Michael Owen has told Premier League Productions that he was ‘astonished’ by Jurgen Klopp’s decision to fly ”virtually everybody’ available from Liverpool’s squad for their Champions League dead-rubber against FC Midtjylland last week.
Liverpool dropped points during their 1-1 draw at Fulham on Sunday and Owen felt that Klopp would rest players for that weekend fixture.
The likes of Mo Salah, who scored in both games, and Fabinho started in midweek, with another Liverpool defender in Joel Matip going off injured at Craven Cottage.
Since the start of the campaign, Klopp has been pretty vocal about the decision not to use five substitutes during this busy festive period and Owen thinks those comments are now ‘ironic’ given his recent decisions.
“Let’s go back to that Champions League game,” said Owen. “Four players you rightly say [started that Champions League game], but Jurgen Klopp flew virtually everybody out there.
“They had already qualified. They had already qualified top of the group. I was covering the game. I was astonished when I saw the squad that travelled over there because if you are going to rest players then I thought you would give them a total rest and leave them at home, especially when the job is already done.
“The ironic thing is that Jurgen Klopp is one of the most vocal when we talk about the number of games the players are playing. It was really interesting for me. Mo Salah started. Some really key players started and I thought he would take that opportunity to have a real fresh game and prepare for this game.”
The rest of the Premier League that haven’t been playing midweek games will get a little taste of the tough life as the festive fixtures kick in.
Liverpool play a monstrous game against Tottenham on Wednesday at Anfield, with Jose Mourinho’s side sitting top of the pile in the Premier League.
A win for either team will be a statement of intent to the rest of the league. From Spurs’ perspective, it will be a serious message that they mean business, whilst Liverpool will want to show once again what they are made of despite playing with an injury-hit team.
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