Andros Townsend has claimed that Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp, has been ‘moaning for years’ and now he has ‘got his way’, with the Premier League set to introduce five substitutions next season, as he told talkSPORT on Monday morning.
The Everton winger added that the Liverpool man has ‘a lot’ of sway when it comes to decisions being made in the Premier League, as he once again, referenced his ‘moaning’ about the fixture schedule.
It needs to be remembered that it wasn’t just Liverpool who made the call for five substitutions to be introduced into the 2022/23 Premier League season and beyond.
This comes to a vote, with 14 teams having to come to an agreement, which now has been the case, before anything can be passed through.
But Townsend clearly feels that Klopp is having too much to say, as he highlighted BT Sport’s decision to schedule a Premier League game for Saturday evening, rather than the lunchtime kick-off, which is their usual slot.
“I love how Jurgen Klopp has found a way to get his way,” said Townsend. “He’s been moaning for years. They have been pushing back, and finally, they have given him his five subs.
“He will probably still use two or three in the biggest games. But who are we to argue with him? In the biggest games, Liverpool and Manchester City, they use one or two subs. They don’t use the four. It’s the games against Crystal Palace or Brentford, they can’t break teams down, 11 behind the ball.
“Then it ‘right can we bring on five world-class internationals who are fresher and can change the game’. That’s where it becomes unfair.
“Clear a lot (Jurgen’s sway in the Premier League). I think we saw last season, even the season before, constantly banging on and banging on. Votes on votes on votes. Getting pushed back, then all of a sudden, they announced the five subs eventually.
“Last season again, moaning about the schedule, moaning about this and that, then all of a sudden, I think it was BT Sport putting a game on Saturday evening, which I had never seen before in the Premier League. All of this moaning, moaning puts pressure to give him what he wants and he has got what he wants on many occasions.”
BIGGER SQUADS AT AN ADVANTAGE
There’s no doubt that those teams who have star-studded players on the bench are going to have the assurance of calling five of those players on when need be.
There have been occasions when Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola, has, at times, made no or, at best, one change to his team during the game.
So, it will be interesting to see just how many teams actually make those five changes and who does it on a more regular basis.
It can’t be argued that it does benefit the bigger squads, but at the end of the day, 14 Premier League teams decided to vote this through, not Klopp himself.
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