Premier League: Klopp puzzled by latest block on allowing five subs
Premier League is the only major league in Europe this season to have not increased the number of substitutes allowed to be made during a match from three to five.
Published : Dec 18, 2020 19:42 IST
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was unimpressed by the decision to allow Premier League teams to have nine players on the bench instead of seven, saying on Friday it wasn't a compromise for rival clubs again voting against the use of five substitutes. England's top division is the only major league in Europe this season to have not increased the number of substitutes allowed to be made during a match from three to five. Even England's lower leagues and the FA Cup now allow five subs to be brought on. Klopp has been a vocal critic, saying using only a maximum of three substitutes is impacting player welfare amid a season when there have been more muscle injuries.
READ | On Friday, a day after Premier League clubs allowed a bench of nine players for games but rejected - for a third time - the chance to make the change from three to five in-game subs, Klopp's mood was one of puzzlement. "In Europe, all the leagues have it so there must be a good reason for it - in all these leagues there is competition, no?" he said. "In all these leagues, every club wants to stay in the league, some clubs want to win the league, but for sure all of them want to stay in the league. Here is the only country, pretty much the only league, where we do it differently."
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"When two teams have exactly the same, it doesn't make the timing better, it's just a fair competition," Klopp said. "Yes, we have that much more often than all the other teams but that's now not the problem. "We will see who can cope better with that, but it's the most tricky thing to do as a manager." Liverpool, which is in first place by three points, welcomed Thiago Alcantara back to the training ground this week for the first time since he sustained a serious knee injury against Everton on October 17 in his first start since joining from Bayern Munich. The Spain midfielder has still not joined in full team training yet and won't be involved against Palace, with Klopp remaining cautious. "We already made jokes here, 'I think we should sign Thiago for January, eh?'" said Klopp, who was named as FIFA's men's coach of the year for a second straight year on Thursday. "He's getting closer and closer. He's in a good way. But he should not rush it, we cannot rush it.