions League play they have.
Liverpool played their group stage game on Tuesday while Chelsea’s contest was on Wednesday.
Of course, the Blues were runaway winners in their game, while the Reds were in a dog fight the whole way, and thus Chelsea was able to give their starters more rest while LFC could not.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has fired back at Conte over his complaints.
The war of words is on.
“I really get what Antonio is talking about, I heard about it, but maybe he forgot that they had the best Christmas schedule last year,” Klopp said. (transcript Liverpool Echo)
“Everyone played every two days and they had about 12 days to play three games. They have the same situation this year and I don’t know how the Premier League will explain this.
“Now they have one day less. I really think recovery for a team is very important and he is right, it is difficult, but it will not have influence on this game. Maybe on the next one, that is possible.”
“They are already back, they flew back to London and they have two days to recover and that is a normal situation. Three days (between games) is never a problem, two days is a big problem but obviously nobody wants to hear that.”
Last season Liverpool played on December 30 and again on New year’s Day while Chelsea was given an extra two days of rest.
The Reds will have a similar deal this New Year’s as they will host Leicester City on December 30, then go to Burnley January 1. Meanwhile Chelsea go to Stoke City on December 30, but won’t play again until the London derby against Arsenal on January 3. Thus, Klopp really makes a great point here.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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