Due to the insane and pretty much unfair scheduling, Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp gave his players the option of skipping yesterday’s clash against Sunderland. None of them of course, took him up on the offer, but the end result was still disastrous anyway. The Reds dropped two points against one of the league’s worst sides (Sunderland), only 48 hours after taking all three versus a top four club (Manchester City).
The whole crazy sequence over the two day span exaggerated what everyone has been saying about the Reds- the inevitable, inexplicable roller coaster.
Klopp gave the team an opportunity to sit out the back half of the extreme fixture congestion, and let some guys get a rest. He was happy to learn that no player was interested in taking such a deal.
“I told the players if nobody wanted to play I would never speak about it and not tell anyone, but nobody came. That was a good thing,” Klopp is quoted by the BBC.
Sunderland are currently 18th, squarely in the relegation zone, and one point off a safety position. Liverpool are in second, five behind Chelsea, with the Blues having a game in hand.
Jurgen Klopp said heading into this match that fixture congestion, and all the severe issues that come with it, will not be any excuse.
“I will make a line-up when the medical department gives me the opportunity to,” Klopp said about his team’s match fitness status given the lack of the rest, during his prematch press opportunities.
In the post match news conference, Klopp said that he didn’t have any previous experience with this kind of situation- such a very tight turnaround between games.
“For me, it’s completely difficult to assume the game, because I have no experience — in situations like this, I have no idea what I could have expected from the performance side,” Jurgen Klopp said.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
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