[Football] BT Sport V Klopp

[Seasider78]

True. This is one option. Another, and far easier option, is just a little bit of consideration and common sense with who plays the 12:30 slot. As a supporter I also don’t like your idea of clubs choosing another bunch of games where to be competitive; we’ve seen what this has done to the FA Cup.

By common sense you mean screening games like West Brom v Sheff United at lunchtime instead of the big clubs with European commitments? Let’s be sensible no broadcaster is going to do with their only slot for that day and the reason they pay the big money is for the big clubs who also benefit from their injection of astronomical rights deals.

The big clubs can’t have their cake and eat it if they want all the cash from the various competitions and the TV money that comes with it they are going to have to find more creative ways to use their resources.

If they have a problem with the scheduling maybe the clubs should stop signing deals and agreeing to the fixtures rather than trying to lay the blame at the door of the TV companies who are just screening the games they have contracted for. Not that many weeks ago Liverpool where trying to float an expanded European league with extra games , were not worried about the players then were they.

 

[drew]

BT SPort is like a happy shopper Sky Sports

I hate Sky and particularly the Australian Mr Burns who owns it, but they do a very good job of sport.

BT sport is just pound shop. . .

Klopp is one of the good guys, of course he has a bias to Liverpool, it's his ****ing job!

Which Australian Mr Burns are you referring to?

 

[rogersix]

Fair enough. I didn’t realize Liverpool FC chose the12:30 slot, seemingly against their team manager and medical department’s preference. My bad.

he who pays the piper........

 

[drew]

Fair enough. I didn’t realize Liverpool FC chose the12:30 slot, seemingly against their team manager and medical department’s preference. My bad.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

By common sense you mean screening games like West Brom v Sheff United at lunchtime instead of the big clubs with European commitments? Let’s be sensible no broadcaster is going to do with their only slot for that day and the reason they pay the big money is for the big clubs who also benefit from their injection of astronomical rights deals.

The big clubs can’t have their cake and eat it if they want all the cash from the various competitions and the TV money that comes with it they are going to have to find more creative ways to use their resources.

If they have a problem with the scheduling maybe the clubs should stop signing deals and agreeing to the fixtures rather than trying to lay the blame at the door of the TV companies who are just screening the games they have contracted for. Not that many weeks ago Liverpool where trying to float an expanded European league with extra games , were not worried about the players then were they.

Something simple like switching yesterday’s two BT games would have been a significant improvement I guess. Man City were at home, playing Burnley which is only a short distance away. Make that the 12:30 and Liverpool the later game and then some of Liverpool’s issue will have been resolved with little to no impact on the other match’s players.

 

[drew]

Something simple like switching yesterday’s two BT games would have been a significant improvement I guess. Man City were at home, playing Burnley which is only a short distance away. Make that the 12:30 and Liverpool the later game and then some of Liverpool’s issue will have been resolved with little to no impact on the other match’s players.

Why pander to just one club though? Man City were playing in Greece on Wednesday whereas Liverpool were at home.

 

[Seasider78]

Something simple like switching yesterday’s two BT games would have been a significant improvement I guess. Man City were at home, playing Burnley which is only a short distance away. Make that the 12:30 and Liverpool the later game and then some of Liverpool’s issue will have been resolved with little to no impact on the other match’s players.

How’s that fair on Man City they travelled to Greece on Wednesday whilst Liverpool were playing at home so have been in the UK all week?

 

[LamieRobertson]

Why pander to just one club though? Man City were playing in Greece on Wednesday whereas Liverpool were at home.

Which is a very valid point

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

How’s that fair on Man City they travelled to Greece on Wednesday whilst Liverpool were playing at home so have been in the UK all week?

Seems a bit more equitable regarding Saturday logistics. I see we are not going agree on this so let’s leave it.

 

[Hampster Gull]

Fair enough. I didn’t realize Liverpool FC chose the12:30 slot, seemingly against their team manager and medical department’s preference. My bad.

Last one from me HT. If they genuinely thought there were medical issues with more players than could be rotated out by the squad system them they have a legislative duty of care to those employees and should have pulled out. If it was jus a preference then they have a contract which they eagerly signed and are highly remunerated for, so they need to take the ups and downs like the rest of the world.

 

[rogersix]

Seems a bit more equitable regarding Saturday logistics. I see we are not going agree on this so let’s leave it.

is that code for, "i can't admit i'm wrong" ?

 

[blockhseagull]

Fair enough. I didn’t realize Liverpool FC chose the12:30 slot, seemingly against their team manager and medical department’s preference. My bad.

The PL choose the kick off times.

Simple as that.

You can’t ask BT to pay millions for a slot and then tell them after they have agreed that they can’t pick the games they want.

The broadcasters are not the ones at fault here

 

[Seagulls over Essex]

Spurs played last Thursday night and only used 2 subs today (65th and 89th minute).
Liverpool played last Wednesday night and crybaby Klopp threw his toys out the pram yesterday because he wasn't allowed to use 5 substitutes!
If Spurs can survive with just 2 subs why can't Liverpool?

 

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

The press obviously don't want to annoy him......if they did then the headline 'Kindergarten Klopp' would have been there today...or maybe it has already been used? Who cares...canne stand em me!


TNBA


TTF

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Haven't read all the comments but, clearly, some people don't understand journalism and/or the art of interviewing. Klopp picked the wrong target to vent at, well and truly and I think Kelly handled it pretty professionally.

The thing that gets me is that given they are Premier League champions - and recent Champions League champions - Liverpool have ample squad depth to cope with the number of games, even taking injuries into consideration.

It seems that Klopp has become someone who isn't happy unless he's got something to whinge about. Number of subs? Blame Chris Wilder. Having to play early on a Saturday? Blame the TV companies. A few injuries? Blame... anyone that will listen. Milner - no spring chicken - started three games in a week, didn't he? It's not a complete surprise that he's injured, then!

 

[Hampster Gull]

They have 11 defenders in their squad, 5 of them have in total payed 4 games (EPL site, pre our match). A few more probably in the cups. But really, his problem seems more like he's not happy with the depth of his squad.

 

[zefarelly]

Which Australian Mr Burns are you referring to?

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Haven't read all the comments but, clearly, some people don't understand journalism and/or the art of interviewing. Klopp picked the wrong target to vent at, well and truly and I think Kelly handled it pretty professionally.

The thing that gets me is that given they are Premier League champions - and recent Champions League champions - Liverpool have ample squad depth to cope with the number of games, even taking injuries into consideration.

It seems that Klopp has become someone who isn't happy unless he's got something to whinge about. Number of subs? Blame Chris Wilder. Having to play early on a Saturday? Blame the TV companies. A few injuries? Blame... anyone that will listen. Milner - no spring chicken - started three games in a week, didn't he? It's not a complete surprise that he's injured, then!

I felt Kelly could have drawn a line under it sooner.
It dragged out with neither side conceding ground.

I would rather time had been spent with Potter talking about how well we played.

 

[Boroseagull]

The Klopp debates continues in the Telegraph this morning. As it's probably behind a paywall I've C&P'd it;



Jurgen Klopp rant dissected: Is there merit to Liverpool manager's argument?
German believes three key issues are conspiring against his team this season — and he made feelings very clear to BT Sport reporter

By
Jim White
30 November 2020 • 7:00am
Jurgen Klopp argues the Var offside decision with the referee
Jurgen Klopp argues the Var offside decision with the referee CREDIT: REUTERS
At the heart of Jurgen Klopp’s angry exchange with BT Sport's touchline reporter Des Kelly on Saturday were three issues he insisted were conspiring against his Liverpool side in this, the most congested season in history. But what is the merit in his argument?


Scheduling
This was his major beef, an anger at broadcasters obliging his side to play at Saturday lunchtime after they had played a Champions League game on Wednesday. “Saturday 12.30 is really, really dangerous for the players,” he claimed.

Klopp is a meticulous manager, who does not like to leave anything to chance. But a crowded fixture list is a consequence of excellence; the fact his opponents had twice as long to recover ahead of this game was because they are not involved in the elevated, lucrative Champions League. It seems physiologically unlikely that kicking off 150 minutes early puts his players in danger. Rather it is swings and roundabouts: going early means they have longer to rest ahead of this week’s Champions League tie with Ajax on Tuesday.

And the statistics suggest Liverpool have not suffered harsh consequences from such timetabling. Last season they won all four of their Saturday 12.30 starts, this season they have drawn them both, with the game against Crystal Palace to come on December 19. As crises go, it is hard to argue this is one of historic dimension.


Var
Klopp was careful not to rise to Kelly’s bait about Stockley Park’s deliberations. But his touchline demeanour, sarcastically applauding the assistant referee as Brighton equalised in the dying moments of the game after Var spotted an infringement the referee had missed, was indicative of his true feeling. And no wonder. He was at the wrong end of a hat-trick of remote decisions. Two Liverpool goals were disallowed before a penalty was gifted to Brighton for a foul by Andy Robertson on Danny Welbeck that nobody - players, officials, coaching staff - spotted in real time.

As it happened, careful slo-mo analysis would suggest all three decisions were correct. Though disallowing Mo Salah’s goal for an offside so obtuse a medical dictionary was required to work out which part of his body was ahead of Brighton’s Ben White hardly constituted the principal function of Var: to overrule clear-and-obvious error. Needing the overlay of geometric shapes on the screen to spot infringement does not suggest clear-and-obvious error.


Five substitutes
This is where Klopp and Kelly found unexpected agreement: the most immediately effective way to husband resources, and to protect players from over-exertion, is to allow five substitutes. Kelly wondered why the Premier League had not instituted the idea, given the majority of the managers had indicated they were in favour. Klopp blamed one man: Chris Wilder.

The Sheffield United boss had called him selfish, arguing that five substitutes favour clubs with deeper squads who can use multiple replacements to make tactical changes in a way not open to those at the bottom of the division.

Pointing out that sticking with three subs had delivered Wilder only one point, Klopp added that if he had made five changes against Brighton they would have not been tactical; they would have been to protect his players. And he has a point. If five subs were allowed during Project Restart in the summer, to prevent players from over-heating, it seems only logical to continue the idea to help them through the most crowded season ever.

Verdict
Picking through Klopp’s arguments, there did seem to be an element of distraction about his tirade: the old Alex Ferguson tactic of talking about something else rather than the issues on the pitch. Because the truth was, lacking so many first-choice players, Liverpool could, maybe should, have been well beaten.

Klopp had warned his defence of Brighton’s ability to break the lines, and on three occasions in the first half they did precisely that. Only poor finishing - Aaron Connelly and Leandro Trossard spooning shoots wide when well placed, while Neal Maupay badly skewed a penalty - prevented a rout.

The improvement in the visitors when Jordan Henderson came on at half-time was dramatic. As he went about his business cajoling and orchestrating the unfamiliar back line, Liverpool looked immediately better. And when they delivered a lesson in finishing through a wonderful goal by Diogo Jota, they seemed to have secured three points.

Klopp was confident enough at that point to rest the irrepressible Salah, who looked furious at being hauled off when he could sense goals were in the offing. However, the last gasp intervention of Var - awarding a penalty which this time Pascal Gross happily dispatched - undermined Klopp’s planning and gave Brighton the point their first half deserved.

So Liverpool stutter on, beset by problems from all sides of a sort Wilder would love to be obliged to counter.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

I felt Kelly could have drawn a line under it sooner.
It dragged out with neither side conceding ground.

I would rather time had been spent with Potter talking about how well we played.

I'm guessing he was told to keep it going. Whatever 'side' you're on, it made for great TV for BT Sport and now people (we) are still banging on about it and probably will be for a while. It's rare for managers these days to go off on one like that, so the channel was probbaly milking it for everyhing it's worth. Sky had it the other week with Klopp, didn't it? I seem to remember him having a pop at some pundit or another about something – Neville was it, or Carra?

But yes, you're right, it would've been good to have a chat with both managers, but once the Kloppinator was in full flow, it would've been difficult to pull the plug on potential TV gold.